Ms Smith says she wants to know why Curriculum for Excellence decisions have been made. 

The Tory MSP says "we have to do something positive about ensuring the delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence is matching the aspirations of hardworking teachers." 

Image source, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Tory MSP Liz Smith says the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, external has become third in the world for a performing arts school and that should be acknowledged.

It is, as the chamber gives a round of applause.

Ms Smith says there are problems in teacher recruitment and it is a "serious worry for Scottish education". 

The Tory MSP says "we must not shy away from" the serious concerns in Scottish education. 

Image source, bbc

Conservative MSP Liz Smith says both Mr Gray and Mr Swinney are correct in some of their analysis.

Ms Smith says one of the problems we face is that in order to get a value judgement the base evidence must be both relevant and accurate.

She says one of the great sadnesses about the Curriculum for Excellence is that that was not done.

The Tory MSP says the Education Committee has been criticised as unbalanced and she says she worries about that.

She says the committee has had to listen to teachers and unions because the evidence is not there.

Mr Swinney says he is interested in having a debate about how to improve Scottish education. 

He says the government is determined to improve performance and to work with teachers and local authorities to do so. 

He says Mr Gray should help with this instead of "carping from the sidelines." 

Image source, bbc

Mr Gray says the motion is about the SNP stewardship of education and Scottish education is succeeding despite Mr Swinney's failures.

The education secretary says since 2007 there has been a 30% increase in the higher pass rate.

Mr Swinney says the government has delivered increasing year on year delivery of 93% of positive destinations.

Mr Swinney says what Mr Gray's "miserable motion" fails to do is to acknowledge the rising numbers of achievements in education. 

Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald says there is a teacher recruitment crisis.

Mr Swinney says Aberdeen City Council is offering teachers voluntary redundancy.

The education secretary says Labour are unwilling to acknowledge the strength of achievement in Scotland.

Image source, bbc

Education Secretary John Swinney says the government is here to be held to account and he accepts that accountability.

Mr Swinney says the Labour motions says nothing good about education and says "it is a disgraceful motion".

He says he refuses to believe if he went into schools in Mr Gray's constituency he would find a characterisation as "pathetically miserable" as the Labour motion.

Mr Gray intervenes to say he does go into schools and teachers tell him there are not enough teachers and schools can't recruit the treachers that they need.

Here is the government motion. 

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Image source, Getty Images

Data about how well schools in Scotland do on reading, writing and numeracy was published for the first time in December.

But the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels information sets were made available with a warning.

The Scottish government said they required further development before their accuracy could be relied upon.

The statistics come as it was revealed that pupils do less well in reading, writing and numeracy through their primary years.

• Click here to see the Curriculum for Excellence levels for your school , external

For example, in reading, 81% of P1 pupils achieved "Early Level", 75% of P4 pupils achieved "First Level" and 72% of P7 pupils achieved "Second Level".

However, the figures improve in secondary schools where the proportion of S3 pupils achieving Curriculum for Excellence Third Level or better is between 84% and 87% for each curriculum area which includes reading, writing, listening and talking, and numeracy.

• Look more closely at the statistics, external
• Scottish schools statistics for 2016, external

Mr Gray says there are varying sizes of primary schools and therefore it is "ridiculous" to claim some "algorithm" could calculate their finances.

The Labour MSP says schools do need reform but the education secretary "has failed to take teachers with him".

He says "that's why we've seen the league tables the Scottish government promised wouldn't be published". 

"They just publish the figures and someone else can put them in order," he says. 

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Gray says the real reason the government has delayed its great education reforms because they are the wrong reforms and more funding is needed in schools.

He says Labour support the Equity Fund and the money going to

The Scottish Labour leader says that is only £120m set against cuts of £170m to local government's core budgets.

Labour MSP Iain Gray says the education secretary blames his party for the teacher shortage saying he accuses Labour of talking teachers down. 

Mr Gray says that the Scottish government gives teachers less support than in other countries and then wonders why they can't recruit more.

The Scottish Labour education spokesman says that Mr Swinney has dismissed the findings of the Education Committee.

Image source, PA

The education secretary has described a report which contained criticism of two education agencies as "unbalanced" .

Holyrood's education committee recently published  a highly-critical report  about the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Education Scotland.

The report argued urgent work is needed to rebuild the relationship between teachers and the SQA.

But John Swinney noted the evidence was taken from a self-selecting sample of people who said they were teachers.

Image source, bbc

Mr Gray says it seems the government's benchmark is now less bad than England.

The Scottish Labour education spokesperson says the Curriculum for Excellence is exactly about setting our sights higher.

Mr Gray says it pains his party to see the CfE in the mess it is in because they support it.

He says the government has lost thousands of teachers jobs.

Image source, Getty Images

Scotland's schools have recorded their worst ever performance in an international survey of pupils.

Scotland's scores for maths, reading and science all declined in the latest set of Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) figures.

It was the first time since the tests began in 2000 that all three subject areas were classed as "average", with none "above average".

Education Secretary John Swinney said the results made uncomfortable reading.

He said they showed that "radical reform" was needed if Scotland's education system was to become world-class again.

• Testing times for Scottish education
• Scotland 'not a star pupil'
• Look back on John Swinney's statement on the Pisa scores on Holyrood Live
• Pisa tests: UK lags behind in global school rankings

Labour MSP Iain Gray says it is 10 years since this SNP government assumed responsibility for Scotland's schools.

Mr Gray says a whole cohort of pupils have almost competed their entire education under the SNP.

The Labour MSP says the amendment from the government is partial and ignores failures.

Scottish Labour's education spokesman says the education secretary spends much of the time in his statement denouncing schools in England. 

Scottish Labour lead a debate entitled 'The Scottish Government and Education, 10 Years of Letting Down Teachers, Parents and Pupils'.

Here is the Labour motion.

Image source, Scottish Parliament