1.
Education in Scotland
2. The
funding and regulation of schools
3. The
assessment of schools
4. The
assessment of pupils
5. State
schools
6. Independent schools
Scotland has a
comprehensive education system. It is distinctive particularly for its flexible
curriculum, which isn’t set by law. What and how students are taught based on
guidelines prepared by Learning and Teaching Scotland on behalf of the Scottish
Executive.
This flexibility is reflected in the management and funding
of schools, which has been largely devolved to head teachers. A comprehensive
package of reforms announced in November 2004 included extending this principle
by introducing three year budgets.
The funding and regulation of schools
Government departments
The Scottish Executive
Education Department(SEED) is in overall charge of education in Scotland. The
Schools Group is one of five sections in the education department and is
responsible for:
Educational policy
Funding of education
Teachers and schools
School ethos and pupil welfare
Health education and special educational needs
New educational developments
Qualifications and assessment
Education authorities
State schools are funded by the 32 local authorities in Scotland which
deliver education. Parents can choose what schools children go to, dependent on
the availability of places. Local authorities are responsible for:
Providing adequate education for the area and ensuring schools are fully accessible
Implementing educational policy
Assessing the special educational needs of children and providing help where necessary
Providing adequate facilities for physical education and training and other recreational activities
Monitoring, assessing and reviewing the standard of education provided in schools
How exactly funding for
individual schools works
The Scottish Executive currently pays an annual
grant to local authorities, which then decide how much of the grant will be
given to education. Money is then delegated to schools to spend as they wish.
Control of the budget is at the school
level and decisions are largely made by the head teacher in consultation with
staff and the school board. Reforms announced in November 2004 would give head
teachers even more money to spend at their discretion, three year budgets to
better plan change and more say over staffing structures.
A new
leadership programme for head teachers has also been announced. Schools will be
nominated by their local authorities or recommended by school inspectors for
this programme.
School boards and parent councils
These two
types of committee consist of elected parents, staff members and, in some cases,
representatives from the local community. Parent councils were introduced in the
Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill and are intended to replace school
boards. However, parents can choose for a new parent council to have the same
membership as the previous school board.
The council, or board, has a special responsibility to represent
and communicate with parents through the new parents' forum, and has a number of
powers, including:
Input on the appointment of senior staff, such as the headteacher
Ability to spend money raised or donated to benefit the school
Power to raise anything of interest to parents, such as homework, bullying or school uniform, with the headteacher or local authority
Option to take unresolved matters to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Previously, school boards also had:
Approval of head teacher’s spending proposals on books and equipment
Control over the use of school premises outside school hours
A
small number of grant-aided schools, particularly special needs schools, are run
by boards of managers and they receive grants directly from central
government.
HMIE:
school inspections
In Scotland, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
inspects schools to monitor standards, ethos, financial management, and
curriculum development. It rates schools from poor to very good. HM Inspectorate
is directly accountable to the Scottish Ministers.
It inspects a range of schools each year
across the 32 local authorities in Scotland. It reports on educational
establishments, community learning and the educational functions of local
authorities. It also informs parents, schools, colleges and all providers of
education about standards and quality in education.
It is moving towards
a cycle of inspecting primary schools every seven years and secondary schools
every six years. It hopes to have inspected every primary and secondary school
by 2009. A new excellent standard will be introduced for schools.
Inspected schools remain a priority for HMIE until their recommendations
have been implemented.
Performance tables
The Scottish
executive does not publish league tables as such. Details of individual schools
exam performances are available on a link on the parent zone website.
The
Scottish curriculum
The curriculum in Scotland is not set by law. It is
a flexible system that places responsibility on individual education authorities
and schools. National guidelines guide teachers by describing the subject areas
which are to be covered. But it doesn’t give detailed instructions about exactly
what and how this is to be taught to pupils.
Up to school-leaving-age the
Scottish curriculum in schools is divided into two stages:
The first stage is the 5-14 curriculum
The second stage is the Standard Grade for 14 to 16 year-olds
At 16+ courses are offered at Intermediate, Higher and Advanced Higher. Some candidates follow Intermediate courses at 14-16
In the 5-14
curriculum each curricular area is divided into six levels A-F. Assessment to
attain these target levels can be taken by individuals or groups as and when
their teacher considers them ready. Whole classes or year groups do not sit
tests. The tests are designed to be used by teachers as a confirmation of where
a pupil is at.
Curriculum review
The Scottish curriculum will
be revised to cover three to 18-year olds. This aim is to increase the emphasis
on numeracy and literacy and pupil choice. The review is currently looking
at:
Redesigned science teaching for all age groups
Giving pupils in the early secondary years more choice on when they sit exams
Reviewing the Standard Grade and its links with other national qualifications
New ways of recognising achievements in areas such as sport and community activities
Learning and Teaching Scotland
Learning and
Teaching Scotland is a national public body, which supports the Scottish
Executive Education Department by reviewing, assessing and developing the
curriculum. It provides advice and support on the curriculum for schools, local
education authorities and others. One of its most important roles is to keep the
curriculum under review and to assess its continuing usefulness.
Pre-School
The
Scottish Executive offers all three and four-year-olds free
education.
Mainstream schools
Primary education following the national
curriculum extends from the ages of 5 to 12, when children move on to secondary
school. The vast majority of secondary state schools in Scotland are
comprehensive, which means that they cater for all levels of ability. Each
education authority school should have a school board, which must be consulted
on decisions about teaching and funding, though nearly half of Scottish primary
schools have yet to establish a school board.
Denominational
schools
The majority of denominational schools in Scotland are Roman
Catholic. Denominational schools are primary and secondary schools in which the
study and observance of a particular religion forms a part of the curriculum. In
all other respects denominational schools follow the same curriculum as
non-denominational schools, and they must accept pupils who do not follow the
religion of the school.
Gaelic Medium Schools
Gaelic is
Scotland’s longest-established language. It features in primary schools, both as
a medium of instruction and as a subject. Education in Gaelic is available in
around 60 primary schools, mostly located in the Highlands and Islands, with
others in cities and towns in the Lowlands. It also features in the secondary
curriculum as a subject of study and as a medium of instruction and there are
separate courses and examinations for fluent speakers and
learners.
Additional support needs
It is the responsibility of
the education authority to provide education for four- to 16-year-olds with
special educational needs. Most special needs pupils are integrated into
mainstream schools. But there are special schools designed to meet the needs of
those who cannot attend mainstream schools. Some special schools are
independently run, for instance by charities. If there are no state special
schools within the area covered by an education authority, they will pay for a
pupil to attend a private school or a school in another area.
Integrated Community Schools
The Scottish Executive set up the
Integrated Community Schools initiative in 1999, with an initial investment of
£26m. This was to integrate social work, health, psychological and other child
professionals in selected schools. The services offered ranged from extra study
and more leisure opportunities to drop-in services for health, youth and social
services. The Scottish Executive has now decided to extend the programme to
include every school in Scotland by 2007.
Independent
schools are fee-charging schools. They are known as private schools and
sometimes as ‘public schools’, even though they do not exist within the state
sector. They don’t receive any public funds and are governed and managed by
special trusts. They are not obliged to teach the national curriculum but most
of them do enter the same public examinations and follow the guidelines set down
by the Scottish Executive.
Independent primary schools fall into two
main categories: pre-prepatory, for ages two to seven and junior or preparatory
schools for ages 11 to13. The ‘prep’ school is devoted to preparation for the
Common Entrance examination, which is required for many independent secondary
schools.
1. text was extracted from The School System in Scotland © BBC 2006