Corporate Planning Consultation: Summary of Responses
Education Scotland, March 2013
Introduction
This report summarises the findings of a consultation exercise undertaken in October
and November 2012, involving two surveys – one for Education Scotland staff and
one for external stakeholders. The purpose of the surveys was to gather feedback
on how Education Scotland should prioritise its work in order to contribute to the
National Performance Framework and fulfil its seven Strategic Objectives.
Education Scotland will use this information to develop its first Corporate Plan
2013-16. In total 67 useable external responses and 16 internal responses were
received.
Key findings
National Performance Framework
Respondents considered what Scotland would look like if certain relevant National
Outcomes were to be achieved. The picture of Scotland which emerged contained
an inclusive education system for all learners – regardless of social background,
looked after status, disability, additional support needs or deprivation. In addition,
respondents wished to see a highly-skilled Scotland, but also one with a holistic view
of learning which sees wider achievement as important. Consultation responses
also emphasised the importance of health and wellbeing to learning and wider life
chances.
To achieve the kind of changes described above, respondents also considered what
Education Scotland should prioritise. One of the most significant themes that
emerged was the importance of partnership working, which was seen as central to
achieving a number of key benefits, including greater targeting of resources, greater
coherence and the possibility of tackling long standing and intractable social issues.
Respondents felt that Education Scotland had an important role in supporting the
education sector to contribute to the implementation of Getting it Right for Every
Child (GIRFEC). For instance, respondents indicated that Education Scotland
should take a lead in exemplifying examples of effective partnership working
between different services. In addition to supporting partnerships between public
services, respondents also saw a role for Education Scotland in working in
partnership with communities to develop capacity and skills, for instance through
supporting more effective partnership working between schools and other
community-based organisations.
Respondents also saw a clear capacity building role for Education Scotland. This
included a role in encouraging and supporting high quality professional learning,
providing various forms of advice and guidance, and encouraging the sharing of
practice from which others could learn. Related to this, respondents suggested that
Education Scotland should actively support and promote the use of effective
pedagogy, particularly highlighting approaches which are supported by evidence
from research. Education Scotland’s capacity-building role to support specific areas
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was also highlighted, for instance the development of key skills (e.g. in literacy,
numeracy, science and engineering) or the importance of health and wellbeing (e.g.
enhanced promotion of the benefits of outdoor learning).
Finally, respondents felt that Education Scotland should prioritise its role in
supporting a more joined-up and strategic approach to tackling inequalities. This
could be undertaken through working with schools, local authorities, Community
Learning and Development (CLD) and community planning partnerships to increase
understanding of inequalities and how different partners can best contribute to
tackling them, as well as through providing advice and guidance on effective
partnership working.
Strategic Objectives
Respondents highlighted a range of ways in which Education Scotland is already
supporting its seven Strategic Objectives, including providing advice and support on
Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), promoting self-evaluation, providing resources and
sharing practice. At the same time, respondents also made suggestions for how
Education Scotland could more effectively support these Objectives in future, as
outlined below.
Strategic Objective 1: We will lead and support the implementation of national
policy on the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment – Curriculum for
Excellence
Respondents felt that Education Scotland should continue to develop its
capacity-building role through activities such as providing advice and learning
resources linked to the curriculum and developing the National Assessment
Resource (NAR). Increased partnership working and effective communications were
also mentioned. Respondents also suggested that Education Scotland should have
an increasingly strategic and focused approach to its work, for instance through
targeting activity to a small number of key priority areas or by ensuring that
Education Scotland activity is joined up internally as well as externally.
Strategic Objective 2: We will build the capacity of education providers and
practitioners to improve continuously their own performance
There was a desire for Education Scotland to build on its existing high quality
professional learning opportunities, for instance by consulting more strategically with
education authorities around professional learning needs or by developing specific
capacity building activities such as online communities focused on self-evaluation
and improvement. Respondents also saw inspection as a capacity building activity,
and almost all supported Education Scotland’s inspection role moving increasingly to
a model which is more supportive, which takes place alongside practitioners, which
has a clear focus on improvement and which is focused on self-evaluation. Taking a
more strategic approach again emerged as a key theme – for instance respondents
suggested that Education Scotland should ensure that its work always has a clear
link to improved learner outcomes in Scotland.
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Strategic Objective 3: We will promote high quality professional learning and
leadership amongst practitioners working at all levels
Respondents felt that Education Scotland should ensure that practitioners are
provided with access to innovative, relevant and comprehensive learning
opportunities, including professional enquiry and research. There was a clear sense
that promoting high quality professional learning would involve supporting networks
and groups of practitioners to discuss and improve their practice. In addition there
was a preference for professional learning to be delivered in context with clear links
to practice. Respondents also emphasised the importance of planning and
delivering professional learning opportunities in consultation with local partners.
Strategic Objective 4: We will engage with others to stimulate creativity and
innovation, sharing successful approaches widely and encouraging their
adoption
Respondents felt that the emphasis on partnership working in this Strategic
Objective was the key to its successful delivery. This partnership would involve a
range of local and national organisations, including creative organisations, schools,
businesses and outdoor education providers, who together could identify how best to
learn from and work with each other effectively. Respondents also saw a developing
role for Education Scotland in exemplifying and communicating creative and
innovative approaches, for instance creativity in practice. Respondents were careful
to note that creativity and innovation must be rooted in improvement. Education
Scotland should promote ongoing evaluation of innovative practice thereby
generating evidence on the extent to which new approaches lead to better outcomes
for learners.
Strategic Objective 5: We will provide independent, external evaluations of the
quality of educational provision at individual provider, regional and national
levels
As noted above, most respondents felt that the move to a more targeted and
proportionate system of external evaluation was beneficial. Respondents also
suggested that there could be greater coherence of external evaluation at both a
national and an education sector level. At national level, suggestions were made
that Education Scotland could collaborate with other national scrutiny organisations
to ensure a more joined up approach to models of inspection and scrutiny. Within
the education sector, respondents suggested that the current process could be open
to a wider range of organisations than at present to ensure benchmarking of quality
and to raise awareness that good practice exists throughout the sector.
Strategic Objective 6: We will provide high quality, impartial and influential
advice to inform the ongoing development and revision of national policy
Partnership working again emerged as the key means by which this Strategic
Objective could be achieved. Responses highlighted a need to work in partnership
with a range of organisations across the public sector, in addition to others involved
in service delivery, in order to ensure consistency in the development and
implementation of policy. Respondents also felt that more effective partnership
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working was required between Education Scotland and a range of core directorates
across Scottish Government. Respondents also felt that Education Scotland should
further enhance the extent to which research evidence informed the policy advice it
produced, alongside the evidence produced by the agency’s own evaluative
activities.
Strategic Objective 7: We will develop continuously our people and improve
our organisational capability to ensure we are able to pursue our mission with
maximum positive impact and efficiency
Respondents mentioned a range of different ways in which Education Scotland could
support this Objective including improving internal communication, communicating
staff responsibilities clearly to external partners, developing the skills of its own staff
in gathering and using evidence and building creativity within the organisation.
Respondents also felt that Education Scotland should focus strongly on being a
listening organisation and should remain connected to current practice within the
education system as a whole.
Conclusions
The responses to the consultation confirm that Education Scotland plays an
important and unique role within the education system, and wider society, in
Scotland. As a new organisation, it is encouraging that respondents to the
consultation have identified a wide range of ways we can contribute to the National
Performance Framework. The consultation also indicates that a range of
stakeholders feel that the successful pursuit of our Strategic Objectives has the
potential to lead to improvement in Scottish education as a whole. There are also
challenges in the findings for Education Scotland – for example ensuring that we
maintain a clear focus on the things that really matter, ensuring that we embed real
change fully in our new working practices as we go forward, and ensuring that we
establish fully effective partnerships with our stakeholders to achieve progress
towards our common priorities.
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