Scottish Attainment Challenge: framework for recovery and accelerating progress

Summary

Scope

• The mission of the Scottish Attainment Challenge: to use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.
• Support education recovery and increase pace of, and reduce variation in, progress.

Planning

Schools:

• Within existing mechanisms, include plans for Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) in School Improvement Planning, including clear aims for progress in tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.
• Collaborate with children and young people, families, local authorities and other partners meaningfully when planning and throughout the process.

Local authorities:

• Local authorities should include plans and stretch aims for the Scottish Attainment Challenge within the existing local authority education service improvement planning process.
• Stretch aims should be set for 2025/26 and include an outline trajectory for progress; and should be informed by, and inform, school plans for progress.
• Planning should read across into other services' plans and identify opportunities to collaborate with other services and partners.
• Stretch aims should be agreed as a result of robust evidence-informed self-evaluation, supported and challenged through professional dialogue with Education Scotland.
• A short financial plan for Strategic Equity Funding (SEF) is to be submitted to the Scottish Government by September each year.

Monitoring and Reporting

Schools:

• Report on the impact of PEF through school Standards and Quality Reports and use these to report to their Parent Council and Forum and through other channels.
• Implement robust monitoring of children's and young people's progress with appropriate support and challenge from the local authority, peers, Education Scotland and engagement with parents and carers to ensure continual ambitious progress in improving health and wellbeing and tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.

Local authorities:

• Through existing reporting mechanisms and channels, report on progress against the agreed stretch aims in September each year through Standards and Quality Reports/NIF reports (or local equivalents).
• Ensure robust monitoring of progress, with support and challenge from Education Scotland and collaboration with peers, to ensure continual ambitious progress in improving health and wellbeing and tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.

National:

• Scottish Government and Education Scotland will discuss local progress in improving health and wellbeing and tackling the poverty-related attainment gap, informed by local and national data, evidence, intelligence and attainment advisor reporting.
• Education Scotland will use data and evidence to tailor support and challenge.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Reflect existing statutory duties and those in the 2018 Joint Agreement.
• Expectation of collaboration, transparency, support and challenge in a mature system focused on the mission of the Scottish Attainment Challenge.