Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation: implementation and impact report 2024

This report shares implementation and impact evaluation evidence since the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) refresh in 2022, utilising quantitative evidence gathered via a SAC Local Authority Leads Survey 2024, and qualitative evidence gathered through national stakeholder interviews.


Executive Summary

Introduction

The Scottish Attainment Challenge, supported by the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF), was launched in February 2015 with the strategic aim of ‘closing the poverty-related attainment gap between children and young people from the least and most disadvantaged communities’.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge was refreshed in 2022 with a new Mission:

‘To use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap to deliver on the Scottish Government’s vision of equity and excellence in education’.

This report brings forward learning from implementation and impact evaluation[1] since the refresh of the Challenge in 2022, utilising evidence gathered through in-house research activities undertaken by Education Analytical Services. This included both quantitative evidence gathered via a survey of Scottish Attainment Challenge Local Authority Leads undertaken in May/ June 2024[2], and qualitative evidence gathered through national stakeholder representatives[3].

Key Implementation findings

Governance and Support

  • Attainment Advisors continue to provide an important support and challenge function. Strong relationships, access to schools, supporting equity across local authorities, supporting collaboration and sharing of good practice remain important aspects. There were a number of instances where respondents to the SAC Leads Survey expressed a preference for Attainment Advisors to spend more time working directly with schools, and for increased consistency of Attainment Advisors working with local authorities where a number of changes of personnel had been experienced.
  • The wider support provided to local authorities and schools by Education Scotland, including networking opportunities and provision of resources such as the Equity Toolkit continues to be broadly valued by SAC Leads Survey respondents. There is an ongoing need for local authorities to meet face-to-face and share examples of good practice. A more streamlined approach to providing resources would be welcomed.
  • Governance and support from Scottish Government continues to be broadly positively perceived. Guidance was viewed as having improved by respondents to the SAC Leads Survey 2024. However, there were continued calls for guidance to be issued earlier in the annual cycle to support local authority planning. The Logic Model was viewed as a helpful tool supporting some local authorities. Further support for local authorities with transition planning would be welcomed.

Funding

  • Evidence continues to support the view that ASF is being used as an additional resource as well as the use of core or other funding alongside ASF to support the Scottish Attainment Challenge Mission, with all Scottish Attainment Challenge Local Authority Leads Survey respondents indicating ASF is used as an additional resource to a great or to some extent. However, there were several instances when ASF was perceived by national stakeholder interviewees as being used to ‘plug a gap’ given local cuts to budgets.
  • Whilst support for Strategic Equity Funding allocated to all thirty two local authorities was a dominant theme within both the survey and national stakeholder interview evidence, the ongoing negative impacts on former Challenge Authorities continued to be raised as a concern.
  • Concerns related to local authorities previously in receipt of Challenge Authority funding receiving year-on-year reductions (or ‘tapering’) in funding through Strategic Equity Funding despite facing similar or increasing challenges as a result of poverty.

Local government structures, workstreams and governance arrangements

  • Local authority structures, workstreams and governance arrangements to support planning and to track, monitor and drive progress continue to play an important role. This included established mechanisms such as attainment boards, strategic equity boards and oversight groups. Ongoing developments to establish new structures were also highlighted in some local authorities.

Development of Stretch Aims

  • The role of data and of stakeholders continued to be key in the development of Stretch Aims[4] across 2023/24 - 2025/26.
  • There was limited change in terms of the type of stakeholder engagement in Stretch Aims for 2023/24 – 2025/26, with SAC Leads Survey 2024 respondents stating that central local authority staff, Attainment Advisors and headteachers were most engaged.
  • Developing Stretch Aims was broadly an iterative and collaborative process, although this was not uniformly the case.
  • The approach to developing Stretch Aims for 2023/24 - 2025/26 was broadly viewed by both survey respondents and national stakeholder interviewees to have improved in comparison to the first set of stretch aims for 2022/23. However, a number of concerns were raised in terms of the overall approach and in relation to specific measures.

Planning for ASF: what worked well and what could be improved?

  • Enhanced approaches to planning, the use of data and evidence, collaboration and partnership working were all aspects which continue to work well in planning for ASF. There was also some evidence suggesting improved planning for CECYP Funding specifically.
  • Suggestions for improvement were offered by a number of survey respondents and several national stakeholder interviewees. This included strengthening the voice of parents, children and young people, and an enhanced role for the third sector in planning and implementing ASF.
  • Further strengthening of strategic oversight, addressing the degree of variation across local authorities regarding approaches to planning and reporting and frequency of reporting, and addressing concerns regarding the uncertainty around ASF resources were also suggested.

Approaches

  • Local authority approaches to closing the poverty-related attainment gap continued to evolve and develop, with evidence of a continued shift towards a greater focus on understanding the problems and challenges associated with poverty, such as the cost of the school day. An ongoing emphasis over time towards planned strategic approaches rather than short-term interventions was also apparent from the evidence considered.
  • Approaches were underpinned by each of the three Scottish Attainment Challenge organisers[5]: Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Families and Communities. Learning and Teaching was assessed by local authorities as most strongly underpinning approaches across local authorities.
  • Approaches were viewed as effectively embedded in the local setting, effective within the local context, evidence-based and demonstrating evidence of impact. Approaches were less likely to be perceived as addressing sustainability.
  • SAC National Programme[6] activity undertaken by the third sector partnerships was viewed as increasingly connected to and embedded within the wider work of the ASF.

