2019 National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan

Local authority information on the quality of school leadership of change including the percentage self-evaluating as good or better for QI 1.3 Leadership of Change.

Local authorities reported that across Scotland the quality of leadership of change was self-evaluated as good or better in 75% of schools.

During 2019 the Headteachers' Charter and new national guidance on an empowered system will be available to support local areas in ensuring that decisions are made as close to the child or young person as possible, in a collaborative and collegiate way.

SG

Data on the percentage of school inspections where QI 1.3 Leadership of Change is evaluated as 'good' or better.

HM Inspectors looked at the approaches and impact of collaborative leadership at all levels. They evaluated the pace of change to ensure it was having a positive impact for children and young people and the approach taken to ensure that the vision and values were clearly linked to the context of the establishment and its community.

Of the 121 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the NIF sample between August 2017 and June 2018, most schools were evaluated as satisfactory or better (90%). The majority were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'leadership of change' (64%).

Overall, schools now demonstrate a clearer understanding of the social, economic and cultural context within which they operate. They use this understanding well to develop their vision, values and aims. There is evidence of improved collaborative working for implementing change. Staff are supported by senior leaders to take on a range of leadership roles and are working together to lead and implement improvement priorities.

In addition to continuing to provide a suite of high quality and effective leadership development programmes, Education Scotland will during 2019 enhance the leadership support package to ensure that empowered headteachers are well supported. This will include introducing new content to existing programmes to support empowered headteachers make key decisions about learning and teaching and in leading their teams – such as coaching and mentoring. Scottish Government will enable more headteachers to experience the Columba 1400 Headteacher Leadership Academy.

SG/ES

Data on the number of practitioners undertaking the Into Headship programme.

A growing number of the teaching population have a qualification preparing them for headship roles. Since 2015, 585 teachers have participated in three cohorts of the fully funded Into Headship programme, Scotland's national qualification for headship. So far 261 have completed the programme and achieved the Standard for Headship with the third cohort due to complete at the end of 2018.

The Headteacher Recruitment Working Group's 2018 report identified a need for better data to support local authorities in succession planning for headteacher posts. In 2019 Education Scotland and Scottish Government will produce data packs to support local authority planning.

SG/ES

Data on the number of headteachers and others in local authority schools who are enquiring and engaging reflectively with the GTCS Standards for Leadership and Management and considering the impact of their professional learning in this area, as part of Professional Update processes.

Interim evaluation data from GTCS shows that in 2018/19 school leaders continue to engage consistently with the Standards for Leadership and Management. This demonstrates the commitment of our school leaders to their own professional learning and the continuous pursuit of excellence and equity for all children and young people. School leaders' skills and knowledge can impact positively not only on their own individual school, but also at a system level.

453 headteachers have engaged with the Excellence in Headship and In Headship programmes supporting detailed reflection and engagement with the GTCS Standards.

As above, in 2019 Education Scotland will further enhance the leadership support package.

During 2019 Education Scotland will continue to nurture the developing peer networks through which headteachers are leading improvement at a system level.

In 2019, GTCS will undertake a 5-year longitudinal evaluation of the impact of Professional Update including the use of the Professional Standards as a self-evaluation tool and the impact of professional learning on teachers and learners.

ES/

GTCS

Information on the range and quality of professional learning for leadership being undertaken by those in teacher, middle, school and system leadership roles.

In 2017 the Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL) commissioned a scoping study on professional learning, providing teachers from across Scotland the opportunity to engage in discussions about their personal experiences of professional learning, in order to influence policy-making in the new organisation from an informed and realistic position. The scoping study identified 7 propositions for effective professional learning and was considered by the Strategic Board for Teacher Education which then agreed 16 key recommendations for professional learning.

During 2019 Education Scotland will develop revised evaluation mechanisms for their leadership programmes, ensuring participant experience continues to inform future programme refinement and development.

Based on feedback from participants, during 2019, Education Scotland will introduce more resources to support headteachers' resilience, health and wellbeing, including a new 'health and wellbeing' theme in Excellence in Headship.

In 2019, Education Scotland, with partners and stakeholders will take forward the recommendations from the SBTE report including supporting system wide adoption of a revised model of professional learning, expansion of the Framework for Educational Leadership and a commitment for GTCS and Education Scotland to work in partnership to review the purposes and processes of SCEL endorsement of programmes for inclusion in the Framework for Educational Leadership and GTCS accreditation of programmes leading to the award of professional recognition.

SG/ES/GTCS

New evidence to be incorporated into the NIF in future years

Information on the number of ELC staff achieving the benchmark qualification for lead practitioner.

The total number of ELC staff who are qualified to lead practice in ELC settings has increased from 2,588 in 2017 to 2,625 in 2018. This was due to an increase in the number of graduates with one of the SSSC benchmark qualifications for registration as a manager/lead practitioner (from 1,674 to 1,811), although there was a decrease in the number of GTCS registered teachers working in settings providing funded ELC (from 915 to 814).

We will publish, before the end of 2018, a new national standard that all ELC providers will be required to meet to deliver funded ELC hours from August 2020. It will include a range of quality criteria, with a strong focus on staffing, leadership and management within settings. This will include requirements about working towards relevant benchmark qualifications.

SG

Data on the number of teachers, since 2011, who have gained 60, 120 or 180 credits at SCQF Level 11 (including Chartered Teacher).

Evidence suggests strong demand for Masters level learning amongst teachers which in time will lead to a profession with a wider skills base. Year on year a greater proportion of the teaching profession have masters level qualifications. Since 2011 over 5,800 teachers have gained level 11 qualifications at either PG Certificate, PG Diploma or PG Degree level.

