The SNP government and the Scottish Greens have today agreed a historic confidence and supply agreement.

Two Green MSPs will become Scottish government ministers under the deal - the first time Greens will be part of any UK government - and headlines will also be dominated by a commitment to seeking a new referendum on Scottish independence.

But what might the deal mean for Scottish education?

Scottish election 2021: Greens’ manifesto for education

Scottish election 2021: SNP manifesto for education

Also this week: SQA and Education Scotland reform team is revealed

Quick read: SQA exams contingency will require no extra assessments

In a “draft shared policy programme” published following the agreement between the government and the Greens - which stops short of a formal coalition - eight priorities are laid out. 

One notable exclusion - as set out in a separate document on the two parties’ “draft cooperation agreement” - relates to independent schools: “While we have agreed to work together to take forward a programme of education reform, private fee-paying independent schools are excluded from this agreement.”

The SNP and the Greens’ commitments cover:

1. Education reform

“Work together, jointly and closely, to take forward a programme of education reform” that incorporates recommendations from the recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report on Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE); this includes implementing the upcoming recommendations of Professor Ken Muir “on reform of Education Scotland and inspection...and replacing the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)”.

2. Additional support for learning teachers

Work with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) to ensure “appropriate career progression and pathways” for teachers who want to specialise in additional support for learning (ASL), “with the intention that this will result in an overall increase to the number of teachers who specialise in ASL in Scotland’s schools”; there will be “particular emphasis” on the new role of “lead teacher” in this area.

3. Additional support needs assistants

Explore options for “the development of an accredited qualification and registration programme” for ASN assistants, “with final proposals to be brought forward by autumn 2023”. 

Constructive discussions this summer have led to the draft agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party. It is about parties working together for the common good. A positive vision to create a greener, fairer independent Scotland. https://t.co/YXWj8tNg95

- John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) August 20, 2021

4. Teacher workload

Review “measures and indicators associated with Curriculum for Excellence with a view to ensuring an appropriate balance between quality assurance and improvement within learning with sustainable workloads for teachers”.

5. Curriculum for Excellence

“Establish a regular cycle of collaborative review for Curriculum for Excellence, and the measures and indicators that underpin our understanding of progress, to deliver continuous improvement, and ensure that schools and teachers are resourced to deliver it.”

6. Mental health

“Establish a guarantee of access, in school, to the mental health and wellbeing support that young people need, including counselling services.”

7. Teacher recruitment

“Support the recruitment of at least 3,500 additional teachers and 500 classroom assistants over and above the 1,400 teachers recruited during the pandemic. This will mean that by the end of the Parliament there will be almost 5,000 more teachers in our schools than before the pandemic.”

8. Standard of parliamentary debate on education

The SNP government and the Greens say they will “support constructive and progressive discussion and debate on education matters in the Scottish Parliament and wider society”.

The agreement, which has been negotiated over a number of months, will cement the pro-independence majority in Holyrood and commits to seeking a new referendum on the issue in the first half of the parliamentary session - if the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

One of two documents on the deal which have been published on the Scottish government website today says that two Green MSPs will be nominated to become ministers - the first time the Greens will have taken such a role anywhere in the UK.

Under the terms of the deal, the Greens - whose co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater are pictured with Nicola Sturgeon at Bute House, the first minister’s official residence - would support the Scottish government on confidence votes, as well as in annual budgets if there is “appropriate funding for the shared policy programme”.

However, a number of areas are excluded from the agreement, including much of aviation policy, the future of green ports, and direct financial support to businesses involved in the aerospace, defence and security sectors, field sports and the economic principles related to concepts of sustainable growth and inclusive growth.

Both sides described the deal, which is yet to be approved by Scottish Green Party members, as “historic”.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The publication of this agreement today undoubtedly marks a historic moment.

“It recognises that business as usual is not good enough in the times we are living through.

“It grasps that out of great challenge, a better world and a better Scotland is capable of being born, but it understands that achieving it will take boldness, courage and a will to do things differently.”

She said the parties will work together to build a “greener, fairer, independent Scotland”, but stressed that it is “not a coalition”.

Ms Sturgeon said the agreement makes it “impossible” for the UK government to withhold the powers for a second Scottish independence referendum.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “This is indeed a historic moment.

“This deal would see Greens entering government for the first-ever time in Scotland, or anywhere in the UK - and it couldn’t come at a more important time.

“The last 18 months have been an incredibly difficult time for us all, and as we seek to rebuild our lives and our economy we really must seek to do things differently.”

The two parties have been in negotiations since May, after the SNP fell one seat short of an overall majority at the Scottish Parliament election.

The Scottish Conservatives and Labour have raised concerns about a deal.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has challenged the Greens to stand against further cuts to council budgets.

He said: “If the Greens are to be anything more than simply the SNP’s lackeys, they need to rediscover their principles and fight for a greener Scotland rather than roll over to the SNP every time the going gets tough.”