Education: improvement framework and plan - 2021

Drivers of improvement: what the evidence is telling us and the action we will take

The key drivers of improvement will continue to provide a focus and structure for gathering evidence to identify where further improvements can be made and for ensuring we have the evidence sources to contribute to our priorities, and to minimise unintended consequences. They all remain equally important and the links and connections across these key areas are essential to enable continuous improvement.

The following sections set out the new improvement and recovery activity which is being undertaken under each of these drivers, and a case study to provide an example of what is working well.

A summary of ongoing and completed activity from last year's plan is set out at Annex A.

School leadership

What is this?

The quality and impact of leadership within schools – at all levels and roles.

What is the evidence telling us?

Local authorities reported that across Scotland the quality of leadership of change was self-evaluated as good or better in 79% of schools across primary, secondary and special provision. This has increased from 76% in 2018/19.

Due to COVID-19, school inspections for 2019/2020 were paused on 13 March 2020. Of the 91 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2019 and March 2020, 88 schools were evaluated as satisfactory or better (97%). 55 were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'leadership of change' (60%).

Since this data was first collected in August 2017, 334 schools across primary, secondary and special provision have been inspected on 'leadership of change' for the National Improvement Framework. In that time, 61% of them were evaluated as good, very good or excellent (and 90% as satisfactory or better).

HM Inspectors found in 2019/20 that in most schools, collaborative leadership has an appropriate focus on equity and raising attainment for all. Senior leadership teams promote collegiate working among staff. In secondary schools, the majority of middle leaders manage change well. They work collaboratively with each other and their teams. There remains scope to ensure that strategies are used more effectively monitor and evaluate the impact of change, including measuring fully the impact of interventions on individuals and groups of learners

Staff show ongoing commitment to and engagement in professional learning to improve their knowledge, understanding and skills. Increasingly, professional learning is aligned with improvement priorities. This is helping staff continually improve their practice and is contributing to positive outcomes for children and young people.

So far 511 teachers across cohorts 1-4 have completed the Into Headship programme. Cohort 5 and 6 are still underway. Cohort 5 has 174 participants on the programme and should be completing now. There are 244 participants on cohort 6 and they are due to complete Dec 2021- Jan 2022. The Into Headship programme is currently being evaluated in preparation for the forthcoming re-accreditation process with the GTCS (scheduled for March 2021).

Currently, Scotland's teaching population is not reflective of Scotland's population. The statistical data illustrates a static position on the number of teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds and has shown very little change in nearly two decades. Scotland's Census 2011 recorded that the percentage of people in Scotland from minority ethnic groups is 4% and this compares to 2% of the teacher workforce reporting as being from a minority ethnic background in the 2020 Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland publication.

Evidence from survey data from CERG Workstream 6, Workforce Support highlighted the need to support educators' health and wellbeing through COVID-19 as a key priority.

New improvement and recovery actions for the year ahead.

Evaluations about the Education Scotland Into Headship programme are very positive, and recruitment increased this year to its highest level to date. Holding the Standard has become mandatory from August 2020 and recruitment will open again in January 2021 for cohort 7.

Education Scotland to monitor and evaluate the participation in and the impact on school leaders from the Education Scotland professional learning and leadership online offers including: Headspace, Headteacher Blethers, International Blether series, Excellence in Headship (EiH) Learn and Stretch sessions.

Teaching in a Diverse Scotland identified that more needed to be done to encourage and support leadership opportunities for Black and Minority Ethnic educators and to provide current and future school leaders with professional learning focused on anti-racist practice. As a result, Education Scotland will:

• Include case studies on BME teachers who have participated in the professional learning and leadership programmes, in evaluation activity and promotional materials.
• Revise online modules for Into Headship: Education Law and Employment Law.
• Deliver EiH Learn sessions for headteachers focused on diversity in the teaching profession and the role of headteacher offered across the country.
• Work with partners to offer a range of opportunities to explore anti-racist practice and education across a range of programmes.
• Maintain an ongoing revision of programme materials (PPTS, handouts) to ensure that visuals/ examples are more representative of the teaching profession.
• Engage with BME educator networks to share messages about recruitment to programmes and the wider professional learning offer.

Working with key partners, Education Scotland will pilot and evaluate offers to support reflective supervision for educators. This reflective supervision offer is to support the mental wellbeing of staff who provide regular, close support to children, young people and families who themselves have experienced, or are experiencing their own significant distress and/or trauma.

Education Scotland will hold a series of International Leadership Seminars during 2021 which will enable wider engagement across the system including with practitioners, school leaders and system leaders.

School leadership - case study

Fiona McDougall is a Quality Improvement Manager in the South West Educational Improvement Collaborative and has completed Education Scotland's Evolving Systems Thinking programme.

The South West Educational Improvement Collaborative (SWEIC) has engaged with the Professional Learning and Leadership (PLL) team at Education Scotland in a variety of ways. Many of the school and system leaders taking on lead roles in the RIC have participated in PLL leadership programmes such as Evolving Systems Thinking, Leading Systems Change and Excellence in Headship. The PLL team at Education Scotland and the SWEIC work together with a shared expertise to support this work.

