Scotland
Context
Since the creation of Scotland’s devolved parliament in 1999, there has been a keen interest in enhancing the education system through the development of ideas built on the views of the community. However, it is important to note that Scotland is already distinctive within the UK as it has maintained a discrete system affected but not shaped by policy from elsewhere in the UK. Thus around 95 per cent of high school pupils attend all comer comprehensives and although there may be debate around how truly egalitarian the system may be, there is strong support from those in the Scottish community for a system which strives for equity of opportunity and the maximisation of potential (see for example: www.scotland.gov.uk/publications).
Curriculum reform – Curriculum for Excellence
In a system which seeks continuity and coherence rather than uniformity, curriculum reform (Curriculum for Excellence) builds on a prior framework and is generating opportunities for practitioner researchers, academic researchers and others. As debate and discussion on the ways in which education within Scotland can be research informed and curriculum reform can be supported by the building of research collaborations and networks (see for example AERS, Schools of Ambition, SERA) policy has reflected an increasingly holistic view of learners and the learning process.
Education Research
Recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) results highlighted the strength of a growing research culture in academic institutions in Scotland in conjunction with increasingly high quality outputs. The extension of such success will be supported by groups emerging from AERS, the development of engagement in, and with, research by practitioners and the increasingly strong academic research community.
The Scottish Government has led the development of curriculum reform but has also helped to establish collaborative research work along with the Scottish Funding Council by funding the AERS project (Applied Educational Research Scheme) between 2003 and 2008. This has helped to enhance capacity, collaborations and research methods training.
Innovative practice linked to applied research as well as work-based learning and adult literacy and numeracy can be found across institutions – notable examples of this can be found at the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling. Innovation in theory building in relation to education can be found in some of the Applied Educational Research Scheme work being carried out as well as in the newly established theory laboratory at the University of Stirling.
Importantly the General Teaching Council Scotland (one of the oldest Teaching Council’s in the world) promotes continuing professional development (CPD) and through sponsorship supports individual practitioner research projects. Considerable funds have also been spent on supporting a new look at teacher education (Scottish Teachers for New Era) with combined funding from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding council and the Hunter Foundation.
Scotland also participates in the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), which has the aim of ’supporting adn developing UK educational research to improve outcomes for learners of all ages’.
At the first meeting of the UK Strategic Forum for Research in Education, Professor Sally Brown (University of Stirling) generated a highly informative outline of issues in Scotland with regard to education research quality and capacity. After much discussion, this led to the creation of priorities for future consideration in developing both these aspects of research in Scotland (see summary of the discussion from the Scottish group below).
Devolved government, Policy and Scottish Education
The Scottish Government, established in 1999, has initiated several major policy developments aimed at driving transformational change across the education system – from early years provision, through compulsory schooling and into adult learning. The Director General for Education is charged with implementing these policies in collaboration with delivery partners in local authorities, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Further Education Unit and Universities Scotland amongst others.
The Education Analytical Support Division (EASD) in the Scottish Government provides a range of analytical support services (research, statistics, economics) to the Education and Training Directorate. Much of the education research undertaken by EASD is commissioned through competitive tendering, making it one of the major funders and users of education research in Scotland. Commissioned work ranges from research to support specific policy initiatives (e.g. research on the consultation on National Qualifications) through to major international studies of educational achievement (PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS). Increasingly, research undertaken or commissioned by EASD will focus on what works in terms of improving the educational outcomes of Scotland’s children and young people and on providing evidence of progress against the Outcomes and Indicators set out in the Government’s National Performance Framework.
Curriculum for Excellence is the key programme of reform at the heart of Scottish Government education policy and which defines the contribution of young people’s learning to achievement of the National Outcomes. The implementation of a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum in schools from ages 3 to 18, delivery of better quality of learning and teaching and increased attainment and achievement for all children and young people, are all focused on enabling young people to take their place in a modern society and economy. The programme goes to the heart of delivering improved educational outcomes for all young people through providing them with the knowledge and skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. These broad and varied experiences and outcomes are relevant and vital to both the individual and wider society where needs are not restricted to narrow or fixed knowledge but require enterprise, resilience and self-reliance. Schools and colleges are already making changes to learning and teaching based on the information they have relating to the new curriculum. From August 2010 all children and young people will experience the new curriculum and new qualifications will come on-stream from the summer exam diet of 2014. In addition, Skills for Scotland: A Lifelong Skills Strategy sets out the Scottish Government’s ambitions for skills, in a lifelong learning context, from cradle to grave. The Strategy sets out three major areas in which change was required: a focus on individual development, a response to the needs of the economy and the demand of employers and the creation of cohesive structures.
High quality research evidence is recognised as being essential to achieving the transformational change demanded by Curriculum for Excellence, and for achieving and maintaining a successful Scottish education system for the future.
In 2002, in recognition of the importance of high quality education research, and amid concerns about an apparent lack of education research capacity within Scottish Universities, the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council (SFC) announced a joint funding scheme to promote applied education research. After a competitive process of peer review, the grant for the Applied Educational Research Scheme (AERS) was awarded to a consortium of three universities – Edinburgh, Stirling and Strathclyde. Launched in January 2004, AERS was a £2 million, five year programme aimed at developing research capacity in the education field in Scotland. This has helped to enhance capacity, collaborations and research methods training.
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Last updated May 2009
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