Publication - Strategy/plan

2019 National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan

Published: 11 December 2018
Directorate: Learning Directorate
Part of: Education
ISBN: 9781787814318

The framework sets out activity the Scottish Government and partners will take to drive improvement for children and young people.

Supporting documents

Annex B - Summary of ongoing/completed activity from the 2018 National Improvement Plan

Action	Current Position
School Leadership
We will work with partners across Scottish education to support more teachers to take the step to headship including publishing a nationally agreed action plan by June 2017, further to the conclusion of the Working Group on Headteacher Recruitment.	Complete The Headteacher Recruitment Group Report was published in November 2018 and includes 13 recommendations to support the recruitment and retention of headteachers in Scotland.
Further to the conclusion of the governance review consultation in January 2017, we will consider leadership throughout the system, building on existing models and supporting the development of school clusters and regional models. This will support a strengthened middle and highlight the importance of collaborative leadership.	Ongoing School leadership is a key driver of the National Improvement Framework in recognition of the impact of effective leadership on children and young people's outcomes. In 2018 Education Scotland became responsible for professional learning and leadership development and the Scottish College for Educational Leadership joined Education Scotland in order to take forward this work. In 2018 Education Scotland developed two new programmes supporting system leadership and collaborative working, Leading Systems Change and Evolving System Thinking. During 2019 Education Scotland will continue to offer a suite of national leadership development programmes while also working with the RICs to support regional activity to meet needs identified by teachers
We will continue to support the Scottish College for Educational Leadership in its vital role in supporting leadership development for all education practitioners across Scotland. This will include new packages of support for aspiring, new and experienced headteachers. The Excellence in Headship programme for experienced headteachers will be in place by March 2017 and will include professional learning opportunities to strengthen and expand school leadership skills, an international exchange programme for school leaders, and the development of a network of local champions to support headteachers to draw on local expertise and work in partnership with the wider community.	Ongoing During 2018 Scottish College for Educational Leadership became part of Education Scotland. Education Scotland widened its remit and role to include professional learning and leadership, with the SCEL team working collectively with their Education Scotland colleagues to support professional learning and leadership development for all educators across Scotland. The Excellence in Headship programme was introduced during 2017 and will continue to be developed throughout 2019 to offer enhanced leadership professional learning opportunities for headteachers.
We remain committed to supporting the Into Headship programme which supports up to 160 aspiring headteachers each year through 2018/19. This will represent an investment of £1.5m from 2016 onwards.	Ongoing An average of 146 aspiring headteachers are taking part in the fully-funded Into Headship programme each year, as part of the Masters pathway to Headship. Since the programme begin in 2015, 261 individuals have completed Into Headship, with the third cohort due to complete at the end of 2018 and recruitment beginning in early 2019 for a further cohort.
We will make holding the Standard for Headship mandatory for all new headteachers by August 2019. We are currently consulting on the legislation that will achieve this.	Ongoing The Scottish Government agreed in 2017 to delay the regulations coming into force until August 2020 to allow more teachers to have completed the Into Headship programme and for employers to plan at a local level. Secondary legislation will be brought forward in 2019 to make the necessary legal changes.
We will collect and analyse relevant information on school leadership from inspection and local authority self-evaluation by December 2017.	Complete Education Scotland is using the information collected from local authority and self-evaluation to inform targeted support and engagement through the RICs.
Education Scotland is committed to working with local authorities and schools through RICs during 2017/18, and to continue to analyse inspection and other forms of local intelligence to improve school self-evaluation and build capacity for school leadership further.	Complete Education Scotland continues to work with local authorities and schools through RICs. This includes carrying out analysis of inspection findings and other forms of local intelligence to help improve school self-evaluation and further build capacity for high quality school leadership.
The transfer of the functions of the Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL) to Education Scotland is now underway. Education Scotland will develop leadership programmes that help current and future leaders improve the quality of education.	Complete In April 2018 the Scottish College for Educational Leadership became part of the wider team at Education Scotland. Education Scotland widened its remit and role to include professional learning and leadership, with the SCEL team working collectively with their Education Scotland colleagues to support professional learning and leadership development for all educators across Scotland.
