Tackling teacher workload
Further work to ease burden on profession.
A group of experts brought together to reduce teacher workload in Scotland’s schools began the next phase of their work today.
The first meeting of the reconvened Assessment and National Qualifications Working group was chaired by the Deputy First Minister.
The Group aims to help take forward the commitments in the Education Delivery Plan to strip away unnecessary workload. This will free up teachers and staff to do what they do best – provide high quality learning, close the attainment gap and give young people the best chance of success in life.
Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary John Swinney said:
“My priority as Education Secretary is to improve attainment throughout Scotland and if we are going to achieve this we need to continue to work with all interested parties on ways we can improve.
“It is not enough to have good teachers if they do not have the time and space to do their job. That is why groups like this are essential to help us strip away anything that creates unnecessary workload for the profession.
“Significant progress has already been made in this area with actions being taken to streamline qualifications and work now underway to simplify course documentation but if there are further steps we can take to ease the burden on our teachers we need to identify them.
“This Government will continue to do all it can to ensure Scotland’s teachers remain engaged with their profession, benefitting not only themselves but our young people too.”
The Assessment and National Qualifications Working Group has been established to make recommendations to Ministers and the CfE Management Board on:
- the policy framework (including design principles) within which qualifications are developed and operate
- assessment policy and practice from age 3 to 18, and the best means of supporting improvements.
This will help to reduce unnecessary workload for teachers and learners.
Full list of members below:
Deputy First Minister - Chair
Dr Janet Brown - SQA (member of CfE Management Board)
Jon Buglass - Edinburgh College and representative of Colleges Scotland
Kathy Cameron - Policy Manager, COSLA
Mike Corbett - National Executive Member, NASUWT (member of CfE Management Board)
Dr Ken Cunningham - Education consultant and former General Secretary of SLS
Professor Sue Ellis - Professor of Education, Strathclyde University
Larry Flanagan - General Secretary EIS
Professor Louise Hayward - Professor of Curriculum Assessment and Pedagogy, Glasgow University
Professor Martin Hendry - Head of School/Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology, Glasgow University
Ann McIntosh - Head Teacher of Kingswood Primary School and representative of AHDS
Stephen Miller - Head Teacher of Denny Academy and representative of SLS
Ken Muir - Chief Executive GTCS (member of CfE Management Board)
Steven Quinn - Head of Education North Ayrshire Council and ADES representative
Seamus Searson - General Secretary SSTA (member of CfE Management Board)
Barrie Sheppard - NPFS
Professor Neil Simco - Dean of Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business and Assistant Principal for Curriculum Growth, University of the Highlands and Islands
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