Meeting of the Parliament 28 June 2017
At the heart of the OECD review was a concern about the lack of collaboration in our education system. I am putting in place the mechanisms to enable that collaboration to happen at an educational level, so that practice is enhanced. By that measure, we will take steps to strengthen the delivery of education services.
The third and final pillar of support will be provided exclusively by local authorities. The services that local government provides to schools are, and will continue to be, invaluable. Councils continue to play a crucial role, maintaining responsibility for a wide range of education services, retaining local accountability and ensuring that their schools have the support framework and services that they need to thrive.
We must also improve the consistency and quality of the improvement and educational support that is offered to schools across the country. That will mean some change to local authorities’ current responsibilities, but that change will be made through collaboration with other local authorities. We believe that this is an opportunity for councils to work with partners in schools and across the country to deliver a consistently improving education support service for our schools. They will also have a crucial role to play in the regional collaboratives that are established.
Taken together, those three pillars of support, alongside a system that is led by teachers, parents and communities, will provide the necessary focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap and transforming the lives of children and young people. That agenda sits alongside the other reforms that the Government has already set out, particularly in relation to pupil equity funding, which significantly enable schools to address the circumstances and challenges that young people face in their localities, with a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
Reform will require collective effort across the system, and I am determined on the Government’s behalf to work with others to put in place a strong system. We must undertake the necessary reforms to make Scottish education world class and to deliver the fulfilment that every young person and every child in Scotland has a right to and deserves.
I move,
That the Parliament notes the publication of Education Governance: Next Steps, which sets out proposals for the reform of school education; further notes the emphasis that these proposals place on empowering schools and teachers; acknowledges the need to support schools and teachers through the provision of enhanced career and development opportunities, and strengthened improvement support, including access to expert, peer-led, professional help, backed by resources; recognises the importance of not burdening schools and teachers with unnecessary bureaucracy or workload as part of these reforms, and calls on the Scottish Government to engage with all parties and stakeholders, including parents and young people, in continuing to develop these plans.
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