As a result of social distancing measures during the pandemic, all professional learning opportunities are now facilitated online. There has been significant engagement from school and system leaders in the Education Scotland online offers (Big Blethers, Wee Blethers and Headspace sessions). Building on this work, SWEIC used this model to deliver a regional blether, led by Douglas Hutchison, SWEIC Regional Lead Officer, SWEIC headteachers from each authority, and Fiona McDougall from the SWEIC team. The blether was supported by Lead Specialists from the PLL team at Education Scotland and the South West Regional Improvement Team senior officers. Lead Specialists supported the event, by sharing learning facilitation and the use of protocols when delivering professional learning online. Feedback has been very positive with participants welcoming the opportunity to share challenges being faced and collectively identify solutions.

Douglas Hutchison commented that "facilitating peer to peer collaboration online allows colleagues to engage with each other in ways which suit them best at this time of great uncertainty. The Blethers create space and time for leaders to come together, share their experiences and bring about new ways of thinking, acting and being."

Further to this work, the SWEIC has facilitated a range of professional learning opportunities, from larger regional opportunities to more specific work stream related sessions. The SWEIC team collaborated with colleagues from Columba 1400 to deliver a leadership opportunity, entitled 'Inspiration, Collaboration, Empowerment', to more than 80 headteachers and has also facilitated regional events for headteachers of rural schools, additional support needs schools and early years leaders.

Teacher professionalism

What is this?

Teacher professionalism demonstrates the overall quality of the teaching workforce in Scotland and the impact of their professional learning on children and young people's progress and achievement.

What is the evidence telling us?

In 2019/20, 600 teachers received Professional Recognition. The most common area was Leading Learning, where teachers gained recognition for their leadership in areas such as improving pedagogy and visible learning. 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.

The number of local authority teachers who have competed Professional Update sign-off up to 31 October 2020 has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. As of 31 October 2020, 41.3% of the 2018/19 Professional Update cohort had their professional learning confirmed by their line manager. To support teachers within these challenging times, GTC Scotland has extended the final sign-off date from 31 October 2020 to 31 December 2020.

Data on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) demonstrates a wide variance in time spent on literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, equalities and data literacy across universities and programmes.

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.

The 2019 data collection from local authorities about language learning in schools shows that there is an on-going need for teachers to be supported to delivery language learning, particularly in the primary sector. Scottish Government published detailed results of the survey in March 2020. The 2020 survey is on hold at present and we will consider whether to resume the survey in 2021.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge networking sessions are established and known across the sector, with good participation rates. Evaluations will inform us if the content is relevant and is responsive to the needs of the system.

Due to the pandemic the end of school session 2019/20 was very different for probationer teachers. Education Scotland has designed the 'Stepping Stones' programme to provide a rapid response to that situation with a variety of professional learning opportunities for the target group of teachers in their first 4 years post-probation. The aim is to increase knowledge, skills and confidence in areas identified by participants as requiring development.

We need to monitor the number of new Gaelic Medium Education (GME) teachers going into the profession each year to ensure the numbers are adequate.

New improvement and recovery actions for the year ahead.

To support the new Initial Teacher Education self-evaluation framework, a second self-evaluation symposium will be held in 2021 with ITE providers focused on diversity and health and wellbeing.

As part of the Education Scotland Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) plan, milestone 1b focusses on supporting practitioners to network and share knowledge of what is working well to support the educational recovery of the most disadvantaged children and young people. This will be achieved in collaboration with partner organisations and practitioners to encourage sharing knowledge around the system through a range of approaches including for example, Education Scotland's Blether series.

Education Scotland will put in place a quality assurance process by April 2021 to ensure that all professional learning activities (PLAs) are of a consistent and high standard. Processes will be established and in place to ensure online content is refreshed, PLA material is updated and the impact of implementation is evident. Materials will be developed and utilised. Increased practitioner skill and confidence will be evidenced through course evaluations initially.

To support the mental health and inclusion of vulnerable children and young people (CYP), and their families during the recovery from COVID-19, thereby addressing the achievement gap, Education Scotland will undertake the development of a self-evaluation tool kit for practitioners to support the implementation of GIRFEC for all learners (GIRFL), which will be championed by, and in, RICs to ensure a better balance of mental health. Inclusive teaching and learning offers and the rights of CYP will be incorporated into all of Education Scotland's activities.

Education Scotland will adapt the Teacher Leadership Programme and Supporting Teacher Leadership Programmes to be delivered exclusively online, with a mixture of online meetings, networking events and self-directed learning modules. This will include the introduction of online twilight workshops with practitioner input into content and themes. Continuation of Blethers to provide professional dialogue and networking opportunities to a wider teacher audience.

Engagement in the Workforce Support package of resources including coaching and mentoring and reflective supervision, including participants' evaluations, will be monitored to ensure the concepts are useful for participants.

Education Scotland will deliver the post probationer package of support 'Stepping Stones: Support for teachers in their early career'. The Stepping Stones programme will include a dedicated space on the Education Scotland Professional Learning resource providing access to a series of workshops, online 'Blethers' and specific PLAs. There will additionally be a Stepping Stones Community on Microsoft teams to allow sharing, networking and collaboration. In this way the programme will provide an element of peer support for teachers for their own wellbeing.