Education Scotland will publish a young person's version of How Good is our School? to support learner participation in self-evaluation by April 2018.	Complete In April 2018 Education Scotland published 'How good is OUR school?', a new tool to support schools in engaging children and young people in self-evaluation and school improvement in ways that enhance learning. It was developed with children and young people and reflects the things that matter most to them about their schools. The tool includes a guide for staff and partners working collaboratively with children and young people; and a self-evaluation framework for use by children and young people themselves. https://education.gov.scot/improvement/self-evaluation/HGIOS4
Education Scotland will establish a young inspectors programme to help support improvement in learning by the end of 2018.	Complete The young inspectors programme was established on time and additional development work is still underway. To help shape the programme, Education Scotland invited Moray Council, Glasgow City Council and Aberdeen City Council to support the development and pilot of the young inspectors programme. To date, ten schools in these local authorities have been visited where over 170 children and young people have put forward their ideas about the current inspection model and how they can contribute to inspection in the future. Training a number of young people as 'young leaders of learning' has begun which will result in young people undertaking reciprocal visits across schools to develop approaches to pupil led school improvement work.
Next Steps commits both SG and ES to developing the Headteachers' Charter and to consult on a proposed approach to the legislation to underpin this, in time for the introduction of an Education Bill by June 2018. Given commitment to bring forward the Charter, it will also be necessary to review the content of the Into Headship qualification.	Complete The Deputy First Minister confirmed to Parliament on 26 June 2018 that a Joint Agreement with local government will see the Headteachers' Charter and school empowerment taking place without the need to wait for new primary legislation. The Headteachers' Charter and supporting national guidance are being co-produced with partners including local government, teacher and headteacher representatives and Education Scotland and will be available by the end of 2018.
Next Steps commits SG/ES to developing a mechanism by end of 2018 to identify aspirant headteachers early in their career and develop a programme of professional learning and work experiences to lead them to the Into Headship course – this will provide a fast-track leadership route for talented teachers providing a clear pathway to headship.	Complete In November 2018 we published the report of the Headteacher Recruitment Working Group, including 13 recommendations for Scottish Government and partners to improve the recruitment and retention of headteachers. Included are recommendations designed to improve the early identification of leadership potential and nurturing of talent. The working group agreed that the educational pathway to headship was much clearer following the creation of the Framework for Educational Leadership, and that these actions would be more effective than introducing a new fast-track route to headship. The report and supporting paper on 'Accelerated Route to Headship' are available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Publications/2018/11/7195 https://www2.gov.scot/Publications/2018/11/1197
Development of a specific recruitment campaign for headteachers in spring 2018, building on the Teachers make People campaign.	Complete The 'Head in a new direction' campaign launched at the 2018 Scottish Learning Festival. The campaign seeks to highlight the unique and rewarding role of headteacher and encourage more teachers to consider a future in headship. It is part of the broader Teaching Makes People campaign. https://teachinscotland.scot/career-progression/
Next Steps commits SG/ES to enhancing the leadership support package to build the capacity and culture for teachers and headteachers to take on their new more empowered roles. This is an ongoing commitment but one we have started working on from August 2017	Ongoing In 2018 the Scottish College for Educational Leadership joined Education Scotland to take forward Education Scotland's enhanced responsibilities with regard to professional learning and leadership. The Framework for Educational Leadership continues to grow to offer new and extended opportunities to teachers at all stages of their career. In 2017-18, Education Scotland expanded the opportunities available to experienced headteachers through Excellence in Headship, introducing Masterclasses in a wide range of subjects. The Scottish Government supported more headteachers to experience the Columba 1400 Headteacher Leadership Academy. Work is underway to develop new leadership development programmes to support middle leadership and leadership in Early Learning. Two new programmes for system leadership have been developed supporting developments across regional groupings. In 2019 Education Scotland will further enhance the national offer to support empowered headteachers, as well as working through RICs to increase the support and opportunities available regionally.
SG/ES will develop by the end of 2018 new Executive Consultant Head and Cluster Leader roles with partners to strengthen school leadership.	Ongoing In 2018 the Scottish Government established an Independent Panel on Career Pathways. The Independent Panel is looking at pathways within and beyond headship and will make its recommendations about new roles and pathways to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers early in 2019.
SG/ES will develop by the end of 2018 a new Systems Leadership role to provide clear progression opportunities and to strengthen educational leadership at all levels in the system. The Standards, including Standard for Headship, are currently under review by GTCS. SG will work with GTCS to ensure that the revised Standard for Headship takes into account the headteachers Charter.	Ongoing The Independent Panel on Career Pathways, which is due to provide its recommendations to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers early in 2019, is considering pathways within and beyond headship. During 2018, Education Scotland and the Association of Directors of Education Services worked in partnership to create 'Leading Systems Change', a new programme bringing together senior leaders in Scottish education and allied services. The programme is rooted in systems leadership and the principles of Getting It Right For Every Child. It offers participants the opportunity to work together on a specific systems leadership challenge in education. So far 91 senior leaders have participated in this programme.
