Education: National Improvement Framework and improvement plan 2024

Improvement Plan

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, 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 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 improvement plan is set out at Annex A.

School and ELC leadership

What is this?

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

Why is this important?

Leadership is recognised as a key driver of the success of any school or ELC setting. Leaders at all levels who are empowered and collaborative, and who empower others to take ownership of their own learning and teaching in a collaborative way, have a strong track record of ensuring the highest quality of learning and teaching.

What is the evidence telling us?

Professional Learning for Headteachers – a thinkpiece commissioned by Education Scotland in 2023 showed that:

• Headteachers need the opportunity to influence the design, delivery, and timing of the professional learning available to them.
• The most impactful headteacher professional learning connects with their professional values and moral purpose.
• Headteachers need the time and space to reflect on and share their own experience and learning with others.
• Professional learning needs to be underpinned with theory from credible sources.
• Headteachers need the support and time together to make sense of and translate policy into practice.
• Headteachers need the opportunity to learn from schools in different contexts, local authorities, and systems both nationally and internationally.
• All Headteachers should have access to high quality Professional Review and Development.
• All Headteachers should have access to a professional coach or mentor depending on the stage in their career.

HM Inspectors carry out independent inspection across sectors ranging from early learning and childcare to adult learning. Inspection, is designed to promote improvement, provide assurance on the quality of education, and provide evidence to inform national policy development. The following information is from inspection evidence.

HM Inspectors provide information on the percentage of school inspections, for the academic year 2022-23 across the sample of 120 public schools, where the specified quality indicators (QI) are evaluated as ‘good’ or better. On QI leadership of change, the majority of schools, 68%, were evaluated as good, very good or excellent (and most, 88%, as satisfactory or better).

Inspection evidence shows that, overall, senior leaders in most schools continue to work closely with children, parents, carers and staff to shape the school’s vision, values and aims. This work is informed by a strong understanding of local social, economic, and cultural contexts. In most schools, this work is underpinned by strong relationships, nurturing approaches and professional standards. In a minority of schools, further work is required to ensure that their vision and values have a greater impact on practice.

Senior leaders in the majority of schools across all sectors, create the right conditions for effective change and improvement. They take into consideration, for example, the readiness of the school to respond to change. Senior leaders in a minority of schools need to further involve the whole school community in implementing a vision for change and improvement. In ELC classes, most senior leaders continue to manage change well. They are empowering a wider range of staff to take on key leadership responsibilities. Early years leaders and staff have an increasing role in actioning priorities to improve outcomes for children. Staff in schools across all sectors work collaboratively to implement improvement priorities. This is an improving feature. Overall, staff across all sectors continue to undertake professional learning to improve their knowledge, understanding and skills in learning and teaching.

Senior leaders in the minority of schools link self-evaluation, improvement priorities and professional learning together to improve outcomes for children and young people. This needs to become a more consistent feature of school improvement across all sectors to address variability in the quality learning and teaching.

In the secondary sector, the alignment between school improvement plans and Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) plans remains underdeveloped. There is variable practice across departments and faculties in understanding Career Education Standard (CES), and Career Management Skills (CMS) and how these influence learning and teaching.

New improvement actions for the year ahead

As well as the actions set out below, ongoing improvement actions are set out in Annex A.

Education Scotland will evolve its headteacher and system leader professional learning offer in partnership with the profession and other relevant stakeholders. This professional learning will build capacity with headteachers and system leaders to be leaders of learning in their settings, manage change and lead their setting through upcoming reform.

Education Scotland will undertake a transition process to a new Regional/National/Professional Learning and Leadership structure, to ensure delivery of agreed priorities, including accelerating progress towards closing the attainment gap, improving experiences and outcomes for children with additional support needs, and supporting curriculum leadership and learning and teaching approaches.

School and ELC leadership - case study

Kerrie Laird is currently acting Headteacher at Milton of Leys Primary School in Inverness.

Having previously participated in Education Scotland’s Excellence in Headship programme, I joined the Excellence in Headship Stretch programme beginning in 2020. This looked at an area of interest specifically related to systems leadership and how, through a collaborative enquiry, we would consider key areas of educational policy and theory and go on to shape the education system within Scotland. Through sharing common interests, we established a group of Headteachers from across Scotland to complete a collaborative enquiry based on empowerment, collaboration and system leadership. In doing this, we engaged in professional dialogue with current education theorists and researchers, and completed our own personal research working with Regional Improvement Collaboratives across Scotland and colleagues, both nationally and internationally. I developed my understanding of wider perspectives and the current and emerging developments in Scottish education. We created a ‘think piece’, presented our findings from our collaborative enquiry with our local authorities, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and other key stakeholders.

We also presented our work to the World Education Summit, to Canadian Congress and at various leadership conferences. In doing so, I was able to enhance my own practice and develop my confidence in presenting and communicating findings in a succinct and interesting manner. My involvement in Excellence in Headship Stretch has greatly impacted on my own leadership within my school. I have used many of the findings in my research to develop practice within my school and shared with colleagues in my local authority. All this work has supported my understanding of political awareness and engagement on a wider level with professionals across sectors while expressing opinions on difficult subjects in a way that is appropriate, professional, and respectful.

I was invited by colleagues in Education Scotland to attend a study visit in Washington DC hosted by the British Council with a focus on professional learning for Headteachers. All of this has helped me as I am now working with the Professional Learning and Leadership team in Education Scotland to co-design and deliver the Excellence In Headship programme for new participants. This has again put me outside my comfort zone to develop my practice in delivering professional learning, with a renewed interest in looking outwards. This work has kept me up to date with current research and helped me consider how to put theory into a way that can be taken forward to support positive change on the ground, for Scotland’s children.

