Education - 2025 National Improvement Framework and long-term strategy: Ministerial statement - 10 December 2024

Presiding Officer,

I welcome the opportunity to update Parliament on the Government’s strategy for improvement in Scottish Education, which is published today in the 2025 National Improvement Framework.

I intend to return to the chamber for further discussion with members on this in the new year.

I know each of us in this chamber cares deeply about improving Scottish education.

We hear from our constituents about the challenges in our schools post-covid; the invidious impacts of poverty blunting educational interventions before our children have even crossed the school gates.

It is, therefore, welcome news today that the gap between the most and least disadvantaged learners has narrowed to its lowest ever level on three out of four of the key indicators. 

This shows that our long-term inputs, such as the Scottish Attainment Challenge, are delivering improved outcomes for our children.

And I would like to pay tribute to the hard work of our children, our young people and teachers who care for them every day and pay tribute to that work and the positive outcomes we are seeing in this year’s Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data. 

They show significant improvement across the board.

And Indeed, over the last year the proportion of primary pupils achieving expected levels has increased for all stages. 

In Secondary, the proportions of S3 pupils achieving 3rd level or better and fourth level have increased and are at record levels.

That is a significant achievement and a clear indication that the work introduced by this SNP Government is supporting better outcomes for our young people.

The ACEL data shows good, solid progress, and we are determined to build on that. 

We still have much more to do to ensure that all young people fulfil their potential.  The variation in outcomes across different parts of the country shows that the data shows must be addressed and that challenge will be the focus of a joint Education Assurance Board we are establishing with COSLA to drive improvement across the education system.

To that end, I welcome the agreement from COSLA to this partnership approach, which will strengthen our ability to work together to close the poverty-related attainment gap.

Of course, improvement can only be delivered with the necessary people and the resources.

That is why this Government believes that teacher numbers are so pivotal in closing the poverty related attainment gap.

Presiding Officer, there is no parent, no pupil, no educationalist, nor a political party in Scotland who would argue that educational improvement can be advanced with fewer teachers in our schools.

And I am pleased that our overall pupil – teacher ratio has remained relatively stable therefore, at 13:3, by far the lowest in the U.K. – particularly at a time when the pupil roll in Scotland has dropped by 3,100 in the past year alone.

However, I am disappointed that teacher numbers have reduced in the past 12 months, despite the additionality provided by Scottish Government of £145.5m.

Half of Scotland’s Councils managed to increase, maintain, or come close to, maintaining teacher numbers. And I want to put on record my thanks to those Authorities today.

I am pleased that in this year’s budget, the Government has continued to recognise the importance of teacher numbers, by uplifting the £145.5m to maintain teacher numbers by £41m – that’s providing additionality and more support for councils.

We are also providing Councils with an additional £28m to support Additional Support Needs in our schools, which is to be used to employ more specialist staff, such as ASN teachers, to support children and young people with additional support needs.

Through the budget settlement we are offering Scotland’s Councils an extra £69m that will see Local Government and Scottish Government committed to working together to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels next year.

I am pleased that COSLA Leaders have responded positively to this offer.

These additional resources come on top of a real terms increase in local authority Budgets delivered by the Scottish Budget. 

And this budget will also see continued investment in the £1 billion Scottish Attainment Challenge, including of course the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF), which flows directly to our headteachers – empowering them to take the decisions they see fit to support the young people in their care.

Other elements of the agreement we have reached with local government are importantly dependent on having sufficient teachers in post: firstly, the freezing and protection of current learning hours and secondly progressing reduced class contact time. 

Now on class contact time, I want us to rapidly bring forward a joint proposal to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers to make progress at pace. 

Creating the necessary time for Scotland’s teachers to engage with education reform has never been more important – and I know the teaching profession are responding to increasing workload, post-pandemic.

Medium- and long-term joint workforce planning will also take into account the importance of responding to issues including different local needs.

And I can confirm to the chamber today that as a result of this agreement with COSLA, the Scottish Government will now issue the £145.5m to local government in full this financial year. 

Presiding Officer, I also recognise that there remain persistent and stubborn challenges within our education system in relation to teacher employment.

Now these challenges are not new – this being an issue I raised in my first speech in this chamber, back in 2016, predicated on my own experiences as a Faculty Head and those of my peers.

Andlike Members across the Chamber, I have been concerned about reports of new teachers struggling to find permanent roles. 

I met recently with representatives of the Scottish Teachers for Permanence Group, where we discussed a range of issues regarding the ability of some teachers to secure permanent employment.