Local authority and university teacher education partnerships work together to identify local priorities for Masters-level learning, including middle leadership; health and wellbeing and STEM.

In recognition of the continued appetite for Masters level learning amongst the teaching profession, in 2019 Education Scotland will work with partners to review the Scottish Masters Framework as part of their enhanced role in professional learning.

SG/ES

Data on the number of local authorities which are offering professional learning which has been benchmarked at SCQF level 11.

The data collected previously was not an effective indicator of the quality of professional learning on offer. Universities, GTCS and ES agreed the data collection had very limited value and should be stopped. Reporting on it alone would give a distorted view of local authority provision of a wide range of professional learning opportunities to their staff, depending on local priorities.

In 2019, the Scottish Government will gather data on the number of teachers who benefit from a specific Scottish Government-funded programme to provide Masters-level opportunities and participation in national programmes.

SG

Data on the number of teachers, since 2011, who have been awarded Professional Recognition by the GTCS and the focus of their work to achieve this.

The evidence demonstrates commitment and appetite for formal recognition of professional learning

In 2017/18, 1150 teachers received Professional Recognition. The most common area was Leading Learning, where teachers gained recognition for their leadership in areas such as improving pedagogy, modern languages and science. This illustrates the teaching profession's commitment to professional learning and the importance of continuing to recognise and celebrate the effort teachers make to enhance their skills.

Actions for 2019 are reported elsewhere in relation to professional learning. Endorsement and accreditation are also relevant here.

SG/ES

Percentage of teachers in local authority and independent schools, within the annual cohort, having their professional learning successfully signed off by their line manager through the GTCS Professional Update Process.

The evidence demonstrates a clear commitment to, and appetite for, high quality professional learning.

As of 31 October 2018, 95.4% of the 2017/18 Professional Update cohort had their professional learning confirmed by their line manager. Professional Update launched in 2014 and has been rolled out gradually to Scotland's teaching profession. More than three quarters of active teachers are now engaged in the five yearly cycle of Professional Update.

Given the need to evidence that relevant standards are being met, teachers must have a choice of high-quality professional learning that is continually developed to meet changing needs.

In 2018 Education Scotland became responsible for professional learning and launched a new National Model of Professional Learning, developed in partnership with the profession.

As set out above, there is a commitment for GTCS and Education Scotland to work in partnership in 2019 to review and provide guidance on the endorsement and accreditation of programmes leading to the award of professional recognition.

During 2019 Education Scotland will expand the Framework for Educational Leadership to include professional learning activities for teachers and work with subject associations to enhance teachers' access to subject specific professional learning.

ES

Data on the views of newly qualified teachers, schools and local authorities on how well newly qualified teachers are prepared to teach literacy and numeracy, support children's health and wellbeing, use technology effectively to enhance learning and teaching and ensure equality.

The level of confidence amongst probationers in terms of key skills is mixed. However, the majority of probationer teachers feel they are confident in their knowledge and ability to teach literacy, numeracy and contribute to health and wellbeing to support pupil outcomes. Confidence in relation to equality appears to be more challenging than other areas.

In 2019, the Scottish Government will support the Measuring Quality in Initial Teacher Education (MQuITE) project, which is being led by the University of Edinburgh and University of Strathclyde on behalf of the Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE). This aims to measure the quality of ITE provision in Scotland by studying a cohort of those graduating in 2018 over a period of five years. This will complement information to be captured through application of the ITE self-evaluation framework, produced by Education Scotland in partnership with representatives from the SCDE and the GTCS and published in 2018 on the Education Scotland Improvement Hub.

SG

Information on initial teacher education programmes coverage of literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and social justice.

A wide variance in time spent on literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, equalities and data literacy across universities and programmes. It raises a question as to whether the level of variance is acceptable and whether steps should be taken in terms of course accreditation/ quality assurance.

By June 2019 the new ITE self-evaluation framework will be used to support universities to demonstrate the quality of learning and teaching in these priority areas and identify where more support is required.

SG/ES

Data on the number of teachers in local authority schools who are enquiring and engaging reflectively with the GTCS Professional Standards and considering the impact of their professional learning, as part of Professional Update processes.

All teachers taking part in the GTCS Professional Update interim evaluation for 2017/18 reported that they are engaging with the GTCS Professional Standards. The Standard for Career-Long Professional Learning was used most by teachers in preparing for their Professional Review and Development, with 80.5% reporting they found this useful in guiding their professional learning to a large or some extent.

In 2019/20, GTCS will take forward national rollout of the MyPL platform, to support practitioners in logging their professional learning activities.

Ongoing activity in relation to refreshing the Professional Standards is set out in Annex B.

SG/ES

Evaluation of impact of Scottish Government investment in Masters level learning.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education maintains a strategic overview of professional learning policy, including the Masters programme. In 2017/18, 1089 teachers benefited from SCQF Level 11 professional learning through their local teacher education partnership. Partnerships are using Scottish Government grant funds to provide teachers with a wide range of professional learning activities, depending on locally-identified priorities.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

SG/

SBTE

The Scottish Government will report annually on progress in delivering the STEM Strategy and performance against each of the KPIs of the strategy.

We need to ensure that our education system has the right number of practitioners, delivering excellent STEM learning and teaching.

We need to tackle the gender imbalance and other inequalities and inequities that exist across STEM education and training including in relation to deprivation, race, disability and geography.

We need to ensure that children and young people are encouraged to develop an interest in and enthusiasm for STEM that is reinforced throughout their education.

