Education and skills - National Improvement Framework 2025: improvement plan

Outcome 1

Outcome 1 - a globally respected, empowered and responsive education and skills system with clear accountability at every level that supports children, young people and adult learners to thrive. The system enables the development of their knowledge, skills, values and attributes that give them the best opportunity to succeed and contribute to Scotland’s society and economy.

What the evidence is telling us

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Organisation (OECD) review of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in 2021 was complimentary of the Scottish education system. It highlighted the continued relevance and ambition of CfE as the right approach for Scotland and that it continues to be viewed internationally as an inspiring example of curriculum practice. However, it also highlighted opportunities for its evolution and ongoing improvement to ensure a structured and long term approach is taken.

The latest data from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows reductions in scores in Reading and Maths between 2018 and 2022. However, relatively speaking, Scottish students maintained a positive position, remaining above the OECD average for reading, and similar to the OECD average for maths and science.

Professor Muir’s report, Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education, advocated for placing children, young people and the teachers and practitioners who support their learning more firmly at the heart of the education system. To support these system users he set out recommendations to simplify the education landscape and ensure greater clarity as to the roles and functions of key national bodies.

The National Discussion highlighted the importance of the need to educate all learners in Scotland for an uncertain and unpredictable future. It recognised that they will actively shape our future society and economy, and thus they must be given the tools and skills to build their own future with confidence, meaning, and kindness.

Analysis of local authority collaborative improvement programmes undertaken by Education Scotland has demonstrated that collaborative improvement activities have the potential to highlight effective approaches to improvement.

Findings from HM Inspectors through school inspections, tell us that the majority of schools across Scotland are adapting well to change, with senior leaders in most sectors fostering collaboration with children, parents, staff, and communities to drive improvements. However, there is room to strengthen the involvement of parents, carers, and the wider school community in shaping the vision and driving change. Senior leaders across all sectors should prioritise monitoring and evaluating the impact of improvement priorities on learners. They also need to enhance data analysis to assess the effectiveness of changes.

Qualitative evidence gathered through consultation with local authority early learning and childcare (ELC) centres highlights an ongoing need to support ELC leadership at setting level following the expansion of children's entitlement to ELC and the subsequent growth of the sector.

Analysis of national-level monitoring and evaluation approaches for ELC and education in other countries highlighted the way in which an outcomes and measurement framework (OMF) for funded ELC could be used to allow reporting against ELC delivery or outcomes.

Data shows that when young people leave school the vast majority are going on to positive destinations – with improvements to already high figures continuing to rise in recent years.

The number of pupils educated in “poor” or “bad” condition schools has fallen from 37.6% in 2007 to 8% in 2024.

What we will do to deliver

• The Education (Scotland) Bill provides the scaffolding for a more responsive, trusted and effective national education infrastructure that supports continuous improvement to meet learner and stakeholder needs in the 21^st century.
• We will work with our public bodies and local government partners to ensure that there is clarity on roles and responsibilities of those responsible for delivering education in Scotland, ensuring that governance arrangements support system accountability.
• The creation of Qualifications Scotland (QS) in 2025 will lead to the re-establishment of trust and confidence in our qualifications body. The governance arrangements set out in legislation will lead to a more transparent and accountable organisation and provide a framework that ensures the involvement of teachers, lecturers, pupils and students in its running. This action will also help to deliver inclusive and relevant curriculum and assessment under Outcome 3.
• The creation of His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education (HMIE), will mean the inspection function is more independent of Ministers, providing it with greater autonomy. This independence will ensure an objective, external perspective on quality across all levels of the education system, providing assurance to stakeholders and fostering trust in the education system.
• HMIE will support improvement by sharing findings and insights which could lead to better practices at local, regional and national levels.
• A refocused Education Scotland will prioritise its functions on curriculum design, delivery and improvement, including the provision of resources to support high quality learning and teaching, support a national framework for professional learning and building on national leadership programmes. It will also work with local authorities to inform approaches to wellbeing, inclusion, behaviour and enabling better support for those with additional support needs.
• We will set up the Centre for Teaching Excellence, hosted by the University of Glasgow, which, together with Education Scotland, will lead to an improvement in learning, teaching and assessment at a national level, through critical reflection and use of research.
• We will adopt a collaborative approach to working across our public bodies and they will in turn adopt a collaborative approach to engagement with practitioners, children and young people and their parents and carers.
• HMIE will conduct robust, transparent inspections across educational levels, sharing findings and insights publicly to support improvement in policies and practices.
• HMIE will create frameworks that build capacity in self-evaluation and improvement in the quality of education, in early learning and childcare and schools.
• Utilising the findings of the national thematic inspection of local authority approaches to improving schools, HM Inspectors will identify ways in which local authorities can improve the quality of provision in their area.
• Education Scotland will work with local authorities to build capacity and improve outcomes by developing clear and robust improvement projects that utilise attainment and achievement data.
• We will bring forward legislation to simplify the funding body landscape and reform the post-school education and skills landscape so that funds get to where they are needed more quickly and efficiently, take lead for Skills Planning at the national level while strengthening regional approaches so that the system can better respond to national and regional needs, and reform our apprenticeship model.
• Work to support the reform and improvement of the Scottish education system will be supported by a communications and engagement strategy and plan. This is designed to aid the understanding of what changes will come from this process, how they will be implemented, and allow stakeholders the opportunity to provide their views as appropriate.
• We will develop an outcomes and measurement framework for funded early learning and childcare, and continue to support improvement in the quality of ELC provision and to build capacity across the system.
• An improved education system will be supported through our £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme, which is being delivered in partnership with local authorities. 33 school projects will have started construction by autumn 2025.

How we will measure progress

We will continue to use PISA assessment, and our position when compared with other developed nations as a measure of the success of our education system. This will be complemented going forward with specific data to compare in reading literacy, maths and science compared to other nations, via the TIMSS and PIRLS studies.

A monitoring and evaluation strategy for the Education Reform Programme will provide a comprehensive framework for monitoring and evaluating the progress, impact, and effectiveness of the reform programme.

The key barometer of success of the impact of the replacement of the Scottish Qualifications Authority with Qualifications Scotland is that there will be a renewed trust and confidence in the national qualifications body. Enhanced reporting requirements for Qualifications Scotland, including on how it has delivered on its Charters, will support how the organisation’s performance on these issues are measured and assessed.

We will use data from the Scottish Household Survey on school and setting satisfaction levels as an indicator that the reforms we are introducing are leading to improvements. The data collected includes measuring satisfaction levels amongst the general public and more specifically, in households where a school aged child is present.

We will use the evidence from HMIE inspections to assess performance at individual, regional, and national levels, enhancing quality and supporting improvements. This aims to promote the highest standards of learning, leading to better outcomes for all learners.

We will use data on positive destinations for school leavers in assessing the extent to which our children and young people are being provided with the best opportunity to succeed and contribute to Scotland’s society and economy.

We will measure the success of the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) by delivering state-of-the-art schools which will benefit tens of thousands of pupils across Scotland. We also aim to see the percentage of pupils in “poor” or “bad” condition schools continue to decrease each year within the school estate statistics.