Beginning work on transferring relevant functions from national bodies, ensuring that there is continued stability for schools, children and young people during this period. This will include national support for professional learning and leadership development which will become part of Education Scotland.	Complete In April 2018 the Scottish College for Educational Leadership became part of Education Scotland and Education Scotland took on responsibility for professional learning and leadership support. In September 2018 Education Scotland launched a new national model of professional learning which was developed in partnership with stakeholders and practitioners across the education sector. The model identifies the key principles and features of effective learning that will build capacity and promote collaborative practice. The full range of SCEL programmes continue to be provided and expanded within the enhanced remit of Education Scotland.
Enhancing the leadership support package to build the capacity and culture for teachers and headteachers to take on their new more empowered roles. This is an ongoing commitment but one we have started working on from August 2017.	Ongoing In 2019 Education Scotland will further enhance the national offer to support empowered headteachers, as well as working through RICs to increase the support and opportunities available regionally.
Teacher Professionalism
In 2017, we will take forward a range of actions under our STEM strategy to raise levels of STEM enthusiasm, skills, and knowledge including new and enhanced STEM Career-Long Professional Learning for practitioners. This will include a greater emphasis on connecting STEM learning in schools and centres and development of STEM skills to the world of work.	Complete Scotland's STEM Education and Training Strategy was published on 26 October 2017. Spanning the period from 2017 to 2022, the strategy outlines actions designed to inspire enthusiasm for STEM among all sectors of society. In 2018, key achievements included the introduction of bursaries for career changers to train as STEM teachers, the publication of a STEM self-improvement framework for early learning providers and schools, the recruitment of STEM improvement advisers and a new team of gender balance and equalities officers. We also initiated a young STEM leaders programme to increase enthusiasm and inspiration for STEM.
109 teaching students at Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde took up the offer of studying for the Catholic Teacher Certificate during 2016 and building on this success we will again look to support this initiative in 2017.	Complete We have worked with the University of Glasgow to expand delivery of the Catholic Teaching Certificate (CTC). They now have agreements in place with the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Strathclyde and the West of Scotland, with plans to deliver CTC to students at the University of Dundee from academic year 2019/20. A total of 322 students achieved the CTC In 2017 and 397 are expected to complete in 2018.
We will encourage more people into early learning and childcare and teaching, particularly those groups under-represented in teaching (men and minority ethnic communities) as well as in particular subjects (STEM) and geographical areas. In early 2017 we will extend our teacher recruitment campaign, building on the positive work of the current campaign, to address these issues.	Ongoing The Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) recruitment campaign has gained pace in 2018, with each local authority area visited and our roadshow taking the message directly in to schools. Our advertising drives potential candidates to our website - childcarecareersscotland.scot – for information on careers in ELC as well as live training and job opportunities. As well as school children the campaign also focuses on potential career changers. Roadshows targeting this audience will be live in 2019. Advertising and support for those joining the sector will continue in 2019. We have created a fund, which is administered by the Scottish Funding Council, to help attract more males in to the sector and funded a project which will target those from ethnic minority communities. All with the aim of making the ELC workforce more representative of wider society and creating a richer learning environment for our youngest children. Our teacher recruitment campaign "Teaching Makes People" began in February 2017, specifically targeting undergraduates studying STEM subjects, as well as people currently working in STEM industries. A refreshed campaign was launched on 30 August 2017 which continues the focus on STEM subjects, while also targeting English and Home Economics. Student teacher numbers have risen by 7.5% between 2016 and 2017, building on a 19% increase from the previous year.
From Autumn 2018 we will extend support for Masters in Early Years to provide leadership in this sector.	Complete We have extended funding for the Masters in early years pedagogy courses at Strathclyde and Aberdeen universities.
In 2016 we supported teachers' professional learning through an investment of close to £1 million in Masters level learning. In 2017 we will again consider how best to support high quality professional learning for teachers. We will also carry out a research project to be completed by December 2017 to evaluate the impact of this substantial long-term investment in Masters level learning for teachers.	Complete In 2017/18, 1089 teachers benefited from the Scottish Government's investment in Masters level learning, with 530 of these teachers achieving a SCQF Level 11 qualification. Local authority and university teacher education partnerships worked together to identify local priorities for Masters-level learning, with teachers taking part in a wide range of Masters-level learning and professional enquiry, including middle leadership; health and wellbeing and STEM.
We will work with Education Scotland and GTCS to undertake a review of Initial Teacher Education programmes to report by April 2017, to ensure that they provide appropriate detail on content for literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, data literacy and equality across both primary and secondary sectors.	Complete The content analysis of teacher education in Scotland was published in May 2016. As a next stage to this work, Education Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and GTCS have developed a self-evaluation framework to support universities to demonstrate the quality of learning and teaching in the priority areas of literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and additional support needs. The framework was made available in June 2018.
