Even though education is no longer the Scottish Government’s self-proclaimed ‘top priority’, it remains, and will continue to be, an absolutely critical area of policymaking and politics in our country.

Even in an age of increasing division and social fragmentation, and despite very different ideas of what progress might look like, pretty much everyone agrees that education really matters. They’re right.

Whether directly or indirectly, every single person in Scotland has a major stake in the state of the wider education system.

That’s why journalists, and the newspapers or broadcasters that employ them, pay so much attention to it, and why The Herald in particular dedicates considerable resources to producing sector-leading education coverage.

Issues such as primary school literacy rates, secondary school exam results, and the explosion in additional support needs all make the news over and over again.

Worries about the state of school buildings – the full scale of which we recently highlighted – are a regular topic of conversation, and are linked to major ongoing controversies in places like Forres, Lenzie, and especially the Isle of Mull.

Recently, the government’s broken promises have put the spotlight on the number of teachers working in Scotland, and the pre-election budget saw the SNP attempt to repackage an undelivered manifesto pledge as a brand-new, good news story.

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