A glut of reports in recent times has set out “clear paths” to improve Scottish education, but “stalled” progress has left schools facing “the same challenges year after year”.
However, the annual gathering of Scottish secondary school leaders also heard an upbeat account of improved working relationships with Education Scotland and the inspectorate, which were described as “remarkable”.
Those were headline messages from the outgoing School Leaders Scotland (SLS) president Peter Bain in a speech to members in Aberdeen this morning.
“We must also acknowledge the slow pace at which reform is moving,” Mr Bain told the SLS annual conference. “Despite our collective efforts, we continue to feel frustration as the much-needed changes remain, at times, out of reach.
“The pace of change - slow, complex and, at times, stalled - has tested our patience and resilience. Our ambition is to see concrete improvements that respond to the real needs of our schools, but we often find ourselves waiting for these changes to materialise.”
‘Clear paths’ set out for schools
Recommendations from various reports (he cited the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Muir, Hayward, Withers and Morgan) had “laid out clear paths” and “practical insights into how we can improve curriculum, assessment, inclusion and overall school support”.
However, Mr Bain said the pace of implementation has been “disappointingly slow”.
He said: “The delays in reform mean that our schools continue to face the same challenges year after year. We lack the clarity and consistency necessary to move forward with confidence.”
He added: “Funding constraints, ambiguities in policy and a lack of targeted support have hampered our ability to fully implement the vision we all share. These delays are not just abstract; they affect real pupils and real educators who need more immediate improvements.”
However, Mr Bain also said that “this frustration should not overshadow the commitment and the remarkable efforts being made by national partners like Education Scotland and [the schools inspectorate] HMIE”.
He added: “They too work within constraints, striving to support schools while navigating the complexities of reform. Their dedication to advancing Scotland’s educational goals, often against substantial odds, is something we must recognise and appreciate.”
Mr Bain, who is executive headteacher of Oban and Tiree schools, said that Education Scotland had been a particularly “steadfast partner”. Under Gillian Hamilton’s leadership, it had been “committed to looking for new ways in which to engage with us”.
He praised the time the interim Education Scotland chief executive had dedicated to meeting with schools, school leaders and local authorities.
He also recommended that SLS members sign up to be Education Scotland “associates”, which “may have the same positive impact as all the HMIE associate assessors are having”.
The inspectorate - which is to be separated from Education Scotland as part of ongoing reforms - also deserves “our recognition”, said Mr Bain, as its approach, for the most part, “has evolved to be more supportive, collaborative and focused on continuous improvement, rather than one-time judgements”.
‘Deafening cry’ to remove gradings
However, Mr Bain also highlighted one area of urgent improvement for the inspectorate: there is a “deafening cry” for the removal of the gradings and to “replace the one-word evaluative focus with a summary of success and development areas”.
He added that the current approach was “akin to kids just looking at the essay mark and ignoring all our suggestions for improvement”.
Following inspection, Scottish schools do not receive an overall rating. However, they are still graded on a six-point scale that ranges from “excellent” to “unsatisfactory” for their performance in key areas such as “learning, teaching and assessment” and “raising attainment and achievement”.
Mr Bain’s parting message was for SLS members to “reaffirm our commitment to compassion and ambition”.
He said: “Compassion will keep us grounded, reminding us to support each other, to listen to one another, and to be patient with the pace of progress while remaining steadfast in our advocacy for change.
“Ambition will drive us forward, ensuring that we do not settle for less than our vision of excellence in Scottish education.”
Mr Bain’s successor as SLS president is Pauline Walker, headteacher of The Royal High School, in Edinburgh.
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