Scottish Council of Deans for Education: FOI release

Information requested

Information regarding Scottish Government funding of the Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE) and also the relationship between the two bodies in terms of governance and complaints.

Response

The answers to your questions are given in the paragraphs below and cover the nine points outlined in your request.

Your first and second points related to Scottish Government funding of SCDE. There is no statutory or contractual annual resource funding from the Scottish Government. However, there have been two research projects that the Scottish Government have funded under the overarching governance of SCDE. These are detailed in the table below. I should make clear that the funds for the projects went to individual universities and the General Teaching Council for Scotland as SCDE are not a legal entity and cannot, therefore, receive or hold funds. The funds for these projects have been provided from the Education budget.

Project	Amount	Timescale	Grant Recipient
Measuring Quality in Initial Teacher Education (MQuITE)	£437,697	2016-2023	General Teaching Council for Scotland
Scottish Attainment Challenge Project: ‘Developing pedagogies that work for Pre- Service and Early Career Teachers to reduce the Attainment Gap in Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing’	£605,039	2018-2021	University of Glasgow

On your third and fourth and sixth points There is no contract or governance arrangement between the Scottish Government and SCDE. SCDE are also not regulated by any organistion as they are an affiliation of initial teacher education universities, formed to discuss common areas of interest and collaborate on research and other initiatives. They are not a public authority. As SCDE are autonomous of the Scottish Government then its members will be accountable to their own particular institutions.

Regarding point 5 The Scottish Government consults with a wide range of stakeholders when formulating education policy. SCDE and their individual institutions are important stakeholders and their views will be considered by the Scottish Government. However, the Scottish Government are under no obligation to accept any SCDE recommendations.

On point 7 if you want to make a complaint about SCDE you should in the first instance write to Dr Zoe Robertson, Chair, SCDE at zoe.robertson@ed.ac.uk .

Point 8 asks about the accountability of any SCDE publication. If the publication is badged as SCDE then they are accountable as they would have agreed the content with the authors involved. Therefore, accountability will rest with SCDE and the individual universities that constitute SCDE.

On your final point about SCDE being bound by the Human Rights Acts 2010 then this is a matter you will need to directly address to SCDE.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.