We will work with Initial Teacher Education providers, GTCS and other key partners to address issues of staffing supply and capacity at a national level in order to support the Scottish Attainment Challenge. On 30 November 2016 we announced that 11 new routes to teaching would be developed targeting shortage subjects including STEM, and geographical areas by Scottish universities, and that this development work would be supported by £1 million of Scottish Government funding. These new routes will be developed with the expectation that students will be recruited to them in 2017 and will include accelerated teacher education, expanded distance learning opportunities, a focus on strengthening skills of primary teachers in science and developing specialisms in transition between primary and secondary schools.	Complete The 11 alternative routes announced as part of the November 2016 package along with a further five routes not included in this original suite of measures are now in place.
We will develop a new teacher education training route which is focused on getting high quality graduates into priority areas and subjects. This will be in place by Summer 2017. This will build on the model developed in partnership with the University of Aberdeen to attract career changers to the profession.	Complete Following a tender process the University of Dundee, in partnership with the University of the Highlands & Islands, was successful in securing the tender to deliver this new route into teaching. It is an 18 month full time programme starting in December 2018 aimed at high quality STEM graduate career changers wanting to train to become secondary Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) teachers in rural areas of Scotland. The programme will support students to gain a Masters level Postgraduate Diploma as well as the Standard for Full Registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
We will provide development funding for the 2017/18 academic year to the University of the Highlands and Islands to build on its model of delivering Initial Teacher Education through local colleges.	Complete We supported the University of the Highlands and Islands to develop a new route into teaching for Home Economics teachers based in Perth College. This started in August 2018 and its impact and effectiveness will be monitored as part of our ongoing review of all alternative routes into teaching.
We will maintain our strong focus on Gaelic teacher supply with promotional campaigns which will be led in 2018 and 2019 by Bòrd na Gàidhlig; innovative courses such as Gaelic Immersion for Teachers (GIFT) and Streap, which support teachers who wish to transfer to Gaelic teaching; and new routes into Gaelic teaching being introduced by the University of Edinburgh, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and the University of the Highlands and Islands.	Ongoing Working with Bòrd na Gàidhlig and partners we will: increase immersion opportunities on innovative courses such as Gaelic Immersion for Teachers (GIFT) and Streap; support routes into Gaelic teaching being taken forward at the University of Edinburgh, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and the University of the Highlands and Islands; work to identify further opportunities to provide teacher training and CPD through e-Learning, such as eSgoil; fund the Teacher Recruitment Officer post at Bòrd na Gàidhlig. With these measures in place we have 30-35 new teachers coming through annually.
We will work with GTCS to provide more support to teachers on equality issues through Career Long Professional Learning to be in place by August 2017.	Complete This work was delayed in its early stages and it then became evident that the LGBTI Inclusive education work offered the best opportunity to deliver this commitment. Ministers signed off the recommendations from the Working Group and these were published and announced on 8 November 2018.
Consulting on establishing an Education Workforce Council for Scotland which will take on the responsibilities of the GTCS, the Community Learning and Development Standards Council and register other education professionals. The full scope of the functions to be undertaken by this body will be included in our consultation on our Education Bill.	Complete We consulted on establishing an Education Workforce Council for Scotland as part of the Empowering Schools: A consultation on the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Bill. The consultation demonstrated that, whilst there was support for the principle of expanding the range of practitioners who could benefit from the support offered by a national registration scheme, there was limited support for the establishment of the proposed Education Workforce Council for Scotland. DFM confirmed to Parliament on 26 June 2018 that the Scottish Government will not be bringing forward legislation to establish an Education Workforce Council in Scotland.
Working with the wider school workforce to introduce professional standards for these staff.	Ongoing This work was being considered alongside the above action where professional standards would be required to enable registration. Officials are currently working in partnership with the GTCS, the college sector and other relevant stakeholders to facilitate a process of extending the benefits of registration to wider educational workforces. Further work is underway to agree a process for the registration of college lecturers and classroom assistants.
The intention remains to fund professional learning for teachers in this area (Masters level professional learning) including at school leadership level.	Ongoing The Sottish Government has invested in a wide range of Masters level learning. The Specialist Qualification for Headship Masters pathway is delivered in partnership with universities and consists of 3 elements: Middle Leadership, Into Headship and In Headship. Each element awards 60 credits of a 180 credit Masters pathway at SCQF Level 11. Each element can be undertaken as standalone qualifications or as part of the Masters Pathway. In 2017/18 156 aspiring Headteachers were engaged in Into Headship and 50 Headteachers were engaged in learning on In Headship. During 2017/18, 1089 teachers also benefited from the Scottish Government's investment in broader Masters level learning, with 530 of these teachers achieving a SCQF Level 11 qualification. Local authority and university teacher education partnerships worked together to identify local priorities for Masters-level learning, with teachers taking part in a wide range of Masters-level learning and professional enquiry, including middle leadership; health and wellbeing and STEM.
