Agenda: Why we are confident of the future of education in Scotland

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This year, I have visited dozens of classrooms, met with hundreds of teachers and thousands of pupils. No two schools are the same. Each has unique strengths and challenges. But each has been filled with children and young people of enormous potential and with dedicated teachers committed to improving the current and future lives of their pupils.

Our reforms will build on these immensely strong foundations and will deliver our pledge to give more power and resources direct to schools and to put teachers, parents and communities in the driving seat of school improvement.

Already, we can see evidence that that this approach is working. In 2017, for the first time ever, almost every school in Scotland received a share of £120 million Pupil Equity Funding to tackle the effects of deprivation on educational attainment. As a result, we have hundreds of additional teachers in Scottish classrooms, benefiting pupils the length and breadth of Scotland. We have almost 800 more teachers in Scottish classrooms than in 2015, with 666 directly paid for through Scottish Government attainment funding.

This summer’s SQA results show the strength in Scottish education, with Higher passes exceeding 150,000 for the third year in a row and pass rates being consistently strong. The number of skills-based awards has more than doubled in the past five years, from almost 25,000 in 2012 to over 50,000 this year, and at the same time we have seen an increase of students from deprived areas gaining access to a university education.

I am heartened by the progress that’s been made during 2017. All parts of our education system are working together on improvement – and this is good news for teachers, parents and pupils. That approach includes this Government continuing to work with our local authority partners to enable teachers to use their professional judgment in their classrooms and to share best practice with other schools, driving forward improvement in every part of the country. The agreement we reached on establishing the new Regional Improvement Collaboratives shows that we can do this – and do it quickly. In 2018 we will go further.

We know that to be successful, our education system needs excellent and consistently well supported teachers and school leaders. It needs strong curriculum and improvement support, more transparent measures of progress, and engaged pupils, parents and communities.

Working together with all parts of our education system will strengthen these elements as we continue on our path of reform.

It is an exciting time for Scottish education. A time when teachers are being empowered to raise standards in their classroom and close the poverty-related attainment gap. A time when teachers have access to an increasing wealth of evidence to underpin their professional practice. And a time to make a real and lasting difference to the lives of young people.

We are consulting on a new Education Bill that aims to put many of these reforms onto a statutory footing. I would encourage anyone who wants to make Scotland’s education system better to respond to that consultation. Only by working together will we ensure our education system truly equips all of Scotland’s children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed and thrive.