The Committee is scrutinising the ongoing issue of education reform in Scotland.

Between 2021 and 2022, the Committee scrutinised the Scottish Government’s response to the OECD review of the Curriculum for Excellence.

Following the publication of the report, the Scottish Government stated that it would:

• move the role of inspection out of Education Scotland in a way that maximizes impact and helps to balance the dual need for local flexibility of provision alongside national consistency in outcomes
• consider replacing the SQA with a new, specialist agency responsible for both curriculum and assessment to ensure alignment in these functions.

The Scottish Government appointed Professor Muir as an Independent Advisor to Scottish Government, to take forward these actions. Professor Muir's report Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education was published on 9 March 2022.

These publications and proposals are factored into the Committee's scrutiny.

The Committee also considered a further report from the OECD: Upper-secondary education assessment in Scotland: a comparative assessment.

Following on from this work, the Committee started scrutinising the independent reviews of qualifications and assessment, and skills delivery.