Background
Curriculum in Scotland
Lindsay Paterson has contributed extensively to debate about Scotland's declining attainment in the OECD's regular Programme for International Student Assessment. His critique is developed in his most recent book:
Paterson, L. (2026), Lessons from Scottish Schools: Why Knowledge Matters, Edinburgh University Press.
The book uses Scottish education as a case study of the importance of structured knowledge in the curriculum.
Key themes are:
- Explores the decline in attainment in Scottish school education in the last twenty-five years
- Compares the present with Scotland’s strong educational reputation in the past
- Compares Scotland to a diverse range of other countries: England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore and Sweden
- Summarises research on how people learn, and why that explains the importance of structured knowledge
- Concludes that the most student-centred kind of education is one that is based on knowledge under the leadership of expert teachers
The themes of the book are summarised in blogs for Edinburgh University Press and for the Enlighten think-tank.
The PISA evidence is summed up in:
Paterson, L. (2024), ‘Scottish performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment, 2006–2022: falling attainment and rising inequality’, Scottish Affairs, 33(2), pp. 131–56. doi: 10.3366/scot.2024.0497
Education and Society in Scotland
This project was funded by the Leverhulme Trust, 2018-2021.
The project investigated the relationship of education and society using the uniquely rich set of educational surveys of Scotland that date back to 1932 and extend to the present century. Scotland pioneered the use of high-quality national surveys in education. It led the world in the use of statistics as a means of explaining students' learning and understanding how their learning relates to their social context and opportunities. That distinctive history attracted international admiration, and was sustained as a highly creative though often tense partnership among government, school teachers, and academic researchers.
The main results from the project are published in:
Paterson, L. (2023), Scottish Education and Society Since 1945: Democracy and Intellect, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
The electronic version of the book may be downloaded free of charge from the publisher's website.
Examples of publications on the themes of the project are:
Paterson, L. (2021), ‘Higher education expansion and the secondary school curriculum in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century’, Oxford Review of Education. doi: 10.1080/03054985.2021.2002291.
Paterson, L. (2021), ‘Higher education and school history in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century’, British Journal of Sociology of Education. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2021.1962245
Paterson, L. (2021), ‘Participation in science in secondary and higher education in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century’, Research Papers in Education. doi: 10.1080/02671522.2021.1931951.
Paterson, L. (2020), ‘Schools, policy and social change: Scottish secondary education in the second half of the twentieth century’, Research Papers in Education. doi: 10.1080/02671522.2020.1849370.
Paterson, L. (2021), ‘School leavers and educational reform in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century’, Journal of Education and Work, doi: 10.1080/13639080.2021.1996544.
The historical context of educational change in the second half of the twentieth century
This work investigates some aspects of the historical background to these educational changes. Examples of publications are:
Paterson, L. (2024), ‘Liberal education and the left in Britain’, Journal of Controversial Ideas, 4(2), 10. doi:10.35995/jci04020010
Paterson, L. (2021), ‘The relationship of the 1918 and 1872 Education (Scotland) Acts’, Scottish Educational Review, 53, pp. 88-103. doi: 10.51166/27730840-05302007
Paterson, L. (2018), ‘The significance of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918’, Scottish Affairs, 27, pp. 401-424.
Paterson, L. (2015), ‘Democracy or intellect? The Scottish educational dilemma of the twentieth century’, in R. D. Anderson, M. Freeman and L. Paterson (eds) (2015), The Edinburgh History of Education in Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 226-45.
Paterson, L. (2009), ‘Universities and nations in Britain in the twentieth century’, in F. Bechhofer and D. McCrone (eds), National Identity, Nationalism and Constitutional Change, London: Palgrave, pp. 163-188.
Paterson, L. (2011), ‘The reinvention of Scottish liberal education: secondary schooling, 1900-1939’, Scottish Historical Review, 90, pp. 96-130.
The effects of education on people’s civic values
Educational expansion has had a significant effect on people's social and political attitudes. Examples of publication in this connection are:
Paterson, L. (2024), ‘A new class for a renewed nation: the changing social basis of support for Scottish independence’, Scottish Affairs, 33(3), pp. 273-89. doi: 10.3366/scot.2024.0509
Paterson, L. (2023), ‘Independence is not going away: the importance of education and birth cohorts’, Political Quarterly, doi: 10.1111/1467-923X.13306.
Paterson, L. (2021), ‘Education and support for Scottish independence, 1979-2016’, Journal of Education Policy, 38(3), pp. 521-42. doi: 10.1080/02680939.2021.2005148.
Paterson, L. (2014), ‘Education, social attitudes and social participation among adults in Britain’, Sociological Research Online, 19 (1). www.socresonline.org.uk/19/1/26.html
Paterson, L. (2008), ‘Political attitudes, social participation and social mobility: a longitudinal analysis’, British Journal of Sociology, 59, pp. 413-34.
Educational expansion and social mobility
Education has been a mechanism by which social mobility has happened, although whether it is a causal mechanism remains unclear. Examples of publications in this connection are:
Paterson, L., Wen, F., Breen, R., Iannelli, C. and In, J. (2024), ‘A long view of social mobility in Scotland and the role of economic changes’, British Journal of Sociology. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.13162.
Paterson, L. (2022), ‘Social class and sex differences in absolute and relative educational attainment in England, Scotland and Wales since the middle of the twentieth century’, Research Papers in Education. doi: 10.1080/02671522.2022.2089213.
Paterson, L. (2022), ‘Social class and sex differences in higher education attainment among adults in Scotland since the 1960s’, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 13(1), 7-48. doi: 10.1332/175795921X16140986832835.
Paterson, L. (2022), ‘Educational expansion and high-status occupations since the middle of the twentieth century’, British Journal of Sociology of Education. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2022.2026763.
Iannelli, C., Gamoran, A. and Paterson, L. (2018), ‘Fields of study: horizontal or vertical differentiation within higher education sectors?’, Research on Social Stratification and Mobility, 57, pp. 11-23.
Iannelli, C., Gamoran, A. and Paterson, L. (2011), ‘Expansion through diversion in Scottish higher education, 1987-2001’, Oxford Review of Education, 37, pp. 717-41.
Paterson, L. and Iannelli, C. (2007), ‘Social class and educational attainment: a comparative study of England, Wales and Scotland’, Sociology of Education, 80, pp. 330-58.
Public debate
Lindsay Paterson contributes regularly to public debate on topics relating to education policy and to Scottish politics, in the broadcast and print media and through invited lectures at public events.
Examples of blogs and other publications are:
'Misleading Educational Statistics' (December 2025)
'What has happened to the democratic intellect? The neglect of knowledge in Scottish educational policy’, lecture to Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (March 2025) [video].
Paterson, L. and Robertson, B. (2025), How a Knowledge-Based Curriculum Could Transform Scottish Education, published by the independent think-tank Enlighten.
'PISA 2022 in Scotland: declining attainment and growing social inequality' (December 2023)
'Lost opportunities to last a lifetime' (December 2023)
'The knowledge we need' (January 2024)
'The Inadequacies of the Independent Review of Qualifications & Assessment' (June 2023)
'Critique of the OECD report into Scotland’s school curriculum' (August 2021)
