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The Scottish Government publication, Education Governance: Next Steps, said we will take steps to ensure initial teacher education (ITE) prepares students to enter the profession with consistently well-developed skills to teach key areas such as literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.

For the first stage in this process, I recently met with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and the General Teaching Council for Scotland, and this work will be progressed in the coming months.

All programmes of ITE are accredited and approved by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). The GTCS will only grant accreditation if they are satisfied that the content of courses is appropriate for a student teacher to be able to meet the requirements of the Standard for Provisional Registration (SPR). The SPR includes a requirement to know and understand the methods and underlying theories for effective teaching of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing; and select the most appropriate methods to meet all learners' needs.

Local authorities will continue to have statutory responsibility for the provision of education. As a result of the reforms to be introduced following our review of Education Governance, education will be improved through collaborative partnerships between teachers, schools, local authorities, Education Scotland and other partners. We are working with local authorities and others to develop the regional improvement collaboratives which will support this. We will consult on proposed legislative changes to implement these reforms in autumn 2017.

Empowering teachers, parents and communities to achieve Excellence and Equity – A Governance Review sets out a clear vision for education, one which is led by teachers and schools, where collaboration is key to driving improvement, and where all children and young people are able to reach their potential. As part of our approach, we are committed to establishing a Scottish Education Council by October 2017, to ensure that a system-wide focus on improvement can be delivered. Plans for the Council’s role, remit and membership are in development and an update will be provided during the next parliamentary session.

Scottish Government officials have engaged with a range of key stakeholders who are delivering cultural opportunities to primary school-aged children to identify and fully understand the range of ways schools engage with culture with a view to identifying how best to enhance existing provision.

Engagement has taken place with the National Performing Companies, National Collections, Creative Scotland, Education Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. There are many innovative programmes engaging with children including the Heritage Education Travel Subsidy which has enabled enhanced educational access to heritage sites for over 200,000 students. The National Collections and National Performing Companies undertake significant education programmes which support cultural engagement in schools, this includes free entry for school groups to National Museums sites and free guided tours for school groups at the National Galleries of Scotland.

During the next year preparatory work will continue with partners with a view to establishing a Youth Experience Fund, so that all primary schools have the opportunity to visit Scotland’s theatres, museums, galleries and historic estates.

The devolution of power to the school level means that the traditional roles of national and local government will change as headteachers and teachers are empowered to take decisions about the learning of children and young people. Local government will retain an important role and will remain democratically accountable for the provision of early learning and childcare and of schools.

Headteachers are currently accountable to their schools and communities; to local authorities as their employers and through the General Teaching Council for Scotland's professional standards. The Scottish Government is committed to creating a system where decisions about a child's learning are taken as close to that child as possible and to empower our teachers and headteachers. The importance of accountability through professional standards, to their employer and to their school and community will remain important elements of the system.

The Scottish Government has made clear its commitment to tackle bureaucracy in education. We will work with local authorities, national bodies and other partners to ensure that the new Regional Improvement Collaboratives do not create unnecessary bureaucracy, are fit to the local circumstance and provide an enabling and supporting role to schools across Scotland.

We will strengthen the voice of children and young people by supporting all schools to promote and support pupil participation. As part of this we will consultation on a requirement that every school pursues the key principles of pupil participation which will be included in the consultation on our impending Education Bill in autumn 2017.

The Education Governance: Next Steps publication clearly states that we remain committed to national terms and conditions of service.

The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), the tripartite body including representation from teacher organisations, local authorities and the Scottish Government was established following the 2001 teachers' agreement "A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century" and will continue to negotiate national pay and conditions of service for the teaching profession.

The Scottish Government met with Teach First on 10 January 2017, 21 September 2016 and 26 August 2016. The meetings discussed the Scottish Government's education policy, the focus on closing the attainment gap and the intention to develop new routes into teaching that maintain our long-standing commitment to quality.