Scotland’s Regional Improvement Collaboratives (RICs) only help a “minority” of school staff so their funding is to be gradually diverted towards classroom support instead.
This was the boldest move in an announcement from Scottish education secretary Jenny Gilruth today, as she sought to address “confusion and frustration” about the future of education reform in Scotland.
Ms Gilruth also revealed that the recently announced Centre of Teaching Excellence was likely to be hosted by a university and that two new groups would be formed to steer education reform.
She confirmed, too, that consultation on the Education Reform Bill starts today.
Education reform was paused by Ms Gilruth in June - she wanted more time to “hear from our teachers” - on the same day as the publication of Professor Louise Hayward’s report on the future of assessment and qualifications. Today, she told MSPs that a debate on the Hayward review proposals would not be held until next year.
The longest section of her statement to the Scottish Parliament focused on RICs, which date back to 2017 and were one of the biggest legacies of former deputy first minister John Swinney’s time as education secretary.
Ms Gilruth pointed to “recent evidence [which] suggests around 17,500 practitioners and leaders across early years, primary and secondary settings have been engaged in regional activities in a year”, but stressed that RICs’ “support was never intended to be universal [and] the number of staff and establishments receiving RICs support over the school year remains a minority”.
She said: “I am clear that we must deliver a system which provides greater equity in access to improvement and professional learning support for teachers. Regional collaboration is important and the RICs have helped to embed this culture in our local authorities.”
‘Advancing excellence in teaching’
She added: “However, future Scottish government investment will now be directed to initiatives advancing excellence in teaching in our classrooms, while looking to local authorities to build on these collaborative approaches.
“To that end, I can confirm that for [2024-25], the Scottish government will taper funding from the RICs, repurposing this funding to better support teachers in our classrooms.”
Education Scotland will be asked to evaluate the “regional structure” established by RICs.
Also today, a number of references to RICs were made in a report from the Scottish government’s International Council of Education Advisors (ICEA).
The ICEA report stated: “The role of the RICs should be clarified with an emphasis on promoting collaboration across boundaries.”
University of Stirling education professor Mark Priestley later tweeted: “Announcing the phasing out of RICs on the same day that the ICEA report recommended strengthening regional connections between schools is odd to say the least.”
Ms Gilruth also announced two new bodies charged with overseeing education reform. She will “chair a ministerial group which will advise on the totality of education and skills reform”, while the government will “establish an education and skills reform chief executive forum, ensuring all bodies impacted by reform can engage collectively, directly with the government, supporting our reform ambitions”.
Centre of Teaching Excellence
The proposed Centre of Teaching Excellence, meanwhile, “will be hosted by a university”, said Ms Gilruth, “learning from the successful model of the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection”.
She added: “Working closely with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and by being hosted by a university, the centre will link the school sector with the university sector at national level.”
Ms Gilruth also said that “today marks the launch of the consultation on the Education Reform Bill”, and that announcements on a new interim chief inspector and new chair of the Scottish Qualifications Authority can be expected soon.
In a submission to the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee this week, the education directors’ body ADES said that there had been “little progress” since a major 2021 report on Scottish education by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Direction of reform
The ADES submission, in advance of an education committee meeting tomorrow, states: “There are many opportunities outlined in the many external reports on the direction of reform, but the number of reports and recommendations has paralysed the system.
“Now is the time for some brave decisions based on all of the advice already provided over the last three and four years.
“The risk is to ignore the advice and not progress with a review of the Senior Phase in particular.”
ADES also said: “There is no doubt that confusion and frustration exist in the system due to the large number of external reports followed by the number of recommendations making progress unmanageable, swiftly followed by inactivity.”
