The Education (Scotland) Bill published in June should have marked a key point of progress in the reform of Scottish education. It should have been the point at which the focus and leadership of our system was transformed.
Instead, the contents of the bill represent a conservative (with a small “c”) protection of the system as is - not reform, but maintenance.
If the bill passes it will ingrain the things that need to change, for at least a generation. That matters to schools, colleges, teachers and learners. And that is why members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) should reject it at the earliest opportunity and demand a new bill that offers meaningful reform.
‘Glacial process’ of Scottish education reform
The near continual talk about the process of education reform in recent years - and the glacial process of making it happen - has scunnered even the most ardent advocates, but that shouldn’t mean we should accept any old bill.
This isn’t about the technicalities of reform to the governance of Scottish education, it is about the structures that support learning and teaching, curriculum experience and the qualifications that are the starting point of our skills pipeline. The function, structure, leadership and culture of the organisations that govern and support the education system are not tangential to wider urgent issues in schools, but central to them.
To reemphasise the importance of this moment, it is worth setting out how we got here.
The Scottish government came to the conclusion in 2021 that Scotland’s two main education bodies - the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Education Scotland - were not fit for purpose and needed to be replaced.
This stemmed from the misalignment within the curriculum structure - as found by the 2019 Scottish Parliament subject choices inquiry and the 2021 Curriculum for Excellence review by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - and between that structure and assessment. It was also due to a loss of trust and confidence in the two organisations, and the culture presided over by their senior leadership.
Professor Ken Muir’s independent review in 2022, commissioned by the Scottish government, set out the roadmap for reform. It made three key recommendations concerning the structure of Scottish education.
Firstly, that the SQA should be replaced by Qualifications Scotland, which should take on the awarding functions of qualifications. That is, their design and delivery, the operation of exams and the awarding of certificates.
Secondly, that a new national agency should replace Education Scotland, be responsible for curriculum delivery and support, and take on the regulation functions of qualifications.
And thirdly, that there should be an independent inspectorate of schools.
Ensuring no marking of own homework
This was fundamentally so that the trust of learners and teachers could be restored in these organisations, that teachers and pupils could be better supported - and so that organisations weren’t responsible for marking their own homework. Professor Muir noted that a culture and an ethos of transparency was not apparent. Teaching unions, similarly, have set out the importance of cultural change in driving reform.
And while the education bill does have proposals for a new inspectorate of schools, its proposals for the new qualifications body is for it to have the exact same functions - and the same leadership - as the current SQA. Further, there are no proposals at all for a new national agency at all; no change in function, no change in culture.
This bill comes across as an attempt to protect the system as it currently is and prevent real and meaningful changes further down the road.
There is one shot at this structural reform. MSPs, then, should consider rejecting it - and instead demand a new bill that meets the recommendations, spirit and expectations of real reform.
Barry Black is a postgraduate researcher at the University of Glasgow. He tweets @BarryBlackNE
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