Key Points
- Primary-qualified teachers have been sent to secondary schools in Glasgow in order to provide intensive catch-up sessions for the first-year students who struggle to read.
- The scheme is now in place in 14 of 30 secondary schools in Glasgow to improve the basics of literacy and numeracy among the young population.
- John McGhee, the executive director of education in Glasgow, called solving the issue of the literacy deficit “a moral imperative and an essential task for all educators.”
- According to the latest data on international assessments by the PISA program, the reading scores of Scotland do not show any progress and continue to drop from 2022 till 2025.
- The leaders of the educational system state that illiteracy is one of the biggest issues faced by teenagers starting secondary school.
Glasgow, (Glasgow Express), September 8, 2026 — Primary school teachers have been formally hired to work inside Glasgow’s secondary schools to deliver targeted, intensive reading support for first-year pupils who enter high school without basic literacy skills.
The intervention sees primary-trained educators operating within 14 of Glasgow’s 30 high schools to deliver focused catch-up sessions. The initiative targets first-year (S1) pupils who lack fundamental reading and writing abilities, aiming to close the educational attainment gap early in their secondary school careers before academic performance deteriorates further across the broader curriculum.
Why are primary teachers being deployed into secondary classrooms?
As reported by James Cook of BBC News, Glasgow’s executive director of education, John McGhee, stated that addressing the illiteracy crisis among incoming high school pupils is a direct “moral imperative.” Mr McGhee explained that observing increasing numbers of young people arriving in S1 unable to read at the most basic level represents a fundamental issue within the wider system that educators are duty-bound to fix.
As noted by James Cook of BBC News, Mr McGhee highlighted that while political discussions often dominate public debate regarding education standards and demographic changes, the primary responsibility of educationalists remains delivering fundamental skills. As reported by James Cook of BBC News, Mr McGhee stated that
“people can talk politics all they like, but we are educationalists. That is our job — to get children reading.”
The strategy focuses on bringing primary teaching methodologies into high school environments. Primary school teachers specialize in the foundational mechanics of reading, early phonics, and basic literacy acquisition — skills that secondary subject teachers are generally not trained to deliver, as secondary curricula assume pupils have already achieved reading fluency.
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What do international standards reveal about Scotland’s reading performance?
As reported by James Cook of BBC News, the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study indicates that Scotland’s international ranking in reading did not record any significant movement between 2022 and 2025. However, educational assessment figures show that the broader, long-term decline in reading standards across Scottish education has still not been reversed.
As reported by James Cook of BBC News, the decision to deploy primary specialists into 14 of the city’s 30 secondary schools reflects a direct effort by Glasgow City Council to address these structural national trends at a local authority level. The primary-qualified staff deployed across the 14 campuses focus on both literacy and numeracy remediation to ensure young people can access the wider secondary school curriculum.
Background to the Glasgow literacy intervention
The decision by Glasgow City Council to embed primary educators directly into high school environments follows years of growing concern from headteachers regarding the transition stage between primary seven (P7) and secondary one (S1).
Historically, primary schools in Scotland bear full responsibility for early literacy instruction, using structured phonics, guided reading, and targeted group interventions. Secondary education, by contrast, relies heavily on subject-specific teaching where pupils are expected to consume, analyze, and comprehend written text independently across subjects such as English, history, sciences, and mathematics.
When pupils enter S1 without basic decoding and comprehension capabilities, secondary subject specialists frequently report difficulty adapting standard coursework to accommodate non-readers. The literacy gap often leads to compounding educational disadvantage, behavioral issues, and reduced engagement across all subjects.
International education monitoring through Pisa and national Scottish survey data have consistently shown plateauing performance in reading and mathematical literacy over recent cycles. While emergency measures were taken during post-pandemic recovery periods, local authorities have increasingly sought structural changes to address persistent deficits in fundamental skills. Glasgow City Council’s targeted deployment across 14 high schools represents one of the most direct structural attempts by a local authority to bridge the pedagogical gap between primary and secondary methods.
How will this development affect pupils, teachers, and the Scottish education system?
The deployment of primary teachers into Glasgow high schools is expected to yield noticeable short-term and long-term consequences for several key groups across the educational landscape:
- For S1 Pupils with Low Literacy: Targeted intervention in smaller group settings is likely to improve fundamental decoding, reading confidence, and vocabulary acquisition. Pupils receiving early catch-up support are less likely to fall severely behind in secondary coursework, potentially reducing high school disengagement and lower attainment rates in national qualifications later in their academic careers.
- For Secondary School Subject Teachers: The presence of primary literacy specialists within secondary campuses will relieve pressure on secondary staff, who often lack specific training in teaching rudimentary reading from scratch. If successful, secondary teachers should see an increase in overall classroom comprehension, enabling them to deliver standard curricula without needing to heavily adapt materials for illiterate pupils.
- For Primary Teachers Deployed to Secondary Campuses: Educators moving into secondary environments face novel professional demands, adapting primary early-years pedagogy for adolescent learners within a high school structure. Success in these roles could create a new career pathway for literacy intervention specialists in Scotland.
- For the Broader Scottish Education Policy Landscape: If Glasgow’s model demonstrates measurable success in raising reading levels among S1 pupils, other local authorities across Scotland facing similar Pisa trends and attainment challenges may adopt similar staffing models. The policy could trigger a wider re-evaluation of how literacy transitions are managed across Scottish education.