Next Steps confirms that SG will work with our partners and particularly the profession, to establish new career pathways for teachers allowing greater opportunities for development and progression into leadership, specialist or improvement roles. We started these discussions in September 2017.	Ongoing The Independent Panel on Career Pathways was established in June 2018 to consider the design and development of teacher career pathway models and is chaired by Moyra Boland. During 2018 the Panel has engaged broadly with the teaching profession in Scotland in order to gather views and ideas. The Panel is due to provide its recommendations to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers early next year. In 2019, the Scottish Government and partners will take forward those recommendations.
The Strategic Board for Teacher Education (membership includes ES, local authorities, universities, trade unions and the GTCS) will continue to consider the quality of professional learning available to teachers.	Complete The Strategic Board for Teacher Education maintains a strategic overview of professional learning policy. Ongoing activity on professional learning is set out below, including links to RICs.
We will streamline and enhance professional learning so that there is a coherent learning offer to teachers which is focused on curriculum area and sector specific issues. More professional learning will be provided by teachers, for teachers, through the RICs. This work is now underway and is being led by the Strategic Board for Teacher Education (SBTE).	Complete Ongoing action to enhance professional learning is being taken (as set out below) by Education Scotland in response to the Next Steps document.
We will take steps to ensure initial teacher education prepares students to enter the profession with consistently well-developed skills to teach areas such as literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing	Complete Education Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and GTCS, has developed a self-evaluation framework to support universities to demonstrate the quality of learning and teaching in the priority areas of literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and additional support needs. This was made available in June 2018.
Education Scotland to develop self-evaluation tools for ITE programmes in conjunction with GTCS and the universities. This tool will be available for use in the current academic year - by April 2018.	Complete As set out above, the self-evaluation framework was made available in June 2018.
GTCS have strengthened accreditation procedures and are also reviewing the professional standards which, in time, are likely to require ITE courses to be amended.	Ongoing The refresh of the GTCS Professional Standards is underway and the GTCS expect to implement the refreshed standards in August 2020.
We are exploring ambitious and innovative new routes into teaching, specifically for high-quality new graduates or those who are considering a career change.	Complete On 25 January 2018 the Deputy First Minister announced a new contract, awarded to Dundee University to develop a new route into teaching for high-quality graduates.
Next Steps confirms that SG will streamline and enhance professional learning so that there is a coherent learning offer to teachers which is focused on curriculum area and sector specific issues. More professional learning will be provided by teachers, for teachers, through the RICs.	Ongoing During 2018 the Scottish College for Educational Leadership became part of Education Scotland and took on responsibility for professional learning. Education Scotland worked with partners and practitioners across the education sector to develop a new national model of professional learning which was launched in September 2018. Education Scotland is working with all national organisations and RICs to further enhance and streamline the professional learning offer for teachers during 2019.
Evaluation of professional learning will be considered by the Strategic Board for Teacher Education (SBTE) going forward to ensure that investment in professional learning is evaluated appropriately in the round. We also expect RICs to inform that process.	Complete The Strategic Board for Teacher Education maintains a strategic overview of professional learning policy, including the Masters programme. Education Scotland is now the lead national organisation for professional learning.
Parental Engagement
Education Scotland will continue to provide support on family learning, taking full account of its review of the evidence on family learning programmes, expected to report in December 2016.	Complete The planned programme of support for 2017/18 is now complete. Education Scotland will continue to provide support for family learning. This has been captured within new actions which take account of the changing context of educational improvement such as the formation of the RICs.
We will respond in full to the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS) review of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 – final recommendations are expected in March 2017. The Scottish Government's response will be considered in the context of our education governance review, which will have a strong focus on supporting parents to play a full role in the life and work of their child's school.	Complete Following the review of the impact of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 the Scottish Government published "Learning Together", a three year national Action plan for parental engagement, involvement, family learning and learning at home in August 2018. As part of this plan, Statutory Guidance on the Act will be reviewed and updated in 2019 to provide support which takes account of the education reform agenda and the NPFS Review.
We will introduce a new Education Bill in the second year of this Parliament. Building on the responses to the governance and parental involvement reviews, a consultation on a Bill will be held early in 2017.	Complete It was decided not to introduce an Education Bill in summer 2018. A range of activity is underway to enhance parental engagement that does not require legislation, for example through the National Parental Engagement Action Plan and updated statutory guidance.
