The Muir report on Scottish education reform was finally published this week, a day earlier than originally advertised, and will ultimately lead to the end - in their current form, at least - of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and inspection and curriculum body Education Scotland.
Professor Ken Muir was appointed by the Scottish government to take forward some of the key recommendations in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review of Curriculum for Excellence, published in June.
So, now that he has published his report, what happens next?
The Muir report: Reforms to education in Scotland
Here’s how the next few months and years are expected to pan out:
- Three new national bodies will be formed - a qualifications body, a national agency for Scottish education and an independent inspection body. This will “necessarily entail wide consultation and engagement”, the government says.
- The time frames given for this are only “indicative” but the process is starting right away, as “engagement will begin immediately with stakeholders, including the Scottish Education Council and International Council of Education Advisers”.
- The government will also immediately began work this week to find a “facilitator” who will “play a key role” in realising the Muir report’s recommendations.
- Muir says there should now be a “national discussion on establishing a compelling and consensual vision for the future of Scottish education”.
- More details on how the next few years will pan out for the SQA and Education Scotland will be published later this spring.
- “Operating models” are to be “developed for the new organisations by winter 2022”.
- There will then be a “period of shadow operation for the new bodies before they become fully operational”.
- The new organisations should become operational in 2024 - for the new qualifications body, this is expected to be after completion of the 2024 exams.
- At this point in 2024, SQA and Education Scotland will “cease to exist in their current forms”, the government says.
While the Muir report is chiefly concerned with what replaces the SQA and Education Scotland in their current form, another big report due soon, by Professor Louise Hayward, will explore in detail how Scotland’s national qualifications should be reformed.
It also is worth pointing out that some of the Muir recommendations have not been fully accepted by the government.
“While we have provided clarity where we can, some aspects of Professor Muir’s recommendations do require further consideration and engagement,” the government said.
The government agrees, for example, that the SQA’s accreditation and regulation functions should be independent from the national awarding body. “However, careful further consideration is required in relation to the scope of these functions and where these functions should sit in future, in particular ensuring that the independence of these regulatory functions is appropriately secured,” it said.
The government stated: “Final decisions on the accreditation and regulation function (currently located within SQA) and the Registrar for Independent Schools (currently located within Education Scotland) will be made in the coming months.”
Meanwhile, consultation on options for inspection of the early learning and childcare (ELC) sector will be brought forward before the summer.
The government said it is “conscious of the challenges the ELC sector has raised regarding the dual inspection regime” that currently exists.