We need to ensure that children and young people are equipped with the skills that employers need, both now and in the future.

Through the STEM strategy, a new team of six STEM advisers will be in place from the start of 2019 to support practitioners through the RICs to improve STEM learning and teaching.

Education Scotland will be commissioning new STEM related professional learning in 2019 to complement that provided through existing programmes, including CLPL related to numeracy and mathematics.

During 2019, additional collaborative professional learning opportunities in STEM will become available through the activities of the college-led STEM Hubs.

A new team of gender balance and equalities officers will start work from January 2019 to deliver gender balance training and to develop a gender champion network and a gender kitemark to grow and spread best practice in whole school approaches to improving gender balance in STEM.

In 2019, a Young STEM Leaders programme to grow mentoring and inspiration for STEM for young people by young people will be established. There will be piloting in the first half of 2019 with the programme starting to be rolled out in the second half of the year.

SG

Local authority information on work with partners to develop and deliver family learning opportunities.

Responses indicated that local authority schools are at varying levels of planning for and delivering family learning.

Information provided by the Attainment Challenge authorities suggests they are continuing to make strong progress. The majority of authorities report that schools are making use of Pupil Equity Funding to expand the availability and take up of family learning opportunities. A small number of local authorities report that family learning is a priority across school improvement plans. Many authorities comment on it being an area of developing practice generally. There is evidence of an increasing understanding of the difference between family learning and parental engagement, however there is scope for this to be further improved.

Schools and local authorities are using targeted as well as universal approaches to family learning. A wide range of programmes are being delivered often in conjunction with community learning and development and increasingly with partners in the third sector. The development and extension of partnership approaches will improve the availability and consistency of access to family learning programmes.

Those that have increased their family learning provision have reported a number of benefits to the families and extended community. These include increased parental involvement in schools, increased confidence in parents relating to their own learning and confidence in engaging with their children's learning and supporting learning at home.

The majority of local authorities report that they have either updated their Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy or are in the process of doing so. Schools require continued support to extend their approaches to engaging families from parental engagement in learning, to also including family learning approaches.

Support is required to assist local authorities and schools to measure the impact of family learning on outcomes for children, young people and their families.

The Scottish Government's "Learning Together" 3-year action plan includes a commitment to Increase the opportunities for families to access evidence based family learning opportunities and programmes across early learning and school age children.

Scottish Government hosted a summit on Family Learning in March 2018 to share practice in the use of family learning in early learning and childcare. The Scottish Government will commission, in early 2019, additional capacity on an evidence-based family learning programme to further embed this in the early learning and childcare offer for families facing disadvantage.

SG

From parents' pre-inspection questionnaires, the percentage of parents who are satisfied with their engagement and involvement with the school as indicated across a range of measures/questions.

Before a school inspection takes place, HM Inspectors issue questionnaires to parents/carers. These give an indication of parents'/carers' satisfaction with various aspects of the school to inform the inspection.

The results from these questionnaires for the academic year 2017/18 are below. These questionnaire data relate to the 121 establishments inspected as part of the sample for the NIF, between August 2017 and June 2018. These results are not representative of all parents/carers across Scotland.

6,816 parents/carers of pupils in primary, secondary, all-through and special schools completed the questionnaire.

Satisfaction with their engagement and involvement with the school

76% agreed^[1] that the school gave them advice on how to support their child's learning at home.

60% agreed that the school organised activities where they and their child could learn together.

61% agreed that the school took their views into account when making changes.

88% agreed that they felt comfortable approaching the school with questions, suggestions and/or a problem.

78% agreed that they were kept informed about the work of the Parent Council and/or parent association.

75% agreed that they felt encouraged to be involved in the work of the Parent Council and/or parent association.

84% agreed that they would recommend the school to other parents.

87% agreed that they were satisfied with the school.

The joint Scottish Government/COSLA "Learning Together" Action Plan was published on 21 August 2018.
/publications/learning-together-scotlands-national-action-plan-parental-involvement-parental-engagement/

The plan includes a local authority implementation statement confirming how they will support parental involvement and engagement at local level. The plan also contains a variety of national actions in relation to both involvement and engagement which will be implemented in 2019.

Key actions pertinent to this theme are the commitments in 2019 to:

• review and strengthen statutory guidance in time for academic year 2019/20
• pilot a new parental involvement survey in early 2019 and roll out for academic year 2019/20
• raise awareness of participatory budgeting amongst parents
• work with local authority partners to increase access to home-school link workers and similar roles
• invest in the Parent Club marketing campaign
• set up a working group in early 2019 to explore how digital and information technology resources can be better exploited to support parents' involvement and engagement
• continue to refresh the content of Education Scotland's Parentzone Scotland website (Mar 2021)

Specific actions relating to early learning and childcare:

The National Standard that all ELC providers will be required to meet from August 2020 will be published by the end of 2018. This is likely to include a requirement that settings support parents and carers to engage in their child's learning and development.

The Scottish Government will develop a national online professional learning module for ELC practitioners on supporting parents to further engage in their children's learning. This will be ready by the end of 2019.

SG/ES

From parents' pre-inspection questionnaires, the percentage of parents who are satisfied with their child's progress with learning, and the quality of reporting about their child's progress as indicated across a range of measures/questions.

6,816 parents/carers of pupils in primary, secondary, all-through and special schools completed the questionnaire.

Satisfaction with their child's progress with learning and the quality of reporting about their progress

80% agreed that their child found their learning activities hard enough.

89% agreed that their child was making good progress at school.

79% agreed that they received helpful, regular feedback about how their child was doing e.g. informal feedback, reports, learning profiles.