Pupil Equity Funding (PEF)

  • Implementation of PEF was broadly viewed positively, with survey evidence indicating that SAC local authority leads viewed PEF is effectively invested and that spend is based on locally identified needs and on effective use of evidence.
  • Decision-making taking place at the school level and strongly reflecting the school context were highlighted as important factors by national stakeholder interviewees. Additionally, it was suggested that headteacher confidence in relation to PEF spending has improved over time.
  • Schools utilising PEF to address financial barriers to learning and barriers related to cost of the school day being experienced by families impacted by poverty was viewed very positively across survey and national stakeholder interviewee evidence. There was also evidence of the increased importance of focusing on health and wellbeing, not least due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP) Funding

  • There continues to be broadly positive perceptions related to CECYP Funding implementation. Funding is seen as supporting strategic decision-making to improve attainment or outcomes for care experienced children and young people.
  • CECYP funding was reported as being used in a range of ways, including funding specific posts to support care experienced children and young people and the provision of bespoke support. The role of Virtual School Headteachers was viewed particularly key in supporting joint working and increasing capacity in a number of local authorities, with different models for the role in place across local authorities.
  • There were instances reported of CECEYP funding being used in conjunction with other ASF funding streams as well as with wider funding streams eg Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF).

Alignment with other policies at the local authority level

  • There was some evidence indicating that SAC Leads Survey respondents and national stakeholders viewed there was alignment between ASF and other policies at the local authority level such as Tackling Child Poverty and The Promise. There were also instances highlighted across both survey and national stakeholder interview evidence of alignment of ASF with funding streams such as the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF).

Key Impact Findings

Perceptions of progress

  • Overall, findings from the SAC Local Authority Leads Survey pointed to perceptions of progress on a number of aspects, including contributing to closing the poverty-related attainment gap in line with core and plus stretch aims at a local authority level, and contributing towards achieving improved outcomes for children and young people affected by poverty.
  • All three ASF funding streams (SEF, PEF and CECYP Funding) were viewed by SAC Local Authority Leads Survey respondents as contributing to progress. Learning and Teaching was viewed by survey respondents as contributing to progress to a greater extent than the Leadership or Families and Communities[7].
  • Whilst there were reports from national stakeholder interviewees that progress has been made, there was broad recognition that closing the poverty-related gap is a complex challenge which is influenced by factors outwith schools and education services, with variable progress across schools and local authority areas and across different indicators.

Factors supporting progress

  • As reported prior to the SAC refresh in 2022, collaboration, the effective use of data and evidence, understanding of and increased awareness of poverty, strategic planning and joined up approaches, and targeted support and use of ASF were identified as factors supporting progress.
  • Addressing financial barriers to learning, such as cost of the school day approaches, was increasingly viewed as associated with progress, alongside the introduction of specific ASF-supported roles to address attendance and health and wellbeing.

Barriers to progress

  • Factors identified through SAC Leads Survey 2024 respondents as barriers to progress towards improving outcomes for children and young people affected by poverty in the local authority included:
    • Reduction in funding for former Challenge Authorities;
    • Wider challenges at societal level including ongoing impact of COVID-19 and cost of living crisis;
    • Concerns related to declining attendance of pupils;
    • Bureaucracy and reporting.
  • National stakeholder interviewee views on barriers to progress aligned closely with survey evidence, pointing to an exacerbation of the challenges faced by families experiencing poverty, including the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis.
  • It was also widely stated that education could not address all the challenges presented, but requires a long-term and joined up approach across all services.

Wider achievement, culture and ethos

  • Findings indicate a positive perception by respondents to the SAC Leads Survey of ASF’s contribution to wider achievement opportunities in relation to learning in other areas of life beyond the classroom, developing important skills for learning, for life and for work and benefiting and experiencing wider achievements.
  • Similarly, there is evidence indicating perceptions that ASF is supporting a culture and ethos based on educational equity and supporting embedding of educational equity.

Unintended consequences

  • Positive unintended consequences highlighted by survey respondents and national stakeholder interviewees included increased collaboration and improved use of data and evidence. However, given that such aspects were intended outcomes within the SAC Logic Model rather than unintended, this may suggest further work to embed understanding of the SAC Logic Model outcomes is required.
  • Concerns regarding sustainability of the Fund was the key negative unintended consequence highlighted, with potential for a negative consequence to the wider education system should funding not be sustained, particularly given the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and cost of living crisis.
  • There were also aspects of PEF allocation and procurement associated with negative unintended consequences.

Sustainability[8]

  • Sustainability was being addressed as part of approaches to closing the poverty-related attainment gap, with actions highlighted at local authority and school level. This included embedding approaches into core planning processes, developing local authority wide and whole school approaches, building staff capacity and planning transition strategies.
  • Long-term sustainability requires a move away from short-term interventions towards evidence-based approaches embedded across settings, supported by strong use of data, empowered leadership and focused on local context. However, the extent to which sustainability had been considered varied and there was recognition amongst a number of survey respondents as well as national stakeholders that an increased focus on sustainability was required. Further support from Scottish Government with developing transition strategies would be welcomed.
  • Whilst planning for sustainability through developing transition strategies and embedding approaches were key actions identified, there was a strong consensus across evidence sources that continued specific funding to support and sustain the embedding of equity across the education system and to address the ongoing complex and long term nature of the challenge was of great importance, not least in the context of considerable pressure on local authorities’ core budgets. Early confirmation of funding beyond the current parliamentary term would be welcomed to address uncertainty.

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

Back to top