Professional learning and support for languages will be provided through funding for local government for languages 1+2, through Scotland's National Centre for Languages, SCILT, by Education Scotland and through the British Council's Modern Language Assistant Programme.

To promote the recruitment of Gaelic teachers, the Scottish Government is funding a Gaelic Teacher Recruitment Officer at Bòrd na Gàidhlig (BnG) to attract Gaelic speakers into the profession. A range of promotional materials have been prepared for this purpose and BnG and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) are promoting Gaelic teaching at school events. In addition courses are available at Glasgow University and Sabhal Mor Ostaig to assist teachers who would like to transfer from English to Gaelic teaching and also local authorities are providing support within their area for those who would like to teach through the medium of Gaelic.

Teacher professionalism - case study

Anita Le Tissier is a Principal Teacher at an Edinburgh primary school and a past participant of Education Scotland's Middle Leaders – Leading Change (MLLC) programme.

Teacher Professionalism demonstrates the quality of the teaching workforce in Scotland and has been of significance to me throughout my teaching career. Professional development, through collaborative learning, has impacted my practice and career decisions since qualifying. I have engaged significantly with Education Scotland's PLL resources for a number of years. Attendance on the MLLC programme had a profound impact on my own commitment to learning for leadership.

My participation in the MLLC programme offered the first experience of collaborating with colleagues to challenge perspectives, which in turn, opened the door to further learning of leadership. I then engaged in reading more around leadership of change, and values-based leadership. My learning here felt cathartic as I grew in my understanding of myself as a person, and as a professional. Since attending the course, I have become passionate about developing professional identity – encouraging the people I work with to engage in their own critical reflection to understand and enact who they are and how that benefits all children.

When schools closed in 2020 due to COVID-19, I felt very soon after that part of my identity had faded – the professional part of me who thrived on leadership of learning and learning for leadership. Along with a Twitter friend, I started Scottish Educators Connect (SEC) – an online book group aimed at collaborative professional development. The group, originally nine members has been active for seven months. We have over 1000 Twitter followers, have undertaken book studies with more than 100 Scottish educators and health professionals, have a website with over 20,000 views and a podcast with hundreds of weekly listeners and a total of 6,000 listens since July. The impact of the reach of Scottish Educators Connect is the positive engagement of all participants in self-criticality and reflections for positive change in schools.

The creation and continuation of SEC supports the Scottish teaching workforce to improve in their professionalism by facilitating participants to challenge their bias, perspectives and ideas and learn from each other. The collaborative community keeps growing and we welcome all professionals who support children and young people, in all sectors of education and health.

Parental engagement

What is this?

This covers parental and family engagement in the learning of children and young people, as well as parental involvement in the life and work of school. Parental engagement focuses on ways in which parents, carers and families can best be supported to develop the skills and confidence to engage in, and encourage, their children's learning in school and in everyday life. Schools and partners can play a vital role in supporting families to do this effectively and with confidence.

What is the evidence telling us?

Before school inspections take place, HM Inspectors issue questionnaires to parents and carers. These give an indication of the satisfaction of parents and carers with various aspects of the school to inform the inspection. The results from these questionnaires for the academic year 2019/20 are provided below. These questionnaire data relate to the 91 establishments inspected as part of the sample for the National Improvement Framework between August 2019 and March^[3] 2020. These results are not representative of all parents/carers across Scotland.

7,213 parents/carers of pupils in primary, secondary, all-through and special schools completed the questionnaire.^[4]

When asked about satisfaction with their engagement and involvement with the school:

• 74% agreed^[5] that the school gave them advice on how to support their child's learning at home.
• 57% agreed that the school organised activities where they and their child could learn together.
• 59% agreed that the school took their views into account when making changes.
• 86% 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.
• 81% agreed that they would recommend the school to other parents.
• 84% agreed that they were satisfied with the school.

When asked about satisfaction with their child's progress with learning and the quality of reporting about their progress:

• 81% agreed that their child found their learning activities hard enough.
• 88% agreed that their child was making good progress at school.
• 78% 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.
• 75% agreed that they understood how their child's progress was assessed.
• 83% agreed that their child received the help they need to do well

The key learning points from the initial Parental Involvement and Engagement (PIE) census data from 2018/19 were as follows:

• Generally, parents of primary school children reported more positive parental involvement and engagement compared to parents of secondary school children.
• There is a need to improve the communication from Parent Councils to Parent Forums but there was a positive view of the impact of Parent Councils in decision making in both primary and secondary.
• Schools are generally very good at being approachable, responding to issues and telling parents about things.
• There is further room for improvement in involving parents in decisions and strategies from the outset.

Awareness and delivery of practice in relation to learning at home, parental involvement/engagement and family learning has increased. However COVID-19 has resulted in a change in engagement strategies and delivery approaches. Practitioners require support and guidance to navigate the new requirements placed on them.

Practitioners require guidance on reporting to parents, holding parent meetings/evenings and engaging with Parent Councils during COVID-19 and the recovery phase.

Parental Engagement / Family Learning practitioner networks are well established and known across the sectors with high participation rates. They value opportunities to share practice and collaborate through relevant online platforms which will support children and families during COVID-19 and the recovery phase.