And we know that, post-pandemic, there are fewer permanent posts for teachers available - this is causing distress and anguish to many teachers, particularly post-probation.

The allocation of an additional £69m will, therefore, help Local Authorities to provide greater job security, because they will have the ability to offer more permanent posts.

However, I must also reflect on the responsibility of Government to sustained teacher employment.

I am particularly mindful of the £40m investment we make every year directly in funding fully the costs of the probationer scheme.

And that is why I can announce today that we will work with partners to ensure that the Teacher Induction Scheme meets the needs of the system going forward.

Presiding Officer, in addition to the ACEL data, there has been further improvement in the increase in school attendance.

Similarly it is welcome to see the reduction in persistent absence, particularly given the links between poverty, disadvantage, and poor school attendance.

On the ground, the interventions of this Government are making a realy difference – whether through the Virtual Head Teachers Programme or via initiatives like breakfast clubs, which support attendance and children’s wellbeing. 

The draft budget proposes a new initiative – Bright Start Breakfasts - that will expand access to breakfast clubs in primary schools across Scotland providing thousands of children in low-income communities with a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day, alongside an early drop off for working parents.  

And I want to take further measures to build on this improving picture. So we will launch a national marketing campaign from next year, working with partners, including parents to support our young people to return to, engage, and benefit from their learning.

Now members will also recognise the further increase in young people reported as having an additional support need today. 

The draft budget makes provision for an additional £28m to flow to Scotland’s councils, supplementing the record £926m which was spent in the past financial year.

The updated ASL action plan, which published last month, further commits the Government and Local Authorities to improve ASN support across the country for Scotland’s young people.

Funding is also being provided to support national initiatives which will help to recruit and train more ASL teachers.

It is vital that every child and young person with an additional support need, including those with complex needs, gets the support they need to reach their potential.

And I know this is a sentiment every member of this Chamber shares with me and I have listened intently to the stories shared by families who need this Government and Scotland’s Councils to do more. 

I look forward to engaging further with parents and teachers on this crucial issue at the EIS’ “Stand up for ASN” event, which is being held in the Parliament later this evening. 

Presiding Officer, the data published today demonstrates that our education system continues to recover from the damaging effects of the pandemic.

But we must remain focused on further improvement. 

To that end, the 2025 National Improvement Framework has been updated to provide clarity and focus to our work on improving Scottish education.

The framework sets out seven strategic outcomes – delivery of which will make a significant difference to our children and young people. 

We – national Government, local government, schools, teachers, parents – all have a role to play in delivering the improvements we all want to see.

 

And this is a message that came through very strongly from my recent discussions with head teachers across Scotland - our schools cannot do this alone.

The National Improvement Framework sets out that, in the short term, the focus will continue to be on our immediate priorities – the “ABC”: attendance, attainment, behaviour and relationships and curriculum. 

And these have fed into and informed our longer term priorities as set out in the new strategy.  For example:

• The Education Bill
• The Curriculum Improvement Cycle – already underway, which will ensure that our curriculum supports high quality learning, teaching and progression; and
• In improving support for children with additional support needs, through the ASL Action Plan.

I must thank the Committee for their Stage 1 report in relation to education reform and for their support of the general principles of the Bill.

I am also pleased that by publishing the refreshed NIF today, we have fulfilled one of the committee’s key requests to provide an updated long term vision for improvement in Scottish education.

Presiding Officer, today’s data provides a detailed and focused snapshot of progress across a range of issues. 

The Scottish Government – working with our partners – is taking the detailed and specific actions to build on that progress to improve outcomes for our children and young people.

And I will continue to inform that work by listening to the education profession in Scotland. Building on our recent national events with secondary head teachers, holding similar sessions with primary heads across the country.

Because only by listening to those at the chalk face can we hope to drive the improvements needed to support Scotland’s schools and her young people.

The narrowing poverty related attainment gap is welcome, and we are determined to build on that progress.

But education must transform lives – because we know that for too many, their opportunities in life are determined before arrive in our schools.  

And I am acutely aware of the pressures facing pupils, families and our teachers across Scotland.

Post-pandemic they are responding to greater need than ever before, with our schools being forced to fill the gaps where the UK welfare state has failed.

The presence of poverty in our schools – from food banks, to clothing stations – is as a direct cause and effect of austerity.

This Government is acting to end child poverty.

Our schools have a vital role to play but they cannot do it alone.

That is why a partnership approach is needed – particularly with Scotland’s Councils – but also politically.

And it is in that spirit that I urge all Members here today work with us to deliver the improvements we all want to see – for the benefit of Scotland’s future.