Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation: implementation and impact report 2024

Section 1: Governance and Support

What worked well and what could be improved in the national and local governance and support with implementation of the refreshed Attainment Scotland Fund?

Evidence was gathered to provide learning on what worked well and what could be improved in terms of governance and support. Three aspects are explored in this section:

• the role of Attainment Advisors;
• wider support provided by Education Scotland;
• governance and support from Scottish Government.

Attainment Advisors

Each local authority has an assigned Attainment Advisor for the Scottish Attainment Challenge. Attainment Advisors are employed by Education Scotland as one of the mechanisms to provide support to local authorities in implementing the Attainment Scotland Fund.

Evidence sources considered for this report continue to corroborate earlier evaluation findings^[16] that Attainment Advisors provide an important support and challenge function and their role is of central importance in the governance and support arrangements for the Attainment Scotland Fund.

Findings from research include:

• Attainment Advisors work in varied ways across local authorities, with some working primarily at the local authority level, others at the school level. Where the Attainment Advisor role was viewed as working most effectively, this was based on strong relationships at the local authority level, having access and being able to undertake support and challenge at the school level, working to facilitate networking and encouraging knowledge exchange in terms of ‘what works’.
• Attainment Advisors were also typically involved in supporting wider equity work within the local authority, and many were noted to provide a pivotal role in supporting the Scottish Attainment Challenge agenda, for example through involvement in local authority governance structures such as attainment boards.
• Experiences across local authorities in relation to the Attainment Advisor role were variable, as highlighted by the SAC Leads Survey 2024 respondents. Where local authorities had experienced changes to their allocated Attainment Advisor, lack of consistency of staffing of Attainment Advisors was highlighted as an issue.
• Several local authorities who responded to the SAC Leads Survey 2024 also expressed a wish for increased Attainment Advisor resource, highlighting existing constraints to their Attainment Advisor spending time ‘on the ground’ within their local authority and schools. This was particularly the case in a minority of local authorities where the Attainment Advisor was shared with another local authority^[17].
• The time Attainment Advisors are required to spend on reporting activities, such as reporting in relation to the Education Scotland Tri-annual reporting, was also raised as an issue. This led to the suggestion in some instances there was a degree of over-reporting and/or duplication of reporting.

National stakeholder interviewees were broadly positive about the role of Attainment Advisors, although levels of awareness of the role varied.

Education Scotland

The evidence considered suggests that wider support from Education Scotland continues to be broadly valued, including networking opportunities and the provision of resources. A more streamlined approach to resources would be welcomed.

The evidence gathered suggests:

• The SAC Local Authority Leads Network supported by Education Scotland and Attainment Advisors was particularly highlighted by SAC Local Authority Leads Survey 2024 respondents for its value and effectiveness in fostering cross local authority sharing and learning, including opportunities for attendance at virtual and in-person events.
• There was the suggestion of an ongoing need for face-to-face opportunities for local authorities to meet and share examples of good practice.
• Some respondents to the SAC Leads Survey 2024 suggested a more streamlined approach to resources would be welcomed, and in particular suggested one designated online space for access to resources, and for less frequent changes to resources to support their effective utilisation.

Scottish Government

Governance and support from Scottish Government continues to be viewed as broadly positive, in line with earlier findings.

Findings from research indicate:

• Findings from the SAC Leads Survey 2024 indicate that SAC Leads respondents perceive that the guidance has improved throughout the refresh, for example, in relation to clarification of roles and responsibilities. However, similarly to SAC Leads Survey 2023 findings, some respondents to the SAC Leads Survey 2024 highlighted a number of concerns related to the timing of guidance, both in terms of its alignment with the financial year rather than the academic year and perceptions that there was limited time for planning due to when the guidance was made available. Guidance being made available earlier in order to support the school planning cycle would be welcomed.
• Visibility of the SAC Logic Model enabling its effective use was broadly welcomed by SAC Leads Survey 2024 respondents. There were also examples of local authorities having developed their own local authority level logic model for SAC.
• Transition planning was a key theme across responses to the SAC Leads Survey 2024, with a suggested need for Scottish Government to provide support to local authorities with transition planning. It was suggested that such support was required imminently given the unknown funding in relation to SAC at the end of the parliamentary term in 2026^[18].