There is an identified need to upskill Newly Qualified Teachers/Probationers in relation to parental involvement/engagement, family learning and learning at home.

New improvement and recovery actions for the year ahead.

Scottish Government will engage with the National Parental Engagement Steering Group in order to reflect on parental involvement and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. This will include a reflection on the experience of virtual parent consultations and Parent Council meetings with a view to informing any future guidance and advice to schools. Practice examples will be shared with the national parental engagement network and via Education Scotland's regional improvement support.

The 2020/21 Parental Involvement and Engagement (PIE) Census is being undertaken on a 'volunteer' basis, reflecting the ongoing COVID-related issues which may impact on schools' capacity to undertake the PIE Census in 2020/21. Fieldwork for this PIE Census is planned to take place between January and March 2021.

Scottish Government will monitor and share with partners, the quantitative and qualitative evidence from COVID-19 survey work by parental organisations during the course of 2020/21. This will include but may not be limited to:

• Survey work by National Parent Forum of Scotland in relation to learning at home during Covid-19, parent views on national qualifications during 2020/21 and other education themes.
• Survey work by Connect – example: Parent/Carer Back at School Survey Report (Nov 2020)

The work to share this information will help to inform the ongoing development of policy and practice on parental engagement and decisions and considerations of the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group and wider forums.

Scottish Government and Education Scotland will publicise relevant guidance and advice on parental involvement during Covid-19 to schools via key communication channels and via the national parental engagement network.

Education Scotland will develop and deliver a series of Creative Conversations / Wee Blethers / Webinars in collaboration with schools, local authorities, partner and stakeholder groups as appropriate.

Education Scotland will update National Improvement Hub, wakelets (content curation platforms) and relevant practitioner online platforms with the most up-to-date and relevant information and resources in collaboration with relevant partners including the research community.

Education Scotland will work with national and international practitioners, researchers, policy makers to provide opportunities for knowledge exchange.

Education Scotland will develop and deliver a series of workshops for Newly Qualified Teachers/Probationers.

Education Scotland will continue to refresh the content of Parentzone Scotland website during 2021.

Parental engagement - case study

Moorfoot Primary School and Garvel Deaf Centre – Inverclyde Council

Over the last few years, all chiildren have been taught British Sign Language (BSL) from the start of their nursery placement through to Primary 7, with a view to improving communications and relationships amongst all pupils. As children shared their learning about BSL at home with their parents and families, they too were interested in learning more about deaf culture.

Arrangements were put in place for adults to learn BSL free of charge at sessions run by a BSL tutor and supported by parents of deaf pupils from Garvel Deaf Centre. Outreach classes are held in a community setting for any parents or families who are unable to travel to the school.

BSL has been incorporated and is celebrated across the school including at assemblies, concerts and the school blog.

This has resulted in:

• Increased parental engagement in children's learning amongst hearing and deaf parents and their families

• Parents feel listened to and involved in the wider life of the school and community
• Greater access to deaf adults, deaf peers and deaf role models both in school and across Scotland
• Improved relationships between children and parents, and reduced frustration and anxiety at home
• Greater deaf awareness and a shared understanding amongst hearing parents, families and pupils
• Improved communications with hearing parents of deaf children, deaf parents of hearing children and deaf parents of deaf children
• Parents are regularly accessing and engaging with the online workshops on the school's learning blog
• Improved relationships and friendships between hearing and deaf children
• Improved children's experiences of school and learning.
• Increased appetite amongst pupils to learn about different cultures and how to sign in other languages
• Closer working with cluster secondary school
• Greater links with the wider community and partnerships with national deaf organisations
• Parents having continued their learning and progressed to qualifications in BSL
• Parents of hearing children using BSL as part of their job to communicate with members of the community

Further information on the work of Moorfoot Primary School and Garvel Deaf Centre can be found on the National Improvement Hub.

Assessment of children's progress

What is this?

Assessment of children and young people's progress includes a range of evidence on what children and young people learn and achieve throughout their education and how well this prepares them for life beyond school. This includes achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels, skills, qualifications and other awards, and achievement of positive and sustained destinations. Progress in learning for children and young people with complex additional support needs is evaluated at an individual level, through agreed plans and personalised next steps.

What is the evidence telling us?

HM Inspectors evaluated the impact of the 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 91 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2019 and March 2020, 88 schools were evaluated as satisfactory or better (97%) 65 were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion' (71%). Of the 334 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2017 and March 2020, 68% of them were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion' (and 92% as satisfactory or better).

Supporting and improving children and young people's wellbeing remains a high priority in schools. As a result of positive relationships, learners feel valued, respected and included in their schools. There is a continued focus on developing children's mental wellbeing and emotional resilience. This is having a positive impact on children regulating their behaviour and engaging in their learning. In almost all secondary schools, staff are prioritising the development of positive mental health. There is an increasing focus in identifying and supporting different groups of learners, such as care experienced children and those with protected characteristics. Schools also develop effective partnerships to support children with additional support needs. In most schools, this is helping to upskill staff to meet children's varying needs. There continue to be challenges in accessing specialist support staff for children and families due to the demand on partner services.

