All Learners in Scotland Matter - national discussion on education: final report

4.0 A Call to Action (C2A)

4.1 A Call to Action has been formulated based on the strongest themes and most consistent views arising from the National Discussion data. Inevitably, there were differences of opinion in what we heard and sometimes strong, opposing views. Hence, we tried to establish points of synergy, consolidation, and connection within and across the data sets, supported by the data analysis undertaken independently. We undertook a constant comparative approach across the data, testing, evaluating, and revisiting the evidence to ensure that we had a firm basis for the Call to Action that was grounded in a sound analysis of the responses submitted. We also considered what we had heard in the many online and in-person discussions we had engaged in, along with re-reading many of the written submissions.

4.2 While the vision, values, and Call to Action are intended to be future focused, a great deal of what we heard within the National Discussion was about contemporary issues, challenges, and areas of strength within the Scottish Education system. While the National Discussion asked people to look towards a twenty-year horizon into the future, this was challenging for most people dealing with the immediate context of the impact of a global pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, the ongoing consequences of austerity, war in the world, rapid digital acceleration, and many other urgent changes. Consequently, this Call to Action aims to reflect both realism and pragmatism while also signalling what is needed now and will be needed in the future to safe-guard the learning and life-chances of all children and young people in Scotland.

4.3 The most powerful message emanating from the National Discussion in Scotland is the need to educate all learners in Scotland for an uncertain and unpredictable future. Within the National Discussion we were asked to produce a vision, a set of values and a call to action that was future focused. Consequently, the central over-arching theme arising from the National Discussion is that of Educating Our Future.

4.4 The theme of Educating Our Future reinforces how children and young people in Scotland will actively shape a future society, a future economy, a future nation, and a future world. We heard that a core purpose of education must be to enable children and young people to build their own future with confidence, meaning, and kindness. This is why we have used the phrase 'educating our future' in this report, as ultimately the children and young people of Scotland will own that future and will create it.

4.5 It is recognised that to deliver an education system in Scotland that is equipped for a complex and changing future, there is a need to start from the here and now building upon the many strengths that are already present in Scottish Education. The challenge, however, is to put in place a reform process in the short, medium, and long-term that will ensure that the education that is envisaged for the future, based upon the findings from the National Discussion, is steadily assembled over the coming years.

4.6 As we note later in this report, to secure the changes required to establish a Scottish education that is fit for the future will require informed changes and a departure from many of the current established practices. The National Discussion has underlined that some radical changes are needed to deliver the transformation required for the future. These changes can only take place if the education system in Scotland becomes a learning system that is willing to take risks and to push the boundaries of what already exists for the benefit of all learners in Scotland.

4.7 The Call to Action begins with a focus on Learners and Learning. We heard how a future Scottish education system must protect and uphold the rights of all children and young people in Scotland so that their voices are heard, and they are fully supported to learn, to be cared for, and to feel safe.

4.8 We heard about the importance of foundational knowledge and skills including literacy and numeracy. We also heard about the need for a broad-based education with every child and young person having access to subject choices and skills development that reflect their interests and personal ambitions and will equip them in their lives, work, and world. We heard about the importance of a shift from progression based on age and stage of schooling to flexible pathways and supported transitions to meet the developmental needs and interests of children and young school throughout their early years and school experiences. Vitally, we heard about the importance of cultivating joy and igniting a love of learning where learning takes place in a range of settings and approaches, including the importance of play and outdoor learning for all ages.

4.9 To educate all learners in Scotland for a future they will create and sustain means that all learners must be secure in the knowledge that they will be treated fairly, equitably, and that they will be free to learn, irrespective of who they are and in whatever setting, context, or circumstance they find themselves. A future Scottish Education has to build upon its long-held commitment to excellence and equity by ensuring that every child and young person will have the best opportunities to learn in ways that support their individual talents, abilities, and interests supported by a high-quality education workforce in partnership with parents, carers, and communities.

4.10 Within Educating Our Future, we heard about the importance of valuing and embracing the diversity of Scotland's people and places, in a global context. Education needs to include learning about and addressing all forms of diversity, discrimination, and disadvantage for children and young people and for education workers. Within the National Discussion, we heard many times how important it was for pupils of all ages to feel secure and free from any form of bullying, intimidation, or harassment. While we fully acknowledge that there are many policies, instances of good practice within schools, and supportive groups that already focus on this issue, from the conversations we had with children and young people, much more needs to be done. A future education system in Scotland must uphold norms, practices, and values, right across the system, to remove barriers to learning that young people encounter.

4.11 We also heard about the importance of a future Scottish education system which was welcoming and inclusive of all children and young people, including attention to early identification and adequate resources and specialist supports to enable everyone to learn and flourish. Educating Our Future cannot be the responsibility of schools alone, networks and collaborations with a range of communities, partners, and agencies is essential to realise a future for truly supporting all children and young people.

4.12 Educating for the future also means recognising the major challenges that children and young people in Scotland, and further afield, will undoubtedly encounter. Issues of climate change and global warming were at the heart of many of the discussions we heard. The environment that children and young people will inherit is clearly of major and pressing concern. We heard a great deal of passion from the children and young people we spoke to about saving the planet, climate change, and upholding their rights. We also heard fears and anxieties, from them, about living in a world that is dramatically changing and evolving.

4.13 It is now abundantly clear that the wellbeing and the health of children and young people is of one of the most pressing and important issue in Scotland and across the world. To live productively and effectively as citizens of a future world requires positive self-regard, confidence, and a sense of self-determination. Without proactively addressing the issue of well-being and mental health in a system-wide way, any attempts to improve learners' achievement and attainment levels will be undermined. For example, there are over 30,000 children and young people in Scotland who are carers for a parent or a sibling. We heard how being a young carer brings stress and worry as well as placing limitations on the ability to concentrate in class and to learn in school. There are simple things that can be done to alleviate this stress and worry which starts with engaging with young carers and the groups that support them. Educating Our Future has to focus on developing happy and healthy children and young people who can thrive in their education, life, and world.

4.14 Educating Our Future requires an adaptive, proactive, and coherent learning system, including the importance of the education workforce, curriculum review, and assessment reform, to equip children and young people to learn the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that will equip them for future success.

4.15 We heard that there is great enthusiasm and energy among children and young people to learn more broadly, creatively, and digitally. We also heard, largely from employers, that education in the future needs to be more responsive and reactive to the needs of industry and must be able to adapt quickly to support the development of talent pipelines. We heard from employers about the importance of Developing the Young Workforce byproviding skills for learners that will equip them for the workplace, now and in the future. It was underlined how these skills needed to be adaptable to respond to the evolving and changing economic landscape.

4.16 We heard, throughout the National Discussion, about the importance of preparing children and young people in Scotland for a future where jobs, career pathways, and life choices will be fluid and unpredictable. To prepare for such a future, it is suggested, requires an education system that is agile, flexible, and responsive to changing needs.

4.17 The digital revolution is pressing and prescient. The pace of technological change is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. A future education system in Scotland, therefore, will need to be responsive and creative to the new needs of the digital age to ensure that children and young people in Scotland can respond to, and cope with, the changing requirements of a technology-infused world. The opportunities and the challenges that arise as technology advances, in the years to come, has to be a more central and substantial element in a curriculum for the future.

4.18 At the same time as Educating Our Future needs to proactively address the current and rapidly emerging realities of an increasingly digital world, the main message that we heard throughout the National Discussion is that the future of Scottish education must be centrally about, and engage appropriately, children and young people, their parents/carers, and the adults who work in and with the education system and related services. Our conversations, as part of this National Discussion, highlighted that children and young people, parents/carers, and people working in education all want to be listened to, respected, trusted, and valued.

4.19 The big question is what sort of future will children and young people in Scotland encounter, and how far will the education they receive equip them to deal with, and potentially change, the world that they will live in? Educating Our Future requires a Scottish education system that is proactive, flexible, integrated, and upholds the rights of all children and young people.