During a time of considerable change and reform in education within Scotland, I am keen to continue to be involved in supporting ongoing improvement and provide a voice from schools’ perspectives. I am keen that we do not lose the importance of continuous professional development at all levels within schools and that change is manageable and appropriate.

Teacher and practitioner professionalism

What is this?

Teacher and practitioner 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.

Why is this important

The quality of teaching is a key factor in improving children and young people’s learning and the outcomes they achieve. Access to high quality early learning and childcare can make a huge difference to children’s lives, particularly when they are growing up in more disadvantaged circumstances. Evidence shows that universally-accessible and high-quality ELC helps to provide children with skills and confidence to carry into school education, and is a cornerstone for closing the poverty-related attainment gap between children from the most and least deprived communities. The single most important driver of high quality in a child’s ELC experience is a dedicated, highly-skilled and well-qualified workforce.

What is the evidence telling us?

In January 2023, Public Health Scotland reported an increase in speech, language, communication and developmental concerns recorded at the 13 to 15 month and 27 to 30 month Child Health Reviews compared to the pre-pandemic period. In an Early Years Scotland survey of early learning and childcare (ELC) practitioners across Scotland in 2022, 89% of respondents reported an increase in the number of children with communication needs since the start of the pandemic, and 61% reported low levels of confidence in supporting those needs.

Reframing Teacher Professional Learning (Timperley et al 2008) says that “Teachers who are engaged in cycles of effective professional learning take greater responsibility for the learning of all students […] as they discover that their new professional knowledge and practice are having a positive impact on their students, they begin to feel more effective as teachers.” If we can improve the quality of professional learning delivered, this will impact on the self-efficacy and practice of teachers which in turn will impact on the learning of children and young people. Teacher learning occurs at different layers and various levels. Whilst Education Scotland already delivers a leadership professional learning offer, it is not as close to the teacher learning that happens in settings.

There is an ongoing need for professional learning, resources, advice and support regarding effective immersion of pedagogical approaches and an understanding of the implementation of policy.

‘Growing up in Scotland: Changes in child cognitive ability in the pre-school years’ (2011) identified a gap of around 13 months in the vocabulary between those in the least and highest income households. Children’s language and communication has also been an area that has been particularly affected since the onset of COVID-19, with Public Health Scotland data indicating that the proportion of children with a speech, language and communication concern at the 27-30 month review point increased from 9.7% in 2019/20 to 13.0% in 2021/22. Provisional data from Public Health Scotland suggests that this increase has been largely maintained up to June 2023. Evidence shows that there has been a disproportionate impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In the 2022 Early Years Scotland (EYS) survey of early learning and childcare practitioners, 89% reported an increase in the number of children with communication needs since the start of the pandemic and 61% of practitioners reported low levels of confidence in supporting these needs.

The 2023 edition of Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland shows that over the year to 2023 teacher numbers decreased by 160 full-time equivalents (FTE) to 54,033 FTE. Pupil numbers during this time also decreased . These changes were both relatively small so the pupil teacher ratio (PTR), which gives a measure of the size of the teaching workforce relative to the pupil population, remained at 13.2 after rounding.

The number of teachers, graduate staff and staff working towards graduate level qualifications in funded ELC was 5906 FTE in 2023 – the highest figure since the Scottish Government started collecting graduate data in the ELC census in 2017 – and an increase of 230 FTE from 2022.

New improvement actions for the year ahead

As well as the actions set out below, ongoing improvement actions are set out in Annex A.

The Scottish Government will work with teachers and other partners to co-create a Centre for Teaching Excellence to ensure that Scotland remains at the forefront of innovation in learning and teaching to support and empower the profession.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with partners to promote teaching as a valued career, with a strong sense of professional development. In 2024, we will work with our partners, through the Strategic Board for Teacher Education, to explore how we can collectively promote teaching as a highly rewarding, inspiring and challenging career with opportunities for creativity and autonomy and, crucially, to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people, with the aim of improving recruitment and retention and attracting more high quality individuals into teaching, in areas where they are most needed.

The Scottish Government will work with partners from across ELC to develop a range of actions that will support a sustainable, diverse, highly skilled workforce to serve the whole childcare sector. The Scottish Government has funded the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) to collaboratively design a new national portal for professional learning. This brings together a range of existing high-quality learning resources and materials available, to provide a single source of information for professionals across all parts of the ELC sector, and will be launched in early 2024.

The Scottish Government is funding a project which aims to support children’s early speech and language development and support a reduction in the equity gap in children’s early speech, language development. This is being taken forward through the secondment of six full time equivalent (FTE) senior speech and language therapists as Early Speech and Language Leads (the Leads).

The six FTE posts will be hosted and line-managed by Education Scotland to make maximum use of existing relationships and networks including local education authorities and practitioner networks. The Leads have three core elements to their role:

1. Strategic Oversight - The Leads will work with partners to understand the current system, including what is working well and the actions required to improve to better support children’s speech, language and communication development from pre-birth to 5. The Leads will work collaboratively with health and early education teams to co-design, develop and deliver bespoke plans, measures, professional learning and resources aligned to regional and local priorities for early speech and language improvement.

2. National Leadership – The team will contribute to national actions to support children’s early language development and lead on the development of a national action plan for early speech and language development.

3. Operational Support – The Leads will help build the confidence and capacity of staff working in ELC and health settings to implement effective universal and targeted approaches to support children’s speech and language development in line with ‘Realising the Ambition: Being Me’, and to support increased communication and collaboration across other key public services in-line with ‘Ready to Act’.

