Chamber and committees

ACER UK last provided assessments (Scottish National Standardised Assessments) for the Scottish Government in June 2022. This included a reading assessment for S3, but that assessment did not assess reading age. ACER UK have not provided any assessments for the Scottish Government for young people in S1-S2 or S4-S6. National Standardised Assessments are now provided by AlphaPlus Ltd.

Initial teacher education programmes ensure student teachers are exposed to a range of pedagogies to teach literacy and reading instruction. This can include systematic synthetic phonics, as well as other approaches.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) accredit all initial teacher education programmes. This involves ensuring all programmes meet the GTCS Standard for Provisional Registration (SfPR). The SfPR sets out that student teachers are required to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of theory and practical skills required in curricular areas such as literacy.

The Scottish Government and COSLA agreed jointly in 2018 to a significant investment in the training of educational psychologists, to address a shortfall in numbers of practitioners across Scotland. This investment was made to secure a workforce for employment in Scotland, acknowledging that there are a range of career paths available including those who require part-time employment.

Under the grant terms and conditions of the Qualification in Educational Psychology (QEP), trainees must make every reasonable effort to secure employment as an Educational Psychologist with a local authority to begin as soon as possible after the completion of the Training Programme.

Failure to meet these requirements may result in default of the grant terms and conditions. In these circumstances the full Grant Funds received by or in respect of the Trainee, or a pro rata share, may be required to be repaid to the Scottish Ministers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18589 on 15 June 2023 where the benefits of the Erasmus+ sector to Scotland, and as such subsequent loss due to the UK Government decision not to associate to Erasmus+ were outlined.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website .

The General Teaching Council for Scotland’s (GTCS) Standard for Full Registration, which is the benchmark for competence required of all registered teachers, outlines that all teachers are required to demonstrate a depth of knowledge and understanding of pedagogical and learning theories, and draw on these appropriately to inform practice in areas such as dyslexia. Furthermore, the GTCS Guidelines for Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Programmes, are clear that programmes should expose all students to national priorities and pedagogies to develop their understanding and practice in areas such as dyslexia.

Over 700 teachers have GTCS registration in additional support needs which is available to those with appropriate qualifications.

The requested information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not gather this information. It is for local authorities to determine how they deliver the service to suit the needs and circumstances of children and young people in their area. We produced guidance to support local authorities, available at: Access to counselling in secondary schools: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government collects information on the condition, suitability and capacity of all local authority schools in the annual School Estates Core Facts Survey. Information is also collected on schools that were built or substantially refurbished during the previous year. The latest School Estate Statistics were published on 5 September and are available on the Scottish Government website .

The Scottish Government’s School Estates Core Facts Survey show that we have a record number of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition in Scotland. Moreover, the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased from 61% in April 2007 to 90.7% in April 2023.