Chamber and committees

The refreshed Learning for Sustainability (LfS) Action Plan was published in June 2023 with wide stakeholder support, and sets out a new vision for every 3-18 place of education in Scotland to become a Sustainable Learning Setting by 2030. The plan contains 25 strategic actions to support achievement of ‘Target 2030’ and implementation is underway.

Early delivery priorities have focused on, for example: development of an LfS “portal” to provide practical online resources for educators (the portal will go “live” in 2024); creation of a Mentor Network to support teachers in embedding LfS in curriculum design; and the launch of a national Call to Action on 6 December to encourage an increasing number of schools and other partners to engage in LfS activities.

The Learning for Sustainability Leadership Group – which meets quarterly – is overseeing delivery. Amongst others, members of the group include Education Scotland, Nature Scot, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, and Learning for Sustainability Scotland. Key priorities in 2024 will include the development of LfS Indicators to measure success and progress.

The initiation of a systematic curriculum improvement cycle announced on 12 December 2023, stems from the OECD 2021 report “Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future” and its specific recommendation for Scotland to "develop a systematic approach to curriculum review” which was accepted by Scottish Government.

Prior to the announcement in December, the Curriculum and Assessment Board, which includes a range of stakeholders including Education Scotland, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland, leading academics, and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, had already considered and offered views on a range of papers in relation to taking forward a systematic curriculum review cycle in Scotland.

This work was referenced in a letter sent by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to Committee on 31 October 2023. The letter is available at:

https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/education-children-and-young-people-committee/correspondence/2023/cab-sec-response-ecyp-commitee-oecd-implementation.pdf

Having reviewed the information presented by local authorities, the Scottish Government has confirmed that we will not withhold funding in 2023-24 from those who did not maintain teacher numbers.

While the Scottish Government remains disappointed by the small reduction in teacher numbers, we do not consider that withholding funding at this stage in the financial year would be in the best interest of learners.

As set out in my statement to Parliament on 12 December 2023, Maths will be the first curricular area to be revised as part of the new systematic curriculum improvement cycle.

The update to the Maths curriculum will begin in 2024 and will begin to be tested with Scotland’s teachers later in the year. Literacy and English will be next, with work on that also beginning this year.

Decisions on which curricular areas should be prioritised following Maths/Numeracy and Literacy/English and timescales for those further packages of work, will be informed by evidence and will be subject to discussions with key stakeholders and delivery partners.

The requirement for local authorities to maintain teacher numbers at 2022 census levels was assessed against teacher numbers in the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2023, and subject to mitigating circumstances presented by individual councils.

The number of withdrawals and deferrals from 2019-20 – 2022-23 are in the following table: 2023-24 data is not yet available.

The Registrar of Independent Schools has advised that 83 schools have completed surveys of their estates, with 8 awaiting results of a survey or in the process of procuring a survey. Of the schools where surveys have been completed, 76 schools have confirmed that there is no RAAC present on their estate, and 7 schools have confirmed the presence of RAAC.

Since the introduction of this additional funding from 2020, teacher numbers have increased from 52,247 in the 2019 teacher census to 54,033 in the 2023 teacher census.

The Scottish Government home education guidance sets out the legal position on home education and provides advice on the roles and responsibilities of local authorities and parents in relation to children who are home educated.

This guidance is currently in the process of being updated following consultation with local authorities, other public, community and voluntary sector bodies and home educators and their relevant representative bodies. Scottish Government will engage further with stakeholders part of this process and we expect the publication of the refreshed home education guidance to be later this year. Officials will ensure that stakeholders and the public will be notified of the publication date.

Since 2021 the Scottish Government has provided funding to local authorities for the removal of core curriculum charges for all primary and secondary pupils, with £8 million being provided for 2023-24 and another £8 million outlined in the Scottish Budget 2024-25, published on 19 December 2024. This funding aims to remove limitations on participation in the core curriculum by pupils whose families are not able to meet such costs.

The scope of this funding covers class based activity within the 8 core curriculum areas in the broad general education phase and activities associated with preparation for SQA qualifications in senior phase. For example, this includes (but is not limited to) art and technology materials, and ingredients for home economics. Schools may still choose to charge for costs which are not core curriculum, for example the cost of after school clubs.

Responsibility for implementing the removal of charges for core curriculum rests with individual local authorities.