There has been an increase in the number of senior phase pupils studying vocational qualifications, at SCQF 5 and above, delivered by colleges. 6,406 senior phase pupils were enrolled in college courses in 2018/19, compared with 5,216 in 2017/18, 4,510 in 2016/17, 3,014 in 2015/16, and 2,393 in 14/15.

There is a need 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.

Teaching Unions and the third sector all have highlighted in campaigns the importance of providing mental health first aid training for teachers.

The Additional Support for Learning (ASL) review found that ASL is not visible or equally valued within Scotland's education system, although there is no fundamental deficit in the principle and policy intention of the ASL legislation and the substantial guidance accompanying it. The challenge is in translating that intention into practice for all our children and young people who face different barriers to their learning across a range of different home and learning environments.

There is a need to continue to support the moderation of learning, teaching and assessment to support teacher's professional judgements. Due to the current context the way this is delivered needs to reflect this. We will provide a more localised and digital approach. This is part of the People and Place approach.

New improvement and recovery actions for the year ahead.

The Learning for Sustainability (LfS) self-assessment tool provided by the SCQF supports credit rating bodies identify their awards and qualifications as LfS-relevant. The Scottish Government will work with the SCQF to monitor the number of LfS relevant awards as more credit rating bodies periodically review their offerings. This information will allow the Scottish Government to monitor associated enrolment and attainment and ultimately the prevalence of LfS in the senior phase of the curriculum.

The Scottish Government has formed a Gender Based Violence in Schools working group to take forward specific actions to support children and young people in light of the reports. The working group will produce guidance for schools by January 2022.

The Scottish Government has commissioned a contractor to develop a new online mental health professional learning resource for all school staff. The aim of the resource is to provide foundation knowledge to all school staff to support children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. The resource will also provide signposting to specialist services that can support children and young people. This will be available by Spring 2021.

The Scottish Government's Blueprint for 2020 Quality Action Plan identified the need for professional learning modules across a range of topics to support the expansion of high quality Early Learning and Childcare (ELC). These included curriculum rationale and monitoring and tracking. Education Scotland will develop professional learning to support improvement in curriculum rationale and monitoring and tracking in the ELC sector during the recovery phase and beyond.

To support young peoples' progression into positive destinations, national and regional work is taking place in Education Scotland to assess and develop the delivery of work-related and work-based learning e.g. virtual work placement experience for learners in the current context of COVID-19. Collectively, we aim to develop mechanisms to support the delivery of work based learning experiences (e.g. virtual work placements) through e.g. the development of an online support offer.

The review of the implementation of additional support for learning (ASL) made recommendations about how to enhance the educational experiences of children and young people with additional support needs. This includes ensuring that the achievements and successes of children and young people are fully recognised and celebrated. A national measurement framework for additional support for learning (ASL) will be developed by 31 October 2021.

The Scottish Government will monitor progress made against the actions from the ASL Review by 31 October 2021.

The Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland's 2018 No Safe Place report, and evidence gathered during the Scottish Government's engagement with local authorities in 2019, highlighted inconsistencies in the definitions of restraint and seclusion used in local policy and practice and the lack of a standard dataset for recording incidents. In 2020, a Physical Intervention Working Group was established to take forward improvements in this area by:

• Developing new national human-rights based guidance on physical intervention, which includes national definitions, by 2021.
• Developing and implementing a new national dataset for the recording and monitoring of incidents.
• Reviewing the restraint and seclusion data collected by local authorities as part of a one year review following publication of the guidance, to assess the guidance's success.

Professor Mark Priestley was commissioned to conduct a review of events following the cancellation of the examination diet in 2020. The review made nine recommendations, the Scottish Government's response to which is summarised below.

• Cancellation of the National 5 exams in 2021 was announced on 7 October 2020, and the cancellation of Higher and Advanced Higher exams was outlined on 8 December. SQA has set up a National Qualifications 2021 Group including representatives from ADES, the EIS, SLS, SCIS, Colleges Scotland, Education Scotland and NPFS to develop and disseminate subject specific guidance for National 5 courses, and this model will form the basis of the arrangements for Higher and Advanced Higher. SQA has also established a learner panel to inform this group to ensure that learner's voices are heard.

• Scottish Government has asked the OECD to extend the scope of the review of the curriculum to include a desk based comparative analysis looking at different countries' approaches to assessment of school level qualifications; and a session(s) with stakeholders to seek views on their findings and recommendations.

• SQA is developing a Learner Engagement Strategy with a focus on strengthening existing links with young people and organisations representing their interests, including the Scottish Youth Parliament and Young Scot.

• SQA is setting up a group to consider the qualification appeals process and the implications for it from UNCRC. This work will be overseen by the National Qualifications 2021 Group and will include broader stakeholder engagement.

• The need for independent research into the development and application of the 2020 ACM will be considered as part of the Scottish Government's research strategy.

• SQA to consider the recommendation on the operational processes for gathering candidate evidence for appeals as part of their digital strategy.

Education Scotland will deliver online professional learning to support learning, teaching and assessment, moderation and the Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officers (QAMSO) programme to practitioners, schools, local authorities, RICs and nationally during the academic session 2020-21. Support will be provided to all levels of the system (including Gaelic Medium Education.)