Education Scotland will work on a prototype programme that focuses on teacher and practitioner learning happening directly in schools by designing an offer that improves the professional learning being delivered by leaders in the setting. This programme will look at building participants' understanding of what makes professional learning effective and transformative; coaching and developing their understanding of collective efficacy to see real change in how teachers and practitioners experience professional learning in their settings. This protype will be open to senior leaders, teachers in promoted posts and teachers leading on aspects of work across their school.

The Scottish Government has commissioned a research project examining examples of pedagogies employed by practitioners engaging in all three elements of learning for sustainability – outdoor learning, sustainable development and global citizenship learning and teaching – drawing out the potential benefits for reducing the poverty-related attainment gap, overcoming some of the barriers to attainment and identifying improved/positive educational outcomes for learners (and practitioners).

Education Scotland will respond to requests for support for Gaelic Medium Education, with bespoke professional learning and advice, in line with our national guidance, the Advice on Gaelic Education. Education Scotland will make available translations of resources in collaboration with key stakeholders and other colleagues.

Teacher and practitioner professionalism - case study

Sgoil Àraich Chille Mhoire Kilmuir Primary School Nursery Class, The Highland Council - Using total immersion to promote and secure children’s confidence and progress in speaking Gaelic

Practitioners are making good progress in taking forward the Statutory Guidance on Gaelic Education (2017) by providing 1140 hours of learning and play through total immersion in Gaelic. As a result, they are encouraging children to learn Gaelic from age three which helps put them on a path toward fluency as they move through the school. All staff are fluent Gaelic speakers. The curriculum they provide has a clear focus on the development of the Gaelic language.

The headteacher and practitioners recently reviewed the vision, values, and aims of the school and sgoil-àraich. They work together effectively to identify what is working well and how to improve practice. This strong teamwork is leading to all children in the sgoil-àraich experiencing high-quality play experiences and fluency in Gaelic.

Practitioners use total immersion approaches effectively in the playroom and outdoor environment. These approaches include commentary, songs, and role-play. Practitioners engage very well in adult-to-adult conversations to enable children to hear the language. They utilise routines at snack and lunch to encourage the children to use the Gaelic language that they are acquiring. All staff are making a strong contribution to increasing the use of Gaelic through their regular interactions with children and the range of language rich approaches they provide both indoors and outdoors. Children are curious, independent, and confident while learning through total immersion play.

Parents and carers are kept well informed about their children’s learning and progress through use of an online platform. They regularly contribute to their child’s learning journals. This supports children’s progress well. Practitioners are proactive in signposting parents and carers to Gaelic resources which can support Gaelic language development at home. They also support parents and carers in their use of core Gaelic vocabulary by including common phrases within the sgoil-àraich handbook.

Children are making very good progress in communication and early Gaelic language skills. They are understanding well the Gaelic used by practitioners as they engage in their play. These successes are encouraging practitioners to use their skills and begin to plan to provide regular play experiences for children across the early level. This will support children’s transition into P1 and enable then to interact more often in Gaelic as part of a larger group. A few practitioners work across nursery and primary stages. This ensures smooth transitions and allows for clearer progression within children’s learning at early level. It is also creating a sustainable future and increasing the number of children who use Gaelic fluently for communication.

Summarised Inspection Findings Kilmuir Primary School Nursery Class, The Highland Council

Parent/carer engagement and family learning

What is this?

This covers parental involvement in the wider life of the setting and school, parental engagement in the learning of children and young people, family learning, and learning at home. 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.

A family learning approach gives parents, carers, families, and children the tools from which they can continue to learn at home together.

Why is this important?

Research shows that when parents and carers engage in their children’s learning, and when children and young people live in a supportive home learning environment, it improves their attainment and achievement. Where high quality personalised communication between schools and ELC settings and parents/carers takes place, relationships are strengthened. This supports parents and carers to engage more with their child’s learning

What is the evidence telling us?

Findings from mapping exercises held with local authorities and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers showed:

• there were variations in the type(s) of professional learning opportunities, content, and timings of delivery, provided to the workforce on Parental Involvement, Parental Engagement, Family Learning and Learning at Home.
• there was a need to consolidate all of the current key documents, professional learning, case studies, research and resources.

The data from the Parental Involvement and Engagement (PIE) census and the Summarised Inspection Findings (SIFs) are showing an inconsistent picture across the country relating to Parental Involvement, Parental Engagement, Family Learning and Learning at Home.

Evidence from HM Inspectors demonstrates that, in most schools, parents, carers and the Parent Council are informed about school improvement priorities and their views are sought and valued. In a few schools, parents, carers and partners are not meaningfully and consistently involved in developing and evaluating school initiatives.

Increased visits to Parentzone Scotland website show an ongoing need for information on learning in Scotland.

New improvement actions for the year ahead

As well as the actions set out below, ongoing improvement actions are set out in Annex A.

Education Scotland will work with Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers, local authorities, and national organisations to begin scoping out and piloting the implementation of the Strategic Framework for Parental Involvement, Parental Engagement, Family Learning and Learning at Home.

Education Scotland will further develop the Parents and Families topic page on the refreshed Education Scotland website with the most up-to-date and relevant information and resources, in collaboration with relevant parties including the research community.

Education Scotland will work with local authorities and Regional Improvement Collaboratives to deliver a bespoke Parental Involvement, Parental Engagement, Family Learning and Learning at Home offer based on their identified needs and national priorities.

Education Scotland will work with Campaign for Learning, a UK-wide lifelong charity to plan the 2024 Scottish Family Learning Festival. This will continue to highlight the breadth of where Family Learning is being delivered across Scotland and by whom. It will also identify emerging trends and gaps in provision, to then inform Education Scotland's planning in relation to support and development at a national, regional and local level.

Education Scotland will work with the research community to identify and share new and emerging research relating to parents and families, through a series of webinars aimed at practitioners in the field.

The Scottish Government will work with key stakeholders in reviewing and producing refreshed materials for use by all local authorities when undertaking their own Parental Involvement and Engagement (PIE) Census in the 2024/25 academic year. The Scottish Government will work in collaboration with all key stakeholders to better understand why some local areas do not intend to use these materials.

Parent and carer engagement and family learning - case study

New Abbey Primary School, Dumfries and Galloway Council - Effective partnership working with parents and carers

A range of well-planned, inclusive and creative approaches are successfully strengthening parental involvement and engagement at New Abbey Primary School. The headteacher and staff actively seek out and respond positively to potential partnerships with parents and carers. For example, parents, carers and residents are invited to contribute their time and talents to enrich the children’s learning experiences. They take part in outdoor learning and development of the school grounds.

The headteacher ensures that all parents and carers have appropriate opportunities to contribute their views and provide feedback on the work of the school through a range of questionnaires and focus groups. This helps the headteacher to gain a wide range of views on the school’s progress and next steps. Building on these approaches, the headteacher invited parents and carers to collaborate in creating the school’s vision, values and aims. Subsequently, parents and carers were asked to contribute to the development of the positive behaviour agreement linked to the school’s vision, values and aims. Parents and carers have been involved in developing the curriculum rationale and a skills progression framework encompassing skills for learning, life, and work. This has increased parental engagement with children’s learning.

The Parent Council and wider parent body are consulted on improvement priorities and other important decisions, such as the use of school funds and the school’s allocation of Pupil Equity Fund monies. Pupil Council members attend Parent Council meetings to discuss relevant issues and contribute to their decision-making processes. As a result, the whole school community has a collective understanding of the school’s improvement journey. There is widespread recognition by the school community of progress made and next steps.

Parents and carers receive regular communication about their child’s progress and the work of the school through a variety of media. They are involved in reviewing children’s progress and supporting identification of next steps. Parents and carers are encouraged to share information about their children’s achievements out of school using an online platform. This has strengthened home-to-school relationships as parents and carers feel encouraged to contribute to their child’s learning.

Summarised Inspection Findings, New Abbey Primary School, Dumfries and Galloway Council

Curriculum and assessment

What is this?

This 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, for example Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels, skills, qualifications and other awards. It also includes curricular improvement to reflect the key links between curriculum and assessment and so this driver includes many of the actions in response to the OECD recommendations.

Why is this important?

We need to ensure the curriculum remains coherent, appropriate and effective. We also need to know the size of the attainment gap at different ages and stages, across Scotland, in order to take the right action to close it.

What is the evidence telling us?

The OECD’s 2021 review of CfE recommended that Scotland should:

• Balance CfE so students can fully benefit from a coherent learning experience from 3 to 18 years.
• Combine effective collaboration with clear roles and responsibilities
• Consolidate institutional policy processes for effective change
• Combine effective collaboration with clear roles and responsibilities

Participants involved in the Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officer (QAMSO) training programme 2022/2023 reported an improved understanding of the learning, teaching and assessment (moderation) cycle. The evaluation also showed an overall increase in confidence in both moderating progress towards and achievement of a level, increased confidence in creating high quality assessments as well as practitioners involved being able to facilitate learning, teaching, assessment and moderation practice and processes within their setting. Further systems and support are required to extend assessment and moderation approaches.

HM Inspectors provide information on the percentage of school inspections, for the academic year 2022-23 across the sample of 120 public schools, where the specified quality indicators (QI) are evaluated as ‘good’ or better. On QI Learning, teaching and assessment: the majority, 69%, were evaluated as good, very good or excellent (and almost all, 90%, as satisfactory or better).

HM Inspectors found that professionals across all sectors actively support wellbeing, equality and inclusion by fostering positive relationships founded on a climate of mutual respect. Practitioners and staff know children and young people well, and this helps children and young people feel nurtured, valued, and included. In most schools, staff have a strong understanding of statutory duties in relation to wellbeing, equality and inclusion. In most primary and secondary schools, and all special schools, staff understand the importance of ensuring children’s and young people’s wellbeing needs are met. Overall, in a majority of schools, staff use the wellbeing indicators to help support children and young people to reflect on their wellbeing. However, staff are not always able to identify clearly the impact of their work on improving children’s and young people’s wellbeing.

Senior leaders in almost all schools, use appropriate systems to record and monitor children’s and young people’s attendance at school. In most schools, staff identify increasing challenges in supporting a few children and young people to maintain regular attendance at school following COVID-19. In the most effective examples, staff use well-planned targeted support, often involving partners, to help children, young people and families to address barriers to regular attendance. For example, staff work alongside family workers to provide individualised practical support for families, including visits to the home and after school support.

In most schools, children and young people learn about their rights. More needs to be done to help children and young people to understand the relevance of their rights to their day-to-day lives. In examples of highly-effective practice, staff provide children and young people with regular opportunities to learn about children’s rights in real-life and relevant contexts.

Overall, schools use a range of interventions well to support children and young people requiring additional support with their learning. Increasingly, schools are developing ways to assess children’s and young people’s wellbeing to support decisions about interventions. Staff should continue to focus on ensuring robust systems and approaches are in place to identify whether interventions successfully improve outcomes, as this is an area of ongoing improvement.

Overall, schools are becoming more confident in designing progression pathways based on Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) experiences and outcomes, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Staff across all sectors need to ensure clear progression pathways exist across all curricular areas. This will make sure that children and young people build on prior learning and achieve their curriculum entitlement across the broad general education (BGE).

Staff in the majority of ELC classes provide a quality curriculum framework which is well matched to the developmental needs of young children. A significant number of settings need to improve further practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of CfE. This will ensure young children receive their entitlement to a broad range of experiences which progress their learning and development in all areas of the curriculum.

Overall, the majority of primary schools are working well to ensure that children at all stages experience learning through interdisciplinary learning contexts. Most secondary schools are at the early stages of providing learning experiences which link young people’s learning across different curricular areas. Interdisciplinary learning is rarely a feature of senior phase provision in secondary schools.

Staff continue to extend the use of digital technologies across the curriculum, building on the skills developed during periods of remote learning. In the best examples, digital skills are taught explicitly in a range of highly-relevant contexts. Staff now need to ensure that digital technology skills are taught progressively as children and young people progress in their learning. In a few special schools, staff could make more effective use of interactive and accessibility features of technology to support children and young people to develop digital skills. In a minority of schools, teachers would benefit from professional learning to enhance their skills knowledge and confidence in delivering a progressive digital literacy curriculum

New improvement actions for the year ahead

As well as the actions set out below, ongoing improvement actions are set out in Annex A.

Education Scotland will work with local authorities during the academic session 2023-24 to establish systems to support the delivery of assessment and moderation approaches through both regional and national offers.

In 2024, the Scottish Government will instigate a regular Curriculum for Excellence improvement cycle which will consider curricular areas in a planned and systematic way, including considerations around the relevance of curriculum content, role of knowledge, transitions between primary and secondary, and alignment between the broad general education and senior phase.

In 2024, the key priorities of the National Response to Improving Mathematics (NRIM) will be to:

• clearly define the characteristics of high quality numeracy and maths learning, teaching and assessment from the early years to senior phase, providing the clarity that teachers are asking for
• develop a practical tool for schools and settings to evaluate the quality of their current provision and identify priorities for improvement to accompany the above
• develop a new accredited professional learning programme for teachers of maths in primary and secondary broad general education
• update the curriculum framework for numeracy and maths, strengthening the place of knowledge and being clearer on progression by mapping how a learner's knowledge and skills should be developed through the different stages of the curriculum, testing out a revised curriculum framework with teachers, practitioners, and stakeholders.

Given the interplay between curriculum and qualifications, particularly in the senior phase, the SQA and then the new qualifications body will be part of the joint work to update the curriculum framework, and ensure that maths qualifications reflect the updated framework in consultation with NRIM.

To support the implementation of any revised maths curriculum, the Inspectorate will also undertake a maths national thematic inspection with a focus on teaching and learning

The Council of Deans will also convene their Initial Teacher Education National Maths Group to ensure initial teacher education aligns with the latest developments in maths and numeracy.

Taken together, this additional focus on maths improvement will be supported by funding of around £500,000 in 2024-25.

In 2024 the key priorities of the National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) will be to:

• commence work to update and improve the literacy curriculum in CfE, aimed at strengthening the role of knowledge and repositioning literacy at the centre of learning across all curricular areas which, in turn, will be informed by a review of the literacy and English curriculum carried out by HM Inspectors.
• Implement improvement in children’s classroom experiences through professional learning and support for educators, on the basis of forthcoming recommendations related to:
• core skills, knowledge and experiences that children need to develop competence in the basic tools for literacy,
• research-informed pedagogical approaches that support children and young people to develop creative and critical thinking within reading, writing and listening/talk, for example disciplinary literacy, critical literacy and oracy.
• supporting progression in literacy knowledge and skills for all, through improved approaches to learning, teaching and assessment

In addition, these NRIL key priorities will be further enhanced by ongoing Education Scotland activity, which will:

• publish updated guidance on early reading, offering clarity on the position of systematic phonics within an overall approach. This will be accompanied by an enhanced national primary schools professional learning programme on early reading
• develop a strengthened national professional learning offer on excellence in the learning and teaching of writing in the primary years
• expand the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative (CYPIC) P4 National Improving Writing programme, supporting teachers to apply improvement science.
• develop a programme of activity to support children’s early language and communication, following the recent appointment of Early Speech and Language Leads

The work of NRIL and Education Scotland will be complemented by national literacy programmes already benefiting schools such as ‘Read Write Count with the First Minister’ which helps ensure that all families have access to high quality books and other learning resources; and Reading Schools which recognises and rewards schools for building and sustaining a whole-school inclusive reading culture.

Curriculum and assessment - case study

Grangemouth High School, Falkirk Council - supporting young people in the Additional Support Centre to attain and achieve

The Additional Support Centre (ASC) located within Grangemouth High School supports young people experiencing social and communication difficulties. The ASC aims to promote and develop young people’s self-esteem, trust, social skills and resilience from S1 to S6. The quality of relationships and support for young people in the ASC are leading to high levels of attainment, progress, and positive destinations. All young people have a key teacher who supports and monitors their wellbeing and progress closely. Teachers and support staff from the ASC provide direct support both within the centre and in mainstream classes. This ensures that appropriate and consistent approaches are used to meet learners’ needs within classes. As a result, almost all young people feel able to engage in a range of subject classes. Most young people attend mainstream classes and receive personalised and targeted group support within the ASC when required.

Staff in the ASC provide professional learning opportunities for mainstream staff to support their skills and confidence in meeting learner’s needs. Mainstream teachers warmly welcome the quality of support and advice they receive from skilled and dedicated ASC staff.

Almost all young people respond well to the small classes and individual support provided within ASC and mainstream classes. Young people’s progress is tracked systematically through regular visits to classes and discussions with colleagues. Staff adapt young people’s learning programmes to ensure that they maintain high levels of engagement and receive the right kind of help when they need it. As a result, the young people who attend the ASC are supported very well to attain and achieve. They benefit from a range of opportunities to develop personal, social and life skills. Most young people make good progress in literacy and numeracy, and a few make very good progress. Almost all young people at the senior phase achieve National Qualifications in an increasingly broad range of subjects including English, mathematics, music technology, design and manufacture, sciences and social subjects.

Summarised Inspection Findings Grangemouth High School Falkirk Council

School and ELC improvement

What is this?

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

Why is this important?

School and ELC improvement focuses on the quality of education, including learning, teaching and assessment, as well as the quality of the partnerships that are in place to support children and young people with their broader needs. These are the essential elements to raise attainment for all children and young people, and close the poverty-related attainment gap.

What is the evidence telling us?

Ken Muir’s report - Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education - recommended a shared inspection framework for ELC to reduce the inspection burden on the sector. The results of the consultation on ELC inspection demonstrated that the current system of inspection for ELC settings feels burdensome and bureaucratic for providers and that there is a strong desire – and need – for change. 78% of respondents were in favour of a shared inspection framework being introduced by the Care Inspectorate and education inspectorate.

Care Inspectorate ELC data for 2022 shows that 90.1% of services offering funded childcare were found to be “good” or better for all quality themes. The proportion of services evaluated as weak or unsatisfactory across all quality key questions remains very low. Feedback from the ELC sector highlights the ongoing need to ensure that there is a clear and coherent approach to providing support for improvement that enables ELC Services to meet the Funding Follows the Child and the National Standard for Early Learning and Childcare Providers.

Outdoor play and learning is an integral, every day, part of ELC in Scotland. High quality outdoor play and learning can have wide-ranging benefits for all children. Playing, learning and having fun outdoors helps to improve wellbeing and resilience. Nature Scot’s report ‘Teaching, learning and play in the outdoors: a survey of provision in Scotland in 2022’, published 30 March 2023, shows that, on average, children in Scotland spent 39% of their time in ELC outdoors. An increase of 3% on the 2014 report.

HM Inspectors provide information on the percentage of school inspections, for the academic year 2022-23 across the sample of 120 public schools, where the specified quality indicators (QI) are evaluated as ‘good’ or better. On QI ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion: most, 75%, were evaluated as good, very good or excellent (and almost all, 91%, as satisfactory or better). On QI raising attainment and achievement: the majority, 68%, were evaluated as good, very good or excellent (and most, 89%, as satisfactory or better).

HM Inspectors found that, overall, in the majority of schools, children and young people make good progress from prior levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy. Where progress is good or better, senior leaders and staff track children’s and young people’s progress carefully. They use assessment information and data effectively to understand the progress children and young people make. The majority of schools use data and interventions well to identify and target gaps in learning that arose during COVID-19 . Staff across all sectors need to track and measure progress of children and young people across all curriculum areas. In the special sector, there remains a need to ensure learners emerging skills and attributes are consistently captured and measured over time.

Staff in almost all schools, ensure positive relationships support children and young people to learn in purposeful learning environments. As a result, the majority of children and young people feel supported and encouraged by staff.

Children and young people in the majority of schools and ELC classes are engaged in and motivated by their learning. Staff are supporting children and young people to be increasingly active in their learning. Building on approaches developed during COVID-19, schools continue to improve and increase children’s and young people’s opportunities for outdoor learning. In a minority of schools, teachers are not yet providing well designed opportunities for children to learn independently or have meaningful opportunities to have a say in and lead their own learning.

Teachers in the majority of schools plan tasks and activities which are well-matched to children’s and young people’s learning needs. In a minority of schools, teachers need to focus on improving the pace and challenge of learning for all children and young people. Most staff provide clear explanations and instructions to help children and young people to understand the purpose of their learning. In a majority of schools, teachers use questioning effectively to check understanding.

Teachers in the primary and secondary sector, need to focus on the key area of extending the use of questioning to develop higher-order thinking. The quality of feedback to children and young people is improving, but more needs to be done to ensure learners are clear about their next steps in learning. Senior leaders across all sectors need to continue to actively focus on ensuring consistently high-quality learning, teaching and assessment within and across schools for all children and young people.

In most schools, staff at the early stages are developing well the use of play pedagogy to support children’s learning. Staff in a majority of primary schools are using the national practice guidance, Realising the Ambition: Being Me (2020), to develop an understanding of high-quality play pedagogy. In a few schools, teachers are working effectively with practitioners in early years settings to develop a stronger understanding of the role of the adult in the context of play.

The Attendance, absence and exclusions collections is conducted as part of the School, Staff and Pupil census every other year. Cases of exclusion increased from 8,323 in 2020/21 to 11,676 in 2022/23. Although this represents a 40% increase, the number of exclusions in 2020/21 was exceptionally low, in part due to school closures during COVID-19. The 11,676 exclusions recorded in 2022/23 is 22% lower than in 2018/19 (pre-COVID-19) and is consistent with the overall downward trend since 2006/07.

The attendance rate for the 2022/23 school year was 90.2%. This is a decrease from 92.0% in 2020/21 and the lowest rate since comparable figures began in 2003/04.

There was a decrease in the number of registrations for funded early learning and childcare from 92,615 in 2022 to 92,182 in 2023. The estimated uptake rate for ages three and four decreased from 99% in 2022 to 97% in 2023. The proportion of all two year olds registered for funded ELC decreased from 14% in 2022 to 13% in 2023. The proportion of eligible two year olds registered for funded ELC was calculated for the first time and was 52%.

New improvement actions for the year ahead

As well as the actions set out below, ongoing improvement actions are set out in Annex A.

The Care Inspectorate and HM Inspectors are developing a shared inspection framework for use in ELC inspections, which will be trialled in January 2024, and implemented in September 2024. They are doing so in partnership with each other and in consultation with the sector. They are also working together to plan their inspection programmes, undertake shared inspections and reduce burdens on the sector. The inspectorates have confirmed that neither organisation would inspect a service within an 18-month period of each other unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The Care Inspectorate ELC Improvement Programme will deliver targeted improvement support to providers funded ELC who are not achieving “good” or better in their Care Inspectorate evaluations, or are at risk of not meeting the National Standard at their next inspection.

The Scottish Government will collaborate with key national agencies and sector representative bodies to develop a “Support for Quality Plan” for funded ELC, that will:

1. set out the national direction for quality in ELC, and the roles and responsibilities of all key agencies in supporting the sector plan and deliver high quality services, and

2. outline how all relevant agencies will work together to support the sector.

The Scottish Government will work with partners to scope further support for outdoor learning in ELC following the recent launch of the ‘Caring for our Outdoor Spaces’ guidance.

Education Scotland, working with stakeholders and local authority partners will provide bespoke support for areas where improving levels of attendance remains a challenge.

Education Scotland will work with local authorities to identify effective approaches to tracking and monitoring of attendance so that these can be collated and shared.

Education Scotland and the Scottish Government will collaborate with the wider system to bring coherence to the work on improving attendance.

The Scottish Government will work with key stakeholders to review and co-develop refreshed materials for use by local authorities, in undertaking their own local Health and Wellbeing Census in the 2024/25 academic year, on behalf of themselves, and local Children’s Services Planning partners. The Scottish Government will work in collaboration with all key stakeholders to better understand why some local areas do not intend to use these materials.

The Scottish Government will continue to fund the universal provision of free school meals for all pupils in P1-P5 and all pupils in special schools, as well as for eligible pupils from P6-S6. Over the coming year, the Scottish Government will work with COSLA to prepare the infrastructure to support the further expansion of free school meals.

In response to BISSR, the Scottish Government will:

• Develop a national plan for action, developed in partnership with the Scottish Advisory Group in Relationships and Behaviour in Schools, to be published early in 2024
• Provide funding for staff development to allow local authorities to best support their team
• Call for more accurate and consistent reporting of incidents in schools
• Publish a framework to prevent and respond to gender based violence in schools (This is included in the current action plan)

The Inspectorate will strengthen the evidence gathered during school inspections, to ensure there is an accurate picture of behaviour in Scotland’s schools to support improvement.

In 2024, Scottish Government will develop a digital strategy for education which will highlight the key role digital plays in our education system and will seek to define the key elements in successful technology deployment.

School and ELC improvement - case study

Bright Starts Nursery , Perth and Kinross

The nursery was nominated for the ELC Improvement Programme by Perth & Kinross council, and they participated in Cohort two in 2021/22. At the time they were nominated they had not yet been inspected as a new service.

The nursery manager found that the opportunity to link with peers nationally and look outward in terms of practise was of great benefit. Touching base online, and the dialogue and support during sessions was particularly helpful, providing reassurance they weren’t alone in some of the issues facing the ELC sector. The manager’s biggest learning from the programme was “the slowing down process”. This allowed for critical reflection and the beginning of robust quality assurance and self-evaluation processes to be embedded across the setting.

The inspector commented that the key improvement identified was the approach to quality assurance and focused, planned self-evaluation.

“By developing a focused plan for improvement, and monitoring progress through self-evaluation, the whole team became involved and could see the impact on the service. Involving the team in this way greatly developed staff confidence and improved their motivation to learn.” (Inspector)

Reflecting on their training needs helped the team to identify and embrace the training on offer to upskill their knowledge. Reflection and looking outwards have been key developments across the team, resulting in their shift in practice which is now individualised and outcome focused, rather than task orientated.

“They wanted to succeed for the benefit of their children and families.” (Local Authority)

Since completion of the programme the manager had developed their coaching skills and approach to bringing the team along with them. The improvement process within the nursery was shared with the team from the start with the message ”you are all part of this journey”.

“As a whole team we learnt to “see beyond the next inspection” and understand that sustained improvement takes time to embed.” (Nursery Manager)

The use of robust self-evaluation and quality assurance processes provided a safe boundary in which staff could evaluate and learn. The staff team have moved from a place of “fear of failure” to one of critical reflection, with consistent evaluation in order to develop and improve.

“The light bulb moment for me was seeing all the processes come together and the impact it was having on the team and families as a whole, just like finding all the pieces to complete a jigsaw. This is when I felt I had a great understanding of the journey I was on and the outcomes I wished to achieve.” (Staff member)

“Both children and families were experiencing enhanced nurturing relationships and the positivity, commitment and motivation of the staff team was benefitting everyone within the service.” (Inspector)

There is now an ethos of continual improvement in the nursery, underpinned by an entire team evaluative, solution focused approach. As a team, they now understand the golden thread that sits behind all the quality assurance processes and the manager highlights this as “the glue that holds everything together”.

“It feels exciting again” (Nursery Manager)

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.

Why is this important?

Evidence suggests that we must build a sound understanding of the range of factors that contribute to a successful education system. This is supported by international evidence which confirms that there is no single measure that will provide a full picture of performance. We want to use a balanced range of measures to evaluate Scottish education and take action to improve.

What is the evidence telling us?

The PISA 2022 results for Scotland show:

• reading performance was above the OECD average and higher than 24 other countries
• maths was similar to the OECD average
• science performance was similar to the OECD average
• Scotland’s overall performance in mathematics and reading was lower in 2022 than it was in 2018, and was similar in science. The OECD average for mathematics and reading also fell, with 30 OECD countries/economies achieving a lower score in mathematics than in 2018
• The proportion of pupils performing at the highest levels of achievement ("Level 5 and above") was higher in Scotland than the OECD average in reading, and similar in maths and science. The proportion of pupils performing at the lowest levels of achievement ("below Level 2") was lower in Scotland than the OECD average in reading, and similar in maths and science. This is the same as in the PISA 2018 assessments.
• In mathematics, the strength of the relationship between social background and performance was higher in 2022 than in 2018, and was similar to the OECD average, having been lower than the average in 2018. For reading and science, the variation explained by social background was similar to 2018.

The PISA 2022 student questionnaire asked questions around experiences at school and wellbeing. Findings included:

• Two-thirds of students (67 per cent) feel like they belong at their school. This is below the OECD average (74.6 per cent), but is higher than for students in Scotland in PISA 2018 (64.7 per cent).
• Students reported a higher life satisfaction in PISA 2022 (an average of 6.48 on a scale of 1-10) than in PISA 2018 (6.25). However, this was below the OECD average of 6.75.
• Students in Scotland were less than likely than in PISA 2018 to report that they experienced frequent bullying acts, including being made fun of, being left out of things, and being hit or pushed around by other students. However, a higher proportion of students in Scotland reported experiencing a bullying act on at least a weekly basis (10.6 per cent) than the OECD average (9.4 per cent).
• Students in Scotland were more likely to say that they had skipped a whole day of school ‘once or twice’ in the last two weeks (21.9 per cent) compared to PISA 2018 (16.8 per cent), and this was higher than the OECD average (14.6 per cent).

The Insight benchmarking tool has been in place since 2014. It is the professional benchmarking tool for analysing attainment data in the senior phase, accessible by secondary schools and local authorities. It is designed to support self-evaluation and provide schools with their attainment information in an easily accessible format that makes it straightforward to identify possible areas for improvement for young people in S4 to S6.

Feedback from schools and local authorities is consistently positive about Insight as a tool and the support provided by the Scottish Government’s Insight Professional Advisors. It is now well established as the key improvement tool for the senior phase and is widely used by schools and local authorities across Scotland.

A public consultation on improving Insight was carried out from April to June 2023. It sought views on some specific proposals for the future of Insight and proposed a number of additional changes to Insight with the potential to further enhance the tool. These proposals focused on the findings and recommendations of the Muir Report, as well as the views and experiences of the Professional Advisers and those using the tool at present. Responses demonstrated strong support for the tool and helped shape the Insight activity that we intend to take forward in the coming months – actions that have been discussed and agreed with the Benchmarking Tools Advisory Group.

New improvement actions for the year ahead

As well as the actions set out below, ongoing improvement actions are set out in Annex A.

From the September 2024 Insight update onwards, we will reflect the recommendations made by the ASL review within Insight by seeking to include an ever wider range of achievement.

As part of wider work on improving consistency in the use of senior phase data, during the course of 2024, we will work with local government to agree a set of core school leaver statistics for inclusion in Insight and other reporting mechanisms.

We will take necessary steps to ensure that Insight fits with the post-reform landscape of Scottish education – the timing of this will depend on plans for taking forward proposals coming from the education reform process.

By December 2024, we will conclude developmental work to consider a further range of enhancements to the Insight tool – including refreshing the Insight user interface - as highlighted in the Insight consultation that ran from April to June 2023.

The Scottish Government will develop an outcomes and measurement framework for funded early learning and childcare. We will continue to work closely in partnership with local government and the ELC sector to develop a framework that can contribute to shared accountability and improvement goals, within the overall context provided by the Verity House Agreement.

Scottish Government will rejoin the Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), adding to the current evidence on Scotland’s education performance. The next cycles of PIRLS and TIMSS will be in 2026 and 2027 respectively.

Performance information - case study

St Ninian’s Primary School, West Lothian Council - robust analysis and use of data as a driver for improved outcomes

Having high expectations for every learner is at the heart of the school ethos. Multi-strand tracking and monitoring arrangements underpin this aspirational culture, providing robust information to ensure ambitious aims are achieved.

Extensive tracking and monitoring across the school enables teachers and senior leaders to measure children’s progress. This supports any necessary adjustments to teaching, resourcing and relevant interventions. An integral aspect of tracking arrangements are regular ‘excellence and equity’ meetings where staff and senior leaders discuss children’s wellbeing, progress, and support and/or challenge needs. This allows staff to identify gaps and plan responsive interventions for identified individuals and groups of children. Information from tracking meetings is used to inform allocation of resources, including deployment of support for learning staff in a responsive and needs driven way.

Staff monitor children’s wellbeing regularly, asking them to self-report against the wellbeing indicators, and check-ins are held with identified groups of learners. Staff consider information on wellbeing as carefully as that relating to attainment and achievement in planning for children’s continuous progress and ongoing improvements.

The whole school Continuum of Support overview contains a detailed and comprehensive record of each individual child’s journey of support. The progress of cohorts and groups of children are monitored, including those with additional support needs and English as an additional language. Senior leaders track the attainment of children living in different data zones to ensure progress towards closing poverty-related gaps. This allows senior leaders to see progress over time and identify trends and areas of focus for improvement.

Staff hold conversations regularly with pupil focus groups. The feedback from these focus groups provides senior leaders with valuable perceptive data which informs approaches to teaching. Staff listen to and act upon children's views about what aspects of learning they enjoy most, whether learning is sufficiently challenging and what could improve children’s achievement.

As a result of these robust tracking and monitoring arrangements, children, including those with identified needs, are making very good progress. In this way, the very high aspirations encapsulated in the slogan ‘#stninianskidscan!’ are being realised.

Summarised Inspection Findings St Ninian's Primary School, West Lothian Council