The Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) was established to promote equity in education by ensuring every child has the same opportunity to succeed, with a focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap. It is underpinned by the National Improvement Framework, Curriculum for Excellence and Getting it Right for Every Child. It focuses on…

As part of the cycle for reporting on the implementation of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC), attainment advisors produce reports triannually. This process ensures there is a continuous narrative where next steps are identified and progress made towards them. This summary report is an overview of the analysis of the progress of all 32 local…

National Summary Reports are part of the cycle for reporting on the implementation of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC). Attainment advisors, in collaboration with their associated local authority, produce reports triannually. This ensures a continuous narrative where thematic next steps are identified and subsequent progress evaluated.…

It's been 20 years since the last 'National Debate' on education led to the launch of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence with the four capacities in 2004. The curriculum was conceived to 'fully prepare today's children for adult life in the 21st century' (Scottish Executive, 2004, p. 3). These four capacities articulated the aspirational purpose…

In 2020, the Scottish Ministers requested that HM Inspectors of Education review the quality of Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) programmes in Scotland. The purpose of the review was to identify what is working well, what is in need of further development or improvement, and to inform future arrangements. The review took place between March 2020 and…

As part of the cycle for reporting on the implementation of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC), attainment advisors produce reports triannually. This summary report is an overview of the analysis of the progress of all 32 local authorities for the period September to November 2022. The key theme for this reporting period was the Scottish…

The first five years of the Scottish Attainment Challenge saw much progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap but at a limited pace. The pandemic disrupted the learning of our children and young people and had a disproportionate impact on children affected by poverty. The refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge programme, backed by a…

This report explores the impact of schools and other settings working with families to improve learning and achievement. It identifies the key features of highly-effective practice in engaging families in learning and provides examples of quality family learning which are helping to secure better outcomes for children and young people. The case…

The Education Reform -- Joint Agreement published in June 2018 sets out the collective agreement by a commissioning group including the Scottish Government, COSLA, SOLACE, ADES, and Education Scotland. The Joint Agreement sets out agreed principles, enablers, and measures that will support and encourage the empowerment of schools in Scotland.…

In 2017, Education Scotland introduced a new model of inspection of local authorities. These inspections focused on how well the nine challenge authorities within the Scottish Attainment Challenge are improving learning, raising attainment and closing the poverty-related attainment gap. HM Inspectors carried out the nine inspection visits between…

This report is one of a suite of reports by Education Scotland commissioned by the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) to evaluate provision in colleges for supporting learner success. Colleges should act on the recommendations contained in these reports. College inspectors will monitor action towards implementation of…

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) with Education Scotland is introducing new arrangements for assuring and improving the quality of provision delivered by Scotland's colleges commencing in AY 2016-17. The arrangements have been developed by Education Scotland and SFC at the end of a four-year cycle of external arrangements for review of colleges.…

The new quality framework, "How good is our college?" is a tool to support and enable colleges to evaluate the quality of provision and services alongside reporting on progress in relation to outcome agreements. It is designed to be used by all college staff. Colleges will evaluate the quality of their provision and services using the 12…

Scotland's colleges have a wide-ranging mission. They strive to meet the needs of a diverse range of stakeholders, including individual learners, local communities, regional and national bodies and the national and international economies. At an individual level, the curriculum offered in Scotland's colleges aims to enable people to develop skills…

This new updated fourth edition of "How Good is Our School?" is the result of a wide-ranging consultation through which stakeholders have contributed to the development of a substantially new set of quality indicators and supporting toolkit. This publication is designed to promote effective self-evaluation as the first stage in a process…