Views Sought on New Qualifications Body & Inspectorate
People are being asked to share their views to create a new national qualifications body and new approaches to inspection, as part of reforms to Scotland’s education and skills system.
Legislation will be introduced to Parliament in 2024 to implement the Scottish Government’s commitment to replace the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) with a new organisation. Views are now being sought on how this new body will involve pupils and students and the teaching professions in its decision making, as well as being accountable and transparent.
The public consultation on reform of the education and skills sector is also seeking views on changes in relation to inspection, which currently sits with Education Scotland – to maximise the positive impacts of inspection and ensure high levels of confidence in the system among teachers, other professionals, parents and carers and the public. It runs until 18 December 2023 and the proposed Education Bill will be introduced later this Parliamentary year.
In a wide-ranging statement on Education and Skills reform, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth also announced the publication of the third report from the First Minister’s International Council of Education Advisers, which sets out the need for investment in education professionals to address the changing needs of young people. The Education Secretary additionally gave an update on planning for the proposed Centre for Teaching Excellence.
Graeme, in his capacity as Minister for Higher & Further Education, will provide a further update to Parliament on plans for post school reform.
Background
Read the Education Secretary’s statement to the Scottish Parliament.
Read the First Minister’s International Council of Education Adviser’s third report.
The Education Secretary will also chair a ministerial group on Education and Skills reform to ensure there are new, robust governance arrangements in place to support the delivery of reform with the professional advice of teachers and practitioners at the centre.
A report by Professor Kenneth Muir on the replacement of the SQA and reform of Education Scotland was published in March 2022. It recommended the establishment of a revised national infrastructure to simplify the education landscape and to ensure that all teachers and practitioners have greater clarity on the roles and functions of the national bodies.
The latest consultation is part of a wider programme of reform Scotland’s education and skills sector and follows publication by Professor Louise Hayward in October 2022 of a review of qualifications and assessments in Scotland, as well as a review of the skills delivery landscape by James Withers published in August 2022.