Education secretary John Swinney, who has pledged to tackle excessive bureaucracy, defended the draft benchmarks issued to every school as the “definitive levels” for young people aged between five and 18 to attain.
However, Tavish Scott, a Liberal Democrat MSP, told the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee that it was hard to reconcile the latest output with stated policy: “I am wondering how the aim of clarifying and providing simplicity is helped by the vast amount of paper that has been sent. Teachers are wondering how all this is consistent with the education secretary’s rhetoric to reduce bureaucracy.”
Mr Swinney replied that teachers would be able to utilise the parts of the guidance that were relevant to their pupils, although he admitted any risk of a “box-ticking exercise” would contradict the goals of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).
“I appreciate there is a level of detail, but I can give an assurance that this is the definitive guidance,” he added.
Mr Swinney went on to explain why the Scottish government was developing plans for a new set-up of educational regions to co-exist with councils. He said: “We all accept that the quality of learning and teaching is central to closing the attainment gap. I am asking whether all of our local authorities are adding as much value to that learning and teaching experience on an equal basis.”
Audit Scotland assessments on the capabilities of education authorities vary “very significantly around the country”, Mr Swinney added. “It is not good enough to resign ourselves to the fact that one authority is fabulous and adds lots of value ... and another local authority at the other end of the spectrum doesn’t do so. That is not fair to young people. Not all the practice undertaken adds enough value and that has got to be addressed.”
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, said the review of school governance would be more beneficial if it focused on how to provide greater support for schools and teachers rather than structural matters: “The role and remit of the proposed regional boards and any value that this additional structural layer might bring remain unclear and the key questions over the benefit this would bring to schools, teachers and pupils remain to be answered,” Mr Flanagan said.