Excellence for every child

Every young person will have the same opportunity to succeed, no matter their background or where they live in Scotland, Education Secretary Màiri McAllan has pledged, as she set out her priorities for education.

In a statement to Parliament, Ms McAllan confirmed councils would receive up to £2.8 million to help address school meal debt, to ease the cost of living for families that need it most, while work continues to expand Free School Meals.

A new £1 million pilot fund will support teachers taking up posts in rural and island communities with relocation and housing costs, to help attract teachers to hard-to-fill posts and encourage them to remain long-term. This is alongside wider ongoing national work to deliver a teacher job guarantee for a minimum of three years for newly-qualified teachers, and reduce class contact time.

Further plans will be brought forward shortly to help newly-qualified primary teachers gain additional registration, helping them transition into new roles, and to strengthen career opportunities for pupil support assistants.

Ms McAllan also set out plans to improve attainment, attendance, behaviour and curriculum, including streamlining guidance so that councils and schools can deliver more consistently on national policies.

Curriculum reforms, developed following the OECD’s Review of Scotland’s Curriculum, will be delivered in partnership with teachers, to ensure learners fully benefit from ongoing work to improve the curriculum.

Public Service Reform will be central to tackling inconsistencies in how national education policy is applied across the country, with work underway alongside councils to streamline data use, cut unnecessary bureaucracy and free up schools to focus on what matters most to pupils.

Ms McAllan added:

“There is already so much to celebrate in our education system – record levels of literacy and numeracy in our schools, increases in exam passes across the board this year and more Scots gaining places at university.

“But I am clear we must raise standards and deliver excellence across Scotland by focusing on the ABCs in our schools – attainment, attendance, behaviour and curriculum. We must ensure every child regardless of where they live or whether they have an additional support need, are supported to learn and thrive at school.

“We must seize the opportunity of Public Service Reform to truly achieve this, by addressing the variability in education outcomes across the country, improving data collection, enhancing performance and accountability and empowering schools to invest and take the decisions they need to support pupils.

“As a Government we must also continue our work to cut the costs of the school day for families – that means more breakfast clubs, expanding free school meals and clearing school meal debt.

“The leadership I will offer as Education Secretary will always be guided by the pursuit of excellence and equity. I commit to working hand in hand with young people, their families, the workforce, trade unions and local government to ensure every child receives the highest standard of education.”

Background

Programme for Government 2026 to 2031 - gov.scot

The Scottish Government is supporting local authorities – who are responsible for managing school meal debt – to help families struggling with these costs.

While recruitment of teachers is for councils as their employer, the Scottish Government committed as part of the wider agreement to reduce class contact time to provide additional support to rural and island councils facing teacher recruitment challenges. The £1 million Teacher Recruitment Assistance Fund (TRAF) fund will initially operate as a pilot, with monitoring and evaluation to inform future funding decisions. It will be available to island authorities as defined under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 and councils where at least 40% of the population is classified as rural under the Scottish Government Urban-Rural classification.

The OECD completed an Independent review of Curriculum for Excellence in 2021, which led to the Curriculum Improvement Cycle. As part of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) co-design process, Education Scotland has shared with councils early draft samples from the new curriculum so that educators have access to materials that can help them understand how curriculum improvement work is progressing. These materials are being developed for distribution to schools for the start of the 2026-27 academic year. A full draft technical Curriculum Framework will be shared in the early autumn.