9 March 2022
I am pleased to now share Professor Ken Muir’s report ‘Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education’ and the Scottish Government’s response.
I want to apologise that the content of these was inadvertently shared outside the Scottish Government in advance and know that this has been an extremely disappointing situation for all concerned, not least the staff of Education Scotland and SQA who are directly affected.
As you will be aware, on 22 June 2021 the Scottish Government responded to the publication of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future, setting out specific actions in response to its recommendations. This included our commitments to move the role of inspection out of Education Scotland, to replace the SQA, and consider the implications of a new specialist agency responsible for both curriculum and assessment.
Professor Muir took up his role as Independent Advisor on Education Reform to provide me with advice and recommendations on these commitments on 2 August, undertaking a public consultation resulting in 764 responses and extensive engagement including 87 meetings and events. In addition, Professor Muir sought extensive consultation and engagement with children and young people, resulting in 1,210 primary school aged children and 394 secondary school aged children and young people taking part in conversations facilitated by adults known to them. 3,889 12- to 18-year-olds also responded to the online survey.
Professor Muir’s report includes 21 recommendations that he considers would create a more cohesive, simplified and consistent education system to continue delivering excellence and equity for Scotland’s learners.
Today I will set out to Parliament the Scottish Government’s broad acceptance of these recommendations, acknowledging these as a starting point for our next steps with educational reform, and making clear that I will ensure these are further developed with stakeholders as appropriate.
The Scottish Government Response provides next steps on the delivery of the work Scottish Government will be leading in collaboration with partners, including beginning immediate work on establishing a change programme to create the three new national bodies; leading a national discussion on the vision for the future of Scottish education, and taking final decisions on elements requiring further consideration, engagement and development in the coming months.
I hope that you will agree that this is a significant step forward in ensuring that our education system continues to deliver improvements for children and young people in Scotland.