Assessment of children's progress - case study

North Berwick High School

The ethos and ambition of the North Berwick High School community is underpinned by the school motto: 'Aim Higher' and it is characterised by very positive relationships between young people and staff, and young people and their peers.

The school values of curiosity, diligence, kindness and belonging, underpin young people's learning experiences across the school.

Young people can talk about how they are demonstrating these values in their learning.

Young people have valuable opportunities to evaluate their own learning in faculties in a variety of ways including, learning conversations, questionnaires and discussion groups.

The results of these findings are used by teachers and senior leaders to inform improvement planning at a whole school and faculty level. Where learning activities are appropriately challenging and enjoyable, and are well matched to their needs and interests, young people are particularly diligent, creative and highly motivated.

Planning learning to meet the wide range of needs within a classroom is a feature of learning in most lessons but it is particularly well developed in a few faculties. Almost all teachers are using digital technology effectively to share the purpose of learning with learners.

Teachers have engaged in several useful professional learning opportunities to develop their skills in using a range of digital technologies to enhance learners' experiences. They use a variety of digital platforms to provide resources for young people and to give feedback on their work.

Young people value this approach. In a few lessons, digital aids such as visualizers are used to help develop young people's understanding of new ideas. Senior leaders and teachers are now better placed to identify underperformance or any attainment issues in the Broad General Education.

The improved systems are helping staff to target support for young people more effectively. This new approach also enables staff to view performance of young people across their subjects in the school and is helping to raise expectations.

School improvement

What is this?

The overall quality of education provided by each school in Scotland and its effectiveness in driving further improvement.

What is the evidence telling us?

Due to COVID-19 the school inspections for 2019/2020 were paused on 13th March 2020. Of the 91 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2019 and March 2020, 88 were evaluated as satisfactory or better (97%). 56 of them were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'learning, teaching and assessment' (62%).

Of the 334 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2017 and March 2020, 92% were evaluated as satisfactory or better, and 57% of them were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'learning, teaching and assessment'.

The culture arising from positive relationships between teachers and learners, and learners and themselves continues to be a strength. Staff provide learning environments that are stimulating, engaging and support children and young people to engage well in their learning. In primary schools, the development of nurturing approaches and children's rights underpin teaching and learning.

Senior leaders and teachers are continuing to work collegiately to develop approaches to learning and teaching. Achieving consistently high quality learning and teaching across all sectors continues to be an identified priority for improvement. In primary schools, there is an increasing use of creative pedagogies such as play, digital and outdoor learning. These are supporting children to develop skills through collaborative learning. There remains a need to ensure learning and teaching takes place at an appropriate pace and with the right level of challenge to support all learners to continue to achieve well. A few secondary schools are facing challenges accessing subject specialist staffing and this is affecting the overall quality of learning and teaching in particular subject areas.

HM Inspectors also 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 91 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2019 and March 2020, 84 schools were evaluated as satisfactory or better (92%). 62 were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'raising attainment and achievement' (68%).

Of the 334 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2017 and March 2020, 90% were evaluated as satisfactory or better, and 58% of them were evaluated as good, very good or excellent on 'raising attainment and achievement'.

Overall, schools continue to improve the reliability and validity of their attainment data on CfE levels in literacy and numeracy across the BGE. Teacher judgements are supported well by a range of assessment approaches, including information from Scottish National Standardised Assessments. Most schools ensure a focus on raising attainment for all. There remains scope across sectors for learners to attain more, particularly in writing.

Across primary schools, teachers are more confident using the results of assessment to implement interventions to raise attainment for groups of children. There is scope in secondary schools for teachers to have clearer strategies in place to identify attainment gaps and evaluate how successfully these are being closed. To support young people into more appropriate learning pathways there is an increased focus on college placements, national progression awards and foundation apprenticeships in many schools.

Overall, schools continue to develop well their understanding of the poverty-related attainment gap in their local context. Staff have a good understanding of the needs of their learners, their families and the socio-economic circumstances that they live in. Most schools are developing approaches to ensure potential barriers to learning are minimised to support learners to achieve well. Almost all schools have planned interventions in place using Attainment Scotland Funding, particularly to provide targeted interventions in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Moving forward it is important that schools develop robust procedures to track and monitor the impact of these interventions on raising attainment for targeted groups of learners. There is scope for the impact of partnership working to be evaluated more robustly.

93% was the total attendance rate recorded for 2018/19. This is very similar to previous years. The attendance rate was higher for primary schools (94.5%) than secondary schools (90.7%) and special schools (90.1%). Children and young people living in the 20% most deprived areas had an attendance rate that was 4.9 percentage points lower than the pupils living in the 20% least deprived areas.

Looked after children have a lower attendance rate (86.8%) than all pupils (93.0%), with the difference highest in secondary schools. The exclusion rate for all pupils in 2018/19 was 21.6 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 35.4 per 1,000 pupils compared with 8.2 per 1,000 pupils living in the 20% least deprived areas.

Exclusion rates are around seven times as high among looked after children (152 per 1,000 pupils) compared to all pupils. Rates of exclusion have fallen substantially for looked after pupils, from 397 per 1,000 pupils in 2009/10 to 152 per 1,000 pupils in 2018/19.

At 31 December 2019, 90.2% of services providing funded ELC were evaluated as good or better in all quality themes assessed.

With the incorporation of the UNCRC into Scot's law, there is a need to ensure that practitioners in all settings, including CLD, FE, ELC and schools understand how to respect and protect children's rights. A number of sources highlight that children and young people are not experiencing an education where race equality is consistently embedded across the curriculum and Black and minority ethnic history and heritage are not successfully and sensitively delivered through learning. This is underpinned and exacerbated by the significant lack of diversity at all levels in Scotland's teaching workforce and reports of racism and racist bullying which remain unaddressed.

New improvement and recovery actions for the year ahead.

The National e-Learning Offer (NeLO) programme has been set up by the National e-Learning Partnership: Education Scotland, SG, ADES and eSgoil. This offer is initially bringing together the live learning option from e-Sgoil, recorded content led by the West Partnership and supported materials identified by teacher networks and led by Education Scotland. Education Scotland owns overall communications and programme management.

• The existing national technical platforms (e.g. Glow) will be able to support this ongoing delivery. We will draw on the available evidence as we continue to adapt and improve the technical options available for remote learning throughout 2021.
• Schools will be able to use the national e-learning offer to complement and enhance e-learning support available locally and within the local authority and RIC to ensure pupils' education is not interrupted by impacts of the current pandemic.
• Individual teachers will be able to access a wide range of resources to use in their own delivery of e-learning.
• We will develop new e-learning partnerships in response to needs identified via RIC partners.
• Work will progress to establish how schools will be able to use the national e-learning offer after the pandemic.
• Work is underway to ensure schools will be able to use the national e-learning offer after the pandemic to support greater curriculum innovation across the BGE and senior phase. This work will build on the recognition by practitioners, schools, local authorities and learners of the significant potential benefits of e-learning and digital platforms for future improvements to education provision and experiences.

The incorporation of the UNCRC and the experience of children and young people during COVID-19 reinforces the importance of gathering and sharing children and young people's views with decision-makers at every level – school, local and national – and following up to ensure that those views are taken into account. We will take forward a range of further actions to ensure that this is done during 2021.

The Education Recovery Youth Panel – a follow up to the initial Scottish Learner Panel pilot - will meet between November 2020 and June 2021, supported by Young Scot and Children in Scotland. Views will be gathered from learners aged 9 – 18, every 4-6 weeks via online workshops. Learners' views will be shared via the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group and direct to the Deputy First Minister. Recommendations will be made to the Scottish Government, ensuring that the rights and needs of young people are at the heart of education recovery.

A Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament has been attending the Education Recovery Group from October 2020, and will continue to do so, representing and sharing the views of young people to the group.

The key findings from survey evidence on the experiences of young people during Covid-19 will be monitored closely and shared with decision-makers, including the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group. This will include but will not be limited to:

• The Lockdown Lowdown survey and associated follow-up survey work.
• The Children's Parliament's How Are You Doing? COVID-19 Survey activity and associated journals and workshops.
• Public Health Scotland's COVID-19 Early years resilience and impact survey
• Survey work by the Child Poverty Action Group.

Learners will be consulted during the OECD Independent Review of CfE.

Education Scotland has begun to establish a database of where curriculum design expertise lies nationally, and will set up regular check-in meetings with these networks over the year. Evaluations of the programmes and engagements will help to identify next steps at all levels.

HM Inspectorate will consider the NIF evidence report and identified needs of the system when devising a programme of national thematic reviews and inspection.

Education Scotland will deliver the Learner Participation 3-18 professional learning programme as a series of twilight workshops by December 2021, which can be either face to face or remotely delivered.

Education Scotland will deliver the Recognising and Realising children's rights professional learning to practitioners, using digital technology. This will be a series of twilight workshops to enable more practitioners to participate, and will support schools to protect and respect children's rights as set out in the Scottish Government's Bill on incorporation. A CLD version is also being developed and will be delivered alongside the school version when possible.

Education Scotland will restart the Young Leaders of Learning Programme once restrictions are eased to enable children to visit other schools. A national training event will also take place.

Education Scotland will support practitioners in curriculum and sectoral areas through national and local professional learning activities such as webinars and network meetings throughout 2021, this will include the use of digital tools to support learning. This also includes national e-learning partners.

Education Scotland will continue to liaise with local authorities and the RICs to ensure the support offered at all levels of the system is meeting the needs within the current context and beyond. Education Scotland will continue to provide updates of key national messages relating to learning, teaching and assessment and moderation through appropriate forums during the academic session 2020-21.

Education Scotland will provide ongoing support during the academic session 2020-21 for the quality assurance of education content for national standardised assessments and continue to contribute to the development of reporting advice, training advice and policy development.

Education Scotland will continue to consult with ADES during the academic session 2020-21 around the collection of NIF qualitative and quantitative data to inform the NIF national reporting and planning (September 2021).

Education Scotland will continue to work with local authorities and RICs through locality working to support the needs of the system in the recovery phase.

Education Scotland will provide support for practitioners through national and local webinars and these have been identified by RICs to support them through the recovery phase.

Scottish Government will develop an overarching programme of race equality and anti-racism in education to encompass 3 separate, but interlinked, workstreams:

• Curriculum reform
• Racism and racist bullying
• Diversity in the teaching profession

These workstreams will be underpinned by a whole-system approach, giving consideration to areas such as assessment and qualifications, ITE, teacher professional development and leadership. Stakeholder engagement at official and Ministerial level will be a fundamental part of the development of an action plan containing short, medium and long-term ambitions, aligned with the 2021-24 Race Equality Action Plan.

The Scottish Government will publish its response to the recommendations in the ICEA's second formal report in early 2021. The recommendations will be used to inform future improvement action.

School improvement - case study

Belmont Academy

At Belmont Academy, South Ayrshire, the quality of education and the management of development priorities benefit from clear strategic direction. The senior leadership team support and challenge each other, and manage effectively the pace of change. They have been very successful in supporting staff to take forward school improvement priorities, and have developed successfully a culture of trust where staff feel valued, identify strongly with the vision and values of the school and share an understanding of the range of socio-economic factors that affect the young people in the school community.

The school is explicit in its focus on promoting wellbeing, raising attainment and improving learners' experiences. Senior leaders link the school's allocation of funding to identified improvement priorities, which are based on the school's vision, values and aims, and link directly to local and national priorities. Departmental improvement plans align closely to the school improvement plan, with specific areas of focus. Staff are clear on how they are contributing to these priorities.

A major strength of the school's work lies in its approaches to empowering staff, who are empowered to take decisions and lead aspects of school improvement. Well-planned professional learning opportunities support this building of capacity. The aspiring middle and senior leader programmes are providing a useful vehicle for staff to develop leadership and mentoring skills. Senior leaders have ensured time is available to enable staff to engage in a range of professional learning opportunities and to collaborate with each other. Teachers are engaging with relevant professional standards through approaches to professional review and development. They are taking increasing responsibility for self-directed learning including undertaking accredited courses at masters level to support the work of the school. All teachers volunteer for working groups which provide opportunities for them to build positive relationships with colleagues and partners.

All teachers assume responsibility for developing aspects of their department's work or whole-school priorities. They are involved in approaches to self-evaluation and improvement planning at both a whole-school and departmental level. Consultation with all stakeholders has resulted in an ambitious revised curriculum framework and delivery.

Senior leaders are aware of the importance of ensuring all young people, parents and partners continue to be involved fully to secure further school improvement.

Performance information

What is this?

All of the information and data we need to get a full picture of how well Scottish education is improving. We will gather together and analyse the data collected from each of the other key drivers of improvement.

What is the evidence telling us?

The PISA 2018 assessment indicated that Scotland's performance among 15 year olds had increased in Reading compared to 2015 and was similar in Maths and Science. Compared to the OECD average, Scotland is above the average for Reading, and similar for Maths and Science. The background of students had less of an influence on attainment in Scotland than the OECD average.

The PISA 2018 Global Competence assessment showed that only two out of 26 countries had a higher average score than pupils in Scotland.

The Year 4 report on the Evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF). The report found that nine out of ten (91%) of headteachers reported to have seen an improvement in closing the poverty-related attainment gap as a result ofASFsupported approaches, an increase of 13 points since 2017.

For the first time, Pupil Equity Fund allocations of over £250 million were confirmed for two years (2020/21 and 2021/22) benefitting 97% of schools and giving headteachers assistance in their planning and decision making. As well as taking total investment in the Scottish Attainment Challenge to over £750 million over the last five years, this also extends the programme for a further year beyond this Parliamentary term and provides invaluable long term commitment.

New improvement and recovery actions for the year ahead.

The PISA 2021 assessment has been postponed until 2022 due to the impact of COVID-19. Results will be available in 2023.

The Year 5 Evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF) report will be published in March 2021.

The Behaviour in Scottish Schools (BISSR) 2021 research will be published.

Scottish Government will work with our partners, including the ICEA, to design the best approach to accelerating progress with closing the poverty related attainment gap, through the next phase of the Scottish Attainment Challenge.

Scottish Government will publish evidence of progress with our defining mission of closing the poverty related attainment gap by March 2021.

Performance information - case study

Whitburn Academy

In Whitburn Academy, West Lothian, senior leaders have a systematic strategic overview of progress for learners in the Broad General Education (BGE).

Senior leaders and teachers are increasingly making good use of data provided during young people's transition from primary to secondary school.

This is helping to increase teachers' knowledge of young people's prior learning, to improve progression and have a clearer view of how young people are achieving across the curriculum. Teachers are able to show the progress of learners through the BGE, regularly refreshing the tracking system with updates. The system allows teachers, and senior leaders, to benchmark over time. It also allows staff to compare the attainment of individual young people across all curriculum areas.

Increasingly, young people are discussing with their teachers and support staff how to progress their learning. They are setting targets for improvement. Teachers work collaboratively with other colleagues within the school and across the cluster and local hub of neighbouring secondary schools, to improve their judgement of young people's progress through Curriculum for Excellence. Teachers have a greater focus on National Benchmarks, particularly at fourth level. This is ensuring an appropriate gradient of learning for young people.

The school's robust approaches to tracking and monitoring young people's progress has allowed staff to respond better to young people's needs and interests with regard to curriculum pathways within the BGE and the senior phase.