76% agreed that the information they received about how their child is doing reached them at the right time.

76% agreed that they understood how their child's progress was assessed.

84% agreed that their child received the help they need to do well.

Reporting to parents - this will be taken forward via the actions set out in the "Learning Together" Action Plan, published in August 2018, in particular the action plan's goal on communication with parents.

SG/ES

From the Scottish Household Survey, parental satisfaction rates.

The Scottish Household Survey asks adults (not only parents) how satisfied they are with a number of local services, including schools.

The 2017 survey reports that:

70% of adults were very or fairly satisfied with the quality of local schools in 2017.

The percentage of adults very or fairly satisfied with local schools has fallen over the last 6 years, from a high of 85% in 2011 to the current level of 70%.

87% of adults who have used schools, i.e. those who have children in school, were very or fairly satisfied with the quality of local schools in 2017. Satisfaction of service users is also more stable over time than that of all adults.

Action on parental satisfaction will be taken forward via the action set out in the "Learning Together" Action Plan, published in August 2018 and detailed above.

SG

New evidence to be incorporated into the NIF in future years

A new national parental involvement and engagement census will collect a range of data to inform improvement activity. The census will cover a range of topics in relation to the views of parent/carers of their child's school and how involved they feel they are in their child's learning. The census will provide local authorities with local information in order for them to focus on where improvement is needed, and to monitor progress over time.

The best people to ask for information about parental involvement and engagement are parents themselves. Therefore, conducting such a census of parents will improve the level of detailed information available to schools, local authorities and national agencies in order to make improvements to the way that they involve and engage parents and families.

The census will be piloted by summer 2019.

Data from health visitor reviews (27-30 month).

In the 2016/17 review, more than one in four children from the most deprived areas (24%) had at least one developmental concern identified in the 27-30 month review compared to one in nine for the least deprived areas (11%).

Children from the most deprived areas in Scotland are more than twice as likely to have at least one developmental concern compared to those from the least deprived.

The review coverage across NHS Boards has increased slightly, but varies significantly across NHS Boards. This is also true of the completeness of the forms and the use of assessment tools.

The Scottish Government will work closely with NHS Boards and ISD Scotland over the course of 2019 to drive improvement in both completeness and quality of the data provided for these reviews.

SG

Data from a range of surveys on health and wellbeing showing changes over time.

Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR) 2016 is the latest in a series of research projects, and builds on research carried out in 2012, 2009 and 2006. The overall aim of the research is to provide a clear and robust picture of relationships and behaviour in publically funded mainstream schools; current policy and practice in promoting positive relationships and behaviour; and behaviour management approaches that are used in schools.

The Scottish Government will commission BISSR 2019, following discussion with members of Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS).

The review of Personal and Social Education (PSE) in schools and ELC settings will be published by the end of the year. It identifies a number of recommendations to improve and enhance PSE delivery for children and young people. The Scottish Government will work with key stakeholders to implement the recommendations within an appropriate timescale.

SG/ES

Data on the percentage of school inspections where QI 3.1: Ensuring wellbeing, quality and inclusion is graded as good or better.

HM Inspectors evaluated the impact of the service's approach to wellbeing, equality and inclusion which underpins children and young people's ability to achieve success. There is a focus on how positive learners and staff feel and how well they are listened to and how effectively legislative duties are understood and met.

Of the 121 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the National Improvement Framework between August 2017 and June 2018, almost all schools were evaluated as satisfactory or better (91%). The majority were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion' (67%).

Across schools, work to improve children and young people's wellbeing is a strong focus. Positive relationships within the school continue to be a key feature which help children and young people to feel listened to. As a result, most children and young people feel they are treated fairly and with respect. Across the primary sector there is an increased focus on using nurture approaches and developing children's emotional wellbeing. This is having a positive impact on children's behaviour and engagement in learning. Children are becoming more aware of the wellbeing indicators. These now need to be more fully embedded in the work of the school to ensure children and young people can use these with increasing confidence to talk about their wellbeing. There remains a need across secondary schools to develop more strategic approaches to improving the wellbeing of all young people.

Across all sectors, schools work well with partners to support their work in improving outcomes for children and young people, including those facing challenges. As a result, most children and young people who require additional support have their needs met well and are supported effectively to feel included. Ensuring a focus on children's rights is a prominent feature in most schools. There remains scope for more schools to further develop approaches to learner participation to ensure that all children and young people are involved in decision making about their own learning, wellbeing and decisions which may affect their lives.

Overall, staff have a good understanding of their statutory duties in meeting the needs of children and young people. Secondary schools provide good opportunities for young people to learn about equalities and to challenge discrimination. In primary schools there is now a clearer focus on developing approaches to ensure inclusion and equality for all learners. This now needs to be more closely linked to curricular programmes to ensure that children and young people learn about all aspects of equalities related to a wider range of protected characteristic groups.

Guidance on improving outcomes for children and young people from travelling cultures will be published before the end of 2018. We will take forward a plan of actions alongside the guidance to support implementation and draw attention to wider resources which are about culture and tradition of travelling families to support schools understanding of the culture.

We will be working collaboratively with partners across the education sector to actively explore what more we can do to encourage uptake of ELC /Further Education/Higher Education for the Gypsy Traveller community.

Education Scotland are currently working on the development of a second Inclusive Education online module which will be available early 2019.

The Scottish Government will undertake a review of the statutory guidance – 'Conduct of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education in schools (2014) to ensure that it covers issues to support pupils wellbeing, including the issue of sexual harassment and inclusion. We will form a steering group to review the guidance and update it appropriately. The first meeting will take place by the end of January 2019. The guidance will provide all school staff with clear advice on how to support pupils experiencing sexual harassment, as well as supporting schools to adopt inclusive practices for all protected characteristics.

We have committed to implement a range of recommendations to support LGBTI inclusive education across Scotland. These include recommendations to improve practice and guidance for education staff and to increase awareness of LGBTI issues. They will ensure that all children and young people feel included, that their voice matters, that they are an important part of a school's ethos and culture. The delivery of these recommendations will be monitored via the action plan.

We have made a commitment to introduce counsellors in all secondary schools across Scotland as part of a range of actions taken across the Scottish Government to improve the services for children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. We have also committed to recruiting an additional 250 school nurses by 2022.

As part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge, the Care Experienced Children And Young People fund was introduced in August 2018. Funding of £33m over 3 years is being provided to authorities to support improvements in educational outcomes for care experienced children and young people. National guidance, developed between Scottish Government, COSLA and ADES, requires that the use of the funding is jointly agreed by the local authority Chief Education and Chief Social Work Officers. We will monitor use of this funding throughout 2019 and identify and share good practice through the National Improvement Hub and RICs.

ES/SG/RICs

Data from all 32 local authorities on children and young people's achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels in literacy and numeracy at P1, P4, P7 and S3.

The Achievement of CfE Levels 2017/18 data collection confirms that:

At primary stages, the percentage of pupils achieving the expected CfE level is highest in P1 and decreases slightly in P4 and P7:

• P1 reading 81%, writing 78%, listening and talking 87%, numeracy 85%

• P4 reading 77%, writing 72%, listening and talking 85%, numeracy 76%

• P7 reading 79%, writing 73%, listening and talking 84%, numeracy 75%

At S3, the percentage of pupils achieving Third Level or better is high across all organisers:

• Reading 90%, writing 89%, listening and talking 91%, numeracy 89%

Just over half of S3 pupils have achieved Fourth Level in each organiser:

• Reading 53%, writing 51% listening and talking 55%, numeracy 56%

• Performance was highest in listening and talking and generally lowest in writing.

An assessment summit will take place in 2019 to enable SG to work with academics, stakeholders and partners to reflect on the BGE assessment model and the place of SNSA within this.

Education Scotland will work with practitioners to develop and publish a professional learning resource that supports high quality play-based learning across the early level of Curriculum for Excellence by December 2019. This will feature existing good practice from across Scotland.

Following the publication of the national strategy for school libraries in September 2018, an implementation group has been established. This group will begin implementation of the 20 action points in the strategy which are designed to support the improvement in literacy and numeracy, boost attainment across the curriculum, support health and wellbeing, foster inclusion, and enable opportunities for family learning. The group will meet 4 times in 2019, and the strategy will be implemented over the next five years.

The Scottish Government will publish guidance for all early learning and childcare providers in December 2018 on how to access local outdoor space and how to set up an outdoor nursery experience. We have provided £860,000 of funding to Inspiring Scotland to work with eight local authorities to increase and improve their outdoor learning, which will include the establishment of two outdoor nurseries. We will also provide £600,000 of funding over the next two years through the Outdoor Learning in Nature Fund for up to 16 projects in nurseries, schools and community groups across Scotland. All the projects involve working with schools and nurseries to help children from our most deprived areas spend time in nature.

Education Scotland will carry out a national thematic inspection across of a random selection of early learning and childcare settings and schools focused on mathematics. The findings will be used to identify what is working well and what needs to improve. As part of the inspections, HM Inspectors will visit a sample of schools and have discussions with a range of stakeholders during the spring of 2019 and findings will be published in autumn 2019.

There will be an independent review of the approach to P1 assessments (which help inform the professional judgement of teachers on achievement of a CfE level) within the context of the NIF. The review will be asked to provide conclusions and recommendations by the end of May 2019.

A P1 practitioner forum has been established, led by Professor Sue Ellis. The forum is a place for engagement and discussion on the issues facing standardised assessments in a play based early years curriculum. It will provide insight and practical advice to teachers, schools and Scottish Government by May 2019.

SG/ES

Data on the senior phase qualifications and awards obtained by school leavers.

The number of Higher passes have remained stable despite a fall in the S5 and S6 cohort, and over 50,000 skills based awards and achievements were certificated in August 2018.

There is a greater rate of increase in the proportion of young people attaining 1 or more qualifications^[2] at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6 in the most deprived SIMD areas than in the least deprived.

In 2016/17, 12.8% of school leavers left with one or more vocational qualifications at SCQF level 5 or better, compared with 10.7% in 2015/16 and 9.0% in 2014/15. During 2016/17 the percentage of school leavers attaining vocational qualifications also increased at SCQF levels 2 to 7.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

SG

Data on school leaver destinations, including participation in learning, training and work.

The participation measure (PM) data tells us the learning, training and employment status of 16-19 year olds. This is used to understand what activities individuals progress on to when they have completed a course of learning, training or a period of employment.

The data is telling us that the learning and training system works well for the majority of 16-19 year olds, however, particular groups still do not successfully progress through learning and training and in to work. Local authorities, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and colleges using the data that underpins the PM to identify individuals who need help to sustain or access learning, training or employability support. Scottish Government will consider the findings of this analysis and identify whether there are policy implications.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

SG, SDS, LAs, colleges and the SFC.

Through Education Scotland's external review of careers information, advice and guidance services, percentages of these services graded as 'good' or better for the quality element 1.1: How effective are service providers at achieving and maintaining high levels of service delivery?

Of the 7 Careers Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG) inspections carried out between August 2017 and June 2018, 100% were graded as good or better against 'Customer progression and achievement of relevant high quality outcomes'. Data shows that local authority secondary schools are working with SDS careers staff through the School Partnership Agreement (SPA), and other activities, to help improve the participation measure in schools and the positive destinations for young people.

The Data Hub is being used more effectively by school staff to plan and deliver more focused career services to all learners.

To ensure further improvement in levels of service delivery, SDS is:

• Working with schools to ensure young people receive their entitlements under the Career Education Standard;
• Using the SPA to ensure young people are aware of the different pathways available to them as they progress through school.

This work will be ongoing, year on year.

ES

Local authority self-evaluation data on the effectiveness of moderation of teachers' professional judgement of Curriculum for Excellence levels in literacy and numeracy.

Evidence from the majority of local authorities suggests that teachers are becoming increasingly more confident about making judgements of a CfE level. Learning from the Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officer (QAMSO) programme is crucial to the success of moderation and this has been built upon to involve and support others through moderation activities and opportunities for professional dialogue around standards and expectations.

Education Scotland's National Moderation hub is beginning to be used to improve the consistency of evaluations further. Standardised assessments are being used to provide additional assessment information to support teachers' professional judgements. Overall, moderation continues to be a focus across all authorities. However, there is a growing confidence that the processes being developed are leading to greater consistency of teachers' judgements of CfE levels in literacy and numeracy, particularly in primary schools. There remains the need for continuing support.

Education Scotland will continue to review how best they can work together with staff across RICs to better share practice, skills and expertise in assessment and moderation. Education Scotland is planning to hold a number of events in 2018/19 to continue to provide effective support to improve the consistency and effectiveness of moderation of teachers' professional judgement further.

ES and RICs

School inspection data on the effectiveness of moderation of teachers' professional judgement of Curriculum for Excellence levels in literacy and numeracy.

In September 2016, Education Scotland commenced a new model of inspection in primary and secondary schools, using new Quality Indicators (QI). Evaluation of the process of moderation is gathered within learning, teaching and assessment. Evaluation of the impact of moderation is gathered within raising attainment and achievement. This evidence is detailed in the new National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report .

There is a notable increase in the focus on both internal and external approaches to moderation activities to help develop shared understanding of standards and expectations. Alongside increased use of the national benchmarks, this is helping staff to make more reliable judgements about progress and achievement of a Curriculum for Excellence level. There now needs to be increased focus on developing a more consistent understanding of moderation to ensure increased validity and reliability of assessment information.

Overall confidence in the reliability of data on attainment of Curriculum for Excellence levels in literacy and numeracy is improving. However, there is still a need to ensure that schools continue to improve their use of data and tracking processes to ensure this data is robust and reliable across all schools.

Covered by the action immediately above.

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Scottish Funding Council (SFC) National Measure 2(a) – number of senior phase age pupils studying vocational qualifications delivered by colleges.

There has been an increase in the number of senior phase pupils studying vocational qualifications, at SCQF 5 and above, delivered by colleges, rising from 3,014 enrolments in 2015/16 to 4,510 enrolments in 2016-17.

We are now using SFC measure 2(a) as opposed to 2(c), which was mentioned in the 2018 NIF, because it gives more explicit data on the numbers of senior phase pupils, as opposed to credits delivered to learners in college. An action plan has been agreed by SFC and SG.

The SFC outcome managers will be working closely with colleges throughout 2019 to embed the enhanced DYW related principles within the Outcome Agreements- including the expansion of the vocational offer in schools.

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Evidence of the number of employers engaged with education (ranging from single engagements through to strategic partnerships) to support young people of all ages to understand career opportunities, and develop skills for work

(including career advice, work inspiration, work experience etc).

The Scottish Government now has a network of 21 employer-led regional groups supporting the delivery of school-employer partnerships across the country and we have seen innovative approaches to school-employer partnerships, and the creation of a broader curriculum offer within schools.

The Scottish Government commissioned a Formative Evaluation of the DYW Regional Groups, which was published on 15 November 2018. Its recommendations will inform how we develop the groups going forward. The evaluation identified 13 recommendations for consideration by the Scottish Government, Group Members and stakeholders.

The Scottish Government has put in place an overarching set of KPIs for the DYW programme of activity. Officials will work with the DYW Employer's Forum, to put in place revised KPIs for the next Financial year (2019-20).

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New evidence to be incorporated into the NIF in future years

A new Health and Wellbeing Census, covering children based in publicly funded schools from late primary through to secondary schools. The census will cover a wide range of topics and themes in relation to the Health and Wellbeing of children and young people. The census will provide local authorities with local information in order for them to focus on where improvement is needed, and to monitor progress over time.

The NIF Interactive Evidence Report provides information across a broad range of measures in relation to the health and wellbeing of children and young people. However, current evidence is largely gathered from national and international sample surveys which whilst they provide an overview picture for Scotland, they provide little information showing what is happening at a local level, or by deprivation areas across Scotland.

The first census will take place in the 2019/20 academic year, and every 4 years thereafter.

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The SNSA National Report produced by the assessment contractor ACER UK.

The first National Report covers the assessments undertaken during the 2017/18 school session. It provides national level data on the achievement of children and young people in the literacy and numeracy assessments. This data is broken down by a range of pupil characteristics and by Curriculum for Excellence organisers.

By August 2020, Education Scotland will prepare professional learning resources for school staff, based on the findings from the National Report.

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We will work with partners to identify senior phase qualifications and awards that relate to Learning for Sustainability and the associated level of enrolment and attainment

This information will help us to track the number of learners who are engaging with Learning for Sustainability and therefore gaining a broad range of knowledge, skills and values associated with real world challenges and opportunities. Ensuring learners are accessing a broad range of skills and knowledge is central to learners gaining the four capacities at the heart of Curriculum for Excellence.

This data will support a broader range of actions that will take forward the recommendations of the concluding report of the Learning for Sustainability National Implementation Group – Vision 2030+.

The Scottish Government will publish a Learning for Sustainability Action Plan by summer 2019.

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Data on the percentage of school inspections where QI 2.3: learning, teaching and assessment is graded as good or better.

Evidence in Education Scotland's Quality and Improvement in Scottish Education report highlighted that the quality of learning and teaching was too variable. As part of inspections from August 2016 HM Inspectors evaluated a new quality indicator: 'Learning, Teaching and Assessment'. They evaluated the extent to which all children and young people experienced consistently high-quality learning and the effectiveness of assessment approaches including shared expectations of standards and arrangements for moderation across stages and the curriculum.

Of the 121 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2017 and June 2018, almost all were evaluated as satisfactory or better (93%). The majority of them were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'learning, teaching and assessment' (56%).

Positive relationships between learners and staff and among learners continue to support learning well. As a result, children and young people are engaged and motivated in their learning and feel supported and encouraged by staff. Schools are taking positive steps to use digital technologies more regularly to enhance teaching and learning. There is still scope for children and young people to be more actively engaged in planning and leading their own learning.

Approaches for assessing and monitoring children and young people's progress across the broad general education are improving. Staff are using a broader range of assessment evidence to evaluate children and young people's progress. However, there is more work to be done to ensure greater account is taken of assessment evidence when planning learning and teaching. This will help staff to build effectively on children and young people's prior learning and ensure learners engage in learning at the right level of difficulty to meet their learning needs.

There is a notable increase in the focus on both internal and external approaches to moderation activities to help develop shared understanding of standards and expectations. Alongside increased use of the national benchmarks, this is helping staff to make more reliable judgements about progress and achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels. There now needs to be increased focus on developing a more consistent understanding of moderation to ensure increased validity and reliability of assessment information.

Overall, addressing the variability which exists in the quality of learning remains a challenge.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

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Data on the percentage of school inspections where QI 3.2: raising attainment and achievement is graded good or better.

HM Inspectors evaluated the school's success in achieving the best possible outcomes for all children and young people. This focused on attainment across all areas of the curriculum and the ability to demonstrate improvements in children and young people's achievements in relation to skills and attributes.

Of the 121 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2017 and June 2018, most schools were evaluated as satisfactory or better (89%). The majority were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'raising attainment and achievement' (55%).

Overall, confidence in the reliability of achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels data in literacy and numeracy is improving. There is still a need to ensure that schools continue to improve their use of data and tracking processes to ensure that teacher professional judgement is reliable across all schools and leads to improved attainment and achievement. While attainment of young people in literacy and numeracy by the time of leaving school is improving the need remains to improve literacy and numeracy at all stages.

Most schools celebrate and recognise children and young people's achievements both in and out of school. In the most effective practice, learners are able to talk about and demonstrate their skills. There remains a need for children and young people to better understand the skills and attributes they are developing as a result of these achievements and how these link to the world of work. Across all secondary schools inspected, almost all young people left school for a positive destination.

Overall, schools have gained confidence and knowledge in identifying the poverty-related attainment gap in their local context. Almost all schools have planned interventions in place using Attainment Scotland Funding. There remains a need to ensure that schools effectively measure the impact of these interventions on raising the attainment of all children and young people. Schools should continue to improve approaches to identifying outcomes and measures to enable them to evaluate the impact of their approaches on closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Within the special school sector, there is a need to focus more clearly on identifying the poverty-related attainment gap alongside raising attainment for all children requiring additional support.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

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Level of attendance and number of exclusions per school.

93.3% was the total attendance rate recorded for 2016/17. This is very similar to previous years. The attendance rate was higher for primary schools (94.9%) than secondary schools (91.2%) and special schools (90.3%).

Children and young people living in the 20% most deprived areas had an attendance rate that was 6.6 percentage points lower than the pupils living in the 20% least deprived areas.

The exclusion rate for all pupils in 2016/17 was 26.8 per 1,000 pupils. This has been falling year on year since 2006/07. Rates of exclusions per 1,000 pupils for pupils living in the 20% most deprived areas were 48.5 per 1,000 pupils compared with 9.1 per 1,000 pupils living in the 20% least deprived areas.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

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The percentage of schools which self-evaluate as good or better for Q.I. 2.3 – learning, teaching and assessment and Q.I. 3.2 – raising attainment and achievement; and for progress with the priorities set out in the NIF.

Local authorities reported that across Scotland the quality of learning, teaching and assessment was self-evaluated by schools as good or better in 73 % of all schools.

Local authorities reported that across Scotland the quality of raising attainment and achievement was self-evaluated by schools as good or better in 70% of all schools.

More needs to be done to involve children and young people, parents and partners more actively in agreeing and evaluating the impact of the priorities to be taken forward through school improvement planning.

There is a continued commitment to bring about improvement through a range of self-evaluation approaches. In the most effective schools there are strong approaches to monitoring and evaluating the impact of changes on improving outcomes for learners. However, too often schools are not using the evidence from self-evaluation well enough to prioritise those actions required to target improvements.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

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The percentage of primary schools which are using technology to support effective learning and teaching across the curriculum, as indicated through the Digital Schools Award Scotland (DSAS) Framework.

To date, 747 nursery, primary or special schools have registered, with 106 of them having achieved the award. The DSAS framework for secondary was launched in September 2017 and to date 143 schools have registered, with 10 of them having achieved the award.

No new activity identified for 2019. Ongoing activity is set out in Annex B.

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Local authority information on their capacity and impact on improvement in learning, teaching and assessment, and raising attainment and achievement; and their progress with the priorities set out in the NIF as good or better.

Self-evaluation evidence from almost all authorities suggests that there is a strong capacity to continue to make progress with the NIF priorities. A few local authorities provided evidence that a shortage of teaching staff presents problems in supporting improvement. Authorities have identified their poverty-related attainment gaps but they are at various stages in tracking and monitoring how well the gaps are closing.

Most authorities can demonstrate improvement in closing the poverty-related attainment gap in literacy and numeracy. However, in most cases, the pace of progress is too slow. Getting It Right for Every Child continues to be the key driver behind improving health and wellbeing.

Authorities report that partnership working is increasing as schools recognise that they are not able to mitigate fully the impact of deprivation by themselves.

There is an increased emphasis on careers in the broad general education and increasing partnership working to provide appropriate positive destinations.

Secondary schools continue to look for ways to develop vocational pathways but progress in this area is inconsistent. Most authorities provided evidence of how SAC and/ or PEF funding is supporting or beginning to support improved professional learning for teachers and improved learning for children and young people. Almost all authorities have developed their Standards and Qualities reporting to reflect the NIF priorities.

Education Scotland will continue to provide support though the RICs.

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Number of registrations for funded early learning and childcare.

Based on the 2018 Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, uptake rates for funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) for 2 year olds and 3 & 4 year olds remains similar to 2017 levels. There was near universal uptake for 3 & 4 year olds registered for local authority funded ELC in 2018 (estimated at 99% in both 2017 and 2018). An estimated 10% of all 2 year olds were registered for funded ELC in 2017 and 2018. Around a quarter of 2 year olds are now eligible for funded ELC through the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and through subsequent secondary legislation which commenced in August 2015.

Research, to look at the barriers to uptake for 2 year olds was published in early 2017, and suggested that the main barrier to uptake was awareness of the entitlement.

There is now a dedicated national project on the 2 year old offer within the Scottish Government expansion programme to provide support to local authorities and make links across the programme. The programme will last up to, and beyond, August 2020. We aim to improve uptake by ensuring the 2 year old offer is appropriate and appealing for eligible children and their families

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New evidence to be incorporated into the NIF in future years

Data on the proportion of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) settings achieving good, very good and excellent Care Inspectorate evaluations.

The most recent published data that's available shows that in 2017, 91% of funded ELC providers achieved good or better on all Care Inspectorate Quality themes. .

We are finalising a national standard that all ELC providers will be required to meet in order to deliver the funded ELC hours from August 2020. This is likely to require providers to achieve Care Inspectorate evaluations of good or better on all themes.

This will stimulate an even greater focus on improvement.

The ELC Quality Action Plan includes a range of actions that will support improvement including:

• A national online programme of CPL for the ELC sector;
• a range of actions focused in sharing good practice; and
• strengthening the content of initial qualifications.

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Data from each of the key drivers.

Refer to NIF Interactive Evidence Report

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Progress towards achieving the priorities set within the Framework, drawing on all the evidence gathered.

Refer to NIF Interactive Evidence Report

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Information on initial teacher education programmes coverage of data literacy.

Covered as part of the content analysis of ITE published in May 2017. This shows a wide variance in time spent on data literacy across all programmes. It raises a question as to whether the level of variance is acceptable and whether steps should be taken in terms of course accreditation/quality assurance.

An evaluation framework for the accreditation of ITE programmes has now been published by the GTCS . This defines the content that should be covered for professional acceptability of an ITE programme leading to a teaching qualification; and confirms that student teachers must be supported to develop competence in both data and digital literacy.

The suite of Professional Standards managed by the GTCS are currently being revised and both digital and data literacy will be given greater prominence in revised versions to be published in 2020.

The evaluation framework will be used for the accreditation of all new ITE programmes and for the reaccreditation of existing ITE provision.

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Data on the views of newly qualified teachers, schools and local authorities on how effectively newly qualified teachers use data to enhance learning and teaching.

Covered as part of the content analysis of ITE published in May 2017. This shows a wide variance in time spent on data literacy across all programmes. It raises a question as to whether the level of variance is acceptable and whether steps should be taken in terms of course accreditation/quality assurance.

The findings suggests the level of confidence amongst probationers in terms of data literacy is mixed.

Covered by the action immediately above.

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New evidence to be incorporated into the NIF in future years

Evidence drawn from specific research projects being taken forward under the Scottish Government's Research Strategy for Scottish Education.

Each of the specific research projects remains in progress and no findings had been published by December 2018. All reports commissioned under the Research Strategy will be published on the SG website.

The Knowledge Mobilisation Study, which looks at how educational practitioners are engaging with research, is now complete. The report from the study and policy recommendations coming from it will be published in early 2019.

A survey of secondary school headteachers will be undertaken, which will help develop a more comprehensive understanding of senior phase curriculum models and implementation. The final report from the project is due in May 2019.

A literature review of primary-secondary transitions has been carried out. The full report of that review and research findings report will be published in early 2019.

Early work is underway on a long-term project to develop a new index of social background, which is aimed at creating individual level data (as opposed to area-based) which allow more targeted and effective intervention for disadvantaged pupils. Ongoing.

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