Meeting of the Parliament 28 February 2024
I am pleased to open this important debate on the recommendations of the independent review of qualifications and assessment. On Monday, I met teaching professional associations to discuss qualifications reform. I am grateful for their input thus far, and I look forward to continuing to learn from their members’ expertise. Last week, I met Opposition spokespeople, and I very much hope that, today, we will be able to identify some areas of consensus on school reform.
The Government will submit a formal response to the independent review in the coming weeks, and it is important that today’s debate informs that process. In some areas covered by the independent review’s report, things are moving at pace, but we need to be mindful of the current context that our teachers and young people face, as Pam Duncan-Glancy’s amendment makes clear. She also rightly points out the importance of engaging with parents and young people. To that end, I was grateful for the opportunity to engage on the matter with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland yesterday.
The context has changed since the pandemic started. Fully engaging with the teaching profession on what comes next will be a guiding principle for me, as cabinet secretary. That is why I took the decision last year to pause legislative changes to the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland. I did so because of my direct engagement with the profession—in particular, I reflected on what I heard from Scotland’s secondary school teachers.
I commissioned further survey evidence to strengthen teacher voice in the reform process, and I thank the thousands of teachers who contributed. The results of the survey were published yesterday. The online survey response represents the views of more than 9,000 educational professionals, the majority of whom are teachers. Overall, the survey demonstrates that there is no clear and settled view among Scotland’s teachers. Almost all respondents wish to see some change to qualifications and assessment but, although some people are very supportive of the proposals, others favour a more incremental approach.
My view is that the survey succinctly captures the changing context in our classrooms following Covid. Indeed, a number of factors—including additional support needs, attendance, behaviour and relationships, and teacher workload, as highlighted in Labour’s amendment—are compounding the challenge in our classrooms every day. As cabinet secretary, I need to put in place a realistic programme of reform that takes into account the capacity of the system and the budget within which we must operate.