We will promote the opportunities afforded by the development of extended childcare to provide family and employability support for parents by June 2017. We will also work with local authorities to understand the nature of parental demand for early learning and childcare in their areas, so that provision of additional free hours can be sufficiently flexible to respond to need. This will include the development of opportunities for further integration with additional hours and out-of-school care and the provision of family and employability support to parents by June 2017.	Complete This action has been progressed through aspects of the wider early learning and childcare (ELC) 1140 hours expansion programme. This has drawn on learning from the programme of ELC delivery model trials (which commenced from January 2017. An evaluation of the trials was published on 22 June 2018, with findings related to capacity, uptake, quality, child and parental outcomes, flexibility and scalability. (http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00535593.pdf) We have been engaging with all local authorities both individually and through a series of workshops to support them with their expansion plans, including increasing flexibility and how this is integrated with additional hours and out of school care. Local authority delivery plans should have been informed by their local consultation. We have engaged with parents, stakeholders, providers and authorities on future offers of flexibility. In August 2018 we published the analysis of our national survey of parents (which had over 10,000 responses), which set out information on parents' and carers' current use, future potential use, views and experiences of ELC. The ELC Quality Action Plan published in October 2017 included an action 'We will increase support for evidence-based family learning programmes to embed this in the early learning offer for families facing disadvantage'. To help us explore what form of support would be most helpful, we hosted a Family Learning Summit on 23 May.
We will roll out the new Baby Boxes programme from January 2017 as another route to ensure that materials and advice are provided to new parents. This pilot starts in two local authorities in January 2017. The full programme starts in June 2017.	Complete Registration for Scotland's Baby Box opened on 15 June 2017. Delivery began on 15 August 2017 with parents across Scotland receiving Baby Boxes at least 4 weeks before the baby's due date. More than 52,000 Baby Boxes were distributed to families across Scotland in the first year of the initiative, providing families with newborn babies with essential items to ensure that every child gets the best start in life. Year Two procurement is now completed. The launch of 'Baby Box 2' is planned for December 2018 with national roll-out of the new design and contents on target for delivery from March 2019
We will further improve Parentzone Scotland – the national online resource for parents – by August 2018. We will publish additional clear information on each school on a range of key measures, such as attendance rates, children's progress and grades from school inspection.	Complete A number of enhancements to the reporting of school and national level information via Parentzone Scotland were introduced on schedule in August 2018. This information is available via an online Tableau dashboard created and published by the Scottish Government, in consultation with stakeholders, for example data on the achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels, attendance rates, etc. and showing such information over time.
We will continue to deliver and improve our national campaigns and gifting programmes to parents and families across Scotland – Bookbug, PlayTalkRead and Read, Write, Count – providing advice and materials to parents to support their children's learning from an early age and extend the Read, Write, Count Programme into P4-7 in areas of high deprivation from April 2017.	Ongoing The 2018 gift packs for Bookbug and Read, Write, Count were distributed on schedule to local authorities and schools. The majority of gift packs were gifted home to families during Book Week Scotland (late November/early December 2018). Further social marketing activity for Play, Talk, Read and Read, Write, Count progressed during autumn 2018, linking with the broader Parent Club campaign. Play, Talk, Read and Read, Write, Count web content has now migrated to the Parent Club website. A joint campaign with Eat Better Feel Better under Parent Club is planned for January 2019. Content for this year's P4-7 activity, a P7 Moving Up kit to support transition to secondary schools to be gifted March/April 2019, is being finalised. In 2017/18, Smart Play Network engaged with over 17,000 parents, carers and children through the PlayTalkRead roadshow.
We will continue to implement our Parental Communication Plan for the National Improvement Framework. This will include collaborative work with the National Parent Forum of Scotland in early 2017 to make available a range of parent-friendly information about the Framework and the drivers of improvement.	Complete The communication plan continues to be a live document influencing local authority approaches. There are no longer plans to develop parent friendly versions of each and every driver within the NIF. Instead, Scottish Government will work with the National Parent Forum and other parent organisations to ensure that all of our general communications in relation to the NIF are parent friendly. This will take account of parallel work under the auspices of the Curriculum and Assessment Board to develop a refreshed narrative on Scotland's curriculum.
We will work with Scottish Attainment Challenge authorities to develop progressive family learning programmes by the end of 2017 and roll out this approach by the end of 2018.	Complete All nine Attainment Challenge authorities have developed and are implementing progressive family learning programmes to close the poverty-related attainment gap. We will continue to work with other local authorities and the RICs to identify and share good practice, including through the National Improvement Hub.
Education Scotland will introduce revised pre-inspection questionnaires for parents. This will help improve the range and quality of the feedback from parents on their involvement in, and satisfaction with, their child's early learning and childcare setting or school.	Complete Education Scotland introduced revised pre-inspection questionnaires for parents in 2017. These include questions which will improve the range and quality of the feedback from parents on their involvement in and satisfaction with their child's early learning and childcare setting or school.
Almost double the hours of early learning and childcare to 1140 per year.	Ongoing The Scottish Government reached a landmark multi-year funding agreement with COSLA on 27 April, which will provide £567 million additional revenue funding by 2021-22 and £476 million capital funding over the period 2017-18 to 2020-21. New Funding Follows the Child approach to be introduced from 2020, which will be underpinned by a National Standard that all providers delivering the funded entitlement will have to meet. Consultation on the new National Standard ran from March to June 2018. Final version of the National Standard to be published, along with operating guidance, by the end of 2018. The Delivery Support Package for ELC Providers - to support transition to 2020 - to be launched before end of 2018. The Quality Action Plan was published at the end of October 2017. A national recruitment campaign up and running since Autumn 2017. A Workforce Delivery Plan has been developed. ELC Expansion Plans received, and assessed, from all local authorities. A programme of SG-funded ELC Trials ran until Easter 2018. The phasing of 1140 hours has commenced in many local authorities, and will increase from August 2019.
Strengthening parental and community engagement by working with the Scottish Parent Teacher Council to learn from their Partnership Schools initiative to ensure that schools support parents to play an active part in school improvement.	Ongoing The Scottish Government continues to engage with Connect to learn lessons from the Partnership Schools pilots. The "Year 2" Evaluation Report from Partnership Schools was published in Feb 2018. It found that many schools did not see parental engagement or partnership as an improvement activity, to be planned, evaluated and improved through learning. The Deputy First Minister visited one of the Partnership Schools (Maisondieu Primary) in January 2018 and government officials continue to liaise with Connect and to attend Reference Group meetings. The Scottish Government's "Learning Together" Action Plan reiterates this commitment to engage with the Partnership Schools programme via its Reference Group, and by sharing key findings with available networks and local authority partners.
Strengthening the voice of children and young people by requiring all schools to promote and support pupil participation, consulting on a requirement that every school pursues the key principles of pupil participation. This will be included in our consultation on our Education Bill.	Ongoing In June 2018 it was decided not to proceed with an Education Bill. This aim will now be supported by the promotion of new Education Scotland guidance on Learner Participation (published April 2018), the inclusion of Learner Participation within the new Empowering Schools guidance (jointly agreed between COSLA and Scotland Government) and the development of additional complementary training materials. In addition, Scottish Government policy teams and members of the Scottish Education Council will engage with the newly established Scottish Learner Panel to identify further actions which can help to promote and support pupil participation.
Work with identified communities within the Challenge authorities to develop and implement a programme of family learning.	Complete All nine Attainment Challenge authorities have developed and are implementing progressive family learning programmes to close the poverty-related attainment gap. We will continue to work with other local authorities and the RICs to identify and share good practice, including through the National Improvement Hub. In addition, a review of 'Learning at Home' was published on the Hub in August 2018, which includes an easily accessible and understandable definition of learning at home and to provide clarity for practitioners and parents.
Support the opportunities afforded by the development of extended early learning and childcare to provide family and employability support to parents	Complete Progressing now as part of the longer-term policy framework. Commitment has, in part, been overtaken by other work that has been progressed since June 2016, in particular the Blueprint consultation and the report on 2 year old take up rates (none of which were referenced, or in the case of the consultation even planned for, at the time of the development of the Delivery Plan). Considering as part of a wider piece of work as to how the ELC expansion can promote other services, and also how these services can be used to promote ELC. This action has been progressed through aspects of the wider early learning and childcare (ELC) 1140 hours expansion programme. This has drawn on learning from the programme of ELC delivery model trials (which commenced from January 2017. An evaluation of the trials was published on 22 June 2018, with findings related to capacity, uptake, quality, child and parental outcomes, flexibility and scalability. (http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00535593.pdf)
Publication of case studies on the National Improvement Hub to support the evaluation of family learning in each sector by March 2018.	Ongoing A first case study which focuses on the Third Sector was published on the National Improvement Hub in June 2018. Further support for the self-evaluation of family learning was re-forecast to be completed by March 2019. A further case study will be published by January 2019 highlighting effective evaluation practice in a partnership which includes the college sector, schools and a health and social care partnership. A further set of case studies will be published showing approaches taken within a single local authority area (March 2019).
National Family Learning Network Event by December 2017.	Complete The Family Learning Network met. The theme of the event was how STEM can be utilised as a context for family learning and positively impact the whole family. The event also included a national update and a discussion around future developments.
Framework for Family Learning to be published on National Improvement Hub by March 2018.	Complete The Family Learning Framework was published on the National Improvement Hub (NIH) on 13/04/2018. https://education.gov.scot/improvement/self-evaluation/Family%20Learning%20Framework
Early Learning and Childcare Quality Action Plan includes a commitment to increase support for evidence-based family learning to embed this in the early learning offer for families facing disadvantage.	Ongoing A Family Learning summit was held in March 2018 to share practice in the use of family learning in ELC. The Scottish Government is working with local authorities to agree what further support for specific family learning programmes would be most helpful, with a view to commissioning this in early 2019. Education Scotland also provided input to that summit to support local authorities in providing family learning. Education Scotland will continue to work with local authorities, ELC settings and schools through RICs during 2019/20, to help them further develop approaches to parental engagement and family learning.
The main focus will be on improving the legislative and guidance framework underpinning parental involvement and engagement. The forthcoming 2018 Education Bill will clarify definitions and key requirements, strengthening the duties on headteachers to involve and engage parents. There will be a requirement for every school to identify a teacher or professional with responsibility for promoting parental, family and community engagement. There will be a requirement that every school pursues the key principles of pupil participation.	Ongoing In June 2018 it was decided not to proceed with an Education Bill. In place of amendments to primary statute the Scottish Government is working with a range of partners to strengthen and update the statutory guidance accompanying the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006. New statutory guidance will be published in 2019.
In tandem with the strengthened legislative framework Education Scotland will: work with local authorities and schools through RICs during 2018/19, to help them further develop approaches to parental engagement and family learning. update the Engaging with Parents and Families Toolkit for practitioners by March 2019. support professional learning on parental engagement locally and regionally by March 2019. continue to promote and share good practice in family learning and parental engagement through local and regional activity and practice sharing on the National Improvement Hub by March 2019.	Ongoing Support for professional learning has been provided to a number of RICs and local authorities throughout 2018. These have included events at practitioner and senior leader level. Progress is on track to complete the planned updates to the Engaging Parents and Families Toolkit for 2018/19. To support good practice, a number of parental engagement and family learning professional learning resources have been added to the National Improvement Hub.
Scottish Government will work with partners to ensure that by 2019 every school has access to a home to school link worker to support parents and families who find it challenging to engage in their child's learning and feel excluded from the work and life of their child's school.	Ongoing This is being taken forward as part of the "Learning Together" Parental Engagement Action Plan. The first meeting of a national working group was held in August 2018. A survey of local authorities will provide detailed data on access to home/school link workers, with further joint monitoring and co-ordination activity to follow in 2019.
A national Parental Engagement and Family Learning Action Plan by June 2018 that will contain detailed next steps in relation to provision of guidance, workforce support, access to family learning, digital and research across 3-18.	Complete The action plan was published on 21 August together with Education Scotland's Review of Learning at Home. /publications/learning-together-scotlands-national-action-plan-parental-involvement-parental-engagement/ The Action Plan contains over 50 actions across 13 goals. Themes include Parental Involvement (including digital), Parental Engagement, Equalities and Equity, Leadership and Skills and Evidence, Inspection & Improvement (including research).
From parents' pre-inspection questionnaires, the percentage of parents who are satisfied with their child's progress with learning, and the quality of reporting about their child's progress as indicated across a range of measures/questions. Through the RICs, Education Scotland will provide advice and support staff to develop their understanding and use of a range of evidence, data and information to bring about improvements in the progress children and young people make in their learning.	Complete Regional Advisors and Attainment Advisors have provided advice and support to schools and local authorities on understanding and using a range of evidence and data both to inform parents and to bring about improvements in the progress children and young people make in their learning. In 2019 and beyond, action on reporting to parents will be taken forward via the actions set out in the "Learning Together" Action Plan, published in August 2018.
Parents will be able to access an improved range of high-quality, easily accessible, school level data for parents by August 2018.	Complete Public access to an improved range of data (with supportive narrative) was made available on the SG school information dashboard, through a link from Parentzone Scotland in August 2018. https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/my-school/School%20information%20dashboard.
Key national parental information/support campaigns (PlayTalkRead, Read, Write, Count) will be repositioned within a newly refocused "Parent Club" approach, designed more closely around parent support with children's behaviour, practical support at home etc. This shift in approach will be implemented up to Dec 2018 and beyond.	Complete Read, Write, Count marketing and branding is now aligned with broader Parent Club messaging, