Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
I am writing to share with you the publication of the Scottish Government response to the OCED independent review of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, and Professor Stobart’s paper on options for Scotland’s future approach to qualifications and assessment in the senior phase.
I set out to Parliament that I accepted all 12 of the OECD recommendations, and the document Scotland’s Curriculum: Into the Future: Implementation framework for the OECD’s 2021 review of Curriculum for Excellence sets out how the Scottish Government will approach this work. Key to this will be engagement and collaboration with all stakeholders in the education system, and the implementation framework makes clear that this will be a critical element of the work in responding to the OECD recommendations.
The implementation framework sets out a range of work centred around five themes;-
• Re-assess the vision of CfE;
• Agree a measurement and evaluation approach;
• Align assessment and qualifications;
• Clarify roles and responsibilities; and
• Increase curriculum development capacity
Under each of these themes the framework sets out a range of initial actions and next steps which we will look to progress in partnership with stakeholders.
The framework also sets out, on the basis of the work of Professor Stobart and the experiences of the pandemic, that there is a case for reform of our approach to assessment and qualifications in the senior phase. To deliver this reform we will shortly be seeking stakeholder views on what principles should underpin our approach to assessment and qualifications. Professor Hayward of Glasgow University has agreed to then lead a reference group in considering how an approach to assessment and qualifications may be designed based upon these stakeholder agreed principles.
By working with stakeholders, especially children, young people, teachers, practitioners, parents and carers, I believe we can act on these recommendations and so maintain the good standing of our education system.
Curriculum for Excellence review: implementation framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)