This presentation was given by Rachel Sunderland and Ellen Birt from the Scottish Government at the GCES Conference on Governing Education in a Complex World during the first Workshop A on Participatory Governance in Brussels on 17 October.

1. Empowering teachers, parents and
communities to achieve excellence and
equity in Scottish education
Rachel Sunderland
Ellen Birt
Empowering Schools Unit

2. Context
• Education is the single largest area of council expenditure, accounting for over 40% of total net revenue
expenditure.
• In 2014-15 Local Government spent £4.8 billion on education services, £4.3 billion of this on school
expenditure and £0.5 billion on pre-school education and community learning and development.
• Teachers account for £2.3 billion (over 50%) of total spend on school education with other employees
accounting for a further £0.6 billion.
• 690,007 pupils in 2,544 primary, secondary and special schools taught by 50,717 teachers (FTE)
• Account Commission Report (2014):
• significant variation in attainment between individual councils, schools, and groups of pupils
• considerable gap between Scotland and the top performing countries
• Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective 2015 highlighted many strengths of Scottish
education but more to do:
“Be rigorous about the gaps to be closed and pursue
relentlessly “ closing the gap” and “raising the bar
simultaneously”
Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective 2015
“Scotland has the opportunity to lead the
world in developing an innovative national
assessment evaluation and improvement
framework”
Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD
Perspective 2015

3. Vision
• Excellence through raising attainment, ensuring
that every child achieves the highest standards in
literacy and numeracy and the right range of skills,
qualifications and achievements to allow them to
succeed
• Achieving Equity: ensuring every child has the
same opportunity to succeed. The Scottish
Attainment Challenge will help to focus our efforts
and deliver this ambition

4. Building on a strong record of
improvement
Partnership and collaboration has been at the heart
of recent education reforms including:
• Curriculum for Excellence
• Teaching Scotland’s Future
• Scottish Attainment Challenge
• Scotland’s Schools for the Future
• Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce
• National Improvement Framework

5. Parental Involvement - Vision
• Scotland to become a world leader in parent engagement.
• A collaborative approach, based on genuine and strong partnerships, one
which supports parents and families as equal partners.
• Every school in Scotland should be a collaborative community, with strong,
enduring partnerships between teachers, parents, families, children and
communities – partnerships which lead to improvements in attainment and
achievement for children
• Parent Councils – consultative bodies enshrined in legislation

6. Governance Review – empowering teachers
parents and communities to achieve excellence
and equity in education
Everyone working in Scottish education should be clear about what they are
seeking to achieve in making their contribution to addressing these priorities
National Improvement Framework
• Governance Review asks how each part of the Scottish education
system can best work together to support the vision of excellence
and equity
• Taking a whole system approach by:
– empowering teachers, parents and communities by devolving funding
and responsibilities so that more decisions about learning and school
life are driven by the needs of children and young people
– strengthening ‘the middle’ by seeking to enhance teacher capacity and
professional capital through greater and more effective collaboration
between schools, other partners and at the local authority and regional
levels
– Ensuring a clear national framework

7. Question for the floor
What can Scotland learn from others about
the empowerment of teachers, parents and
communities in seeking to deliver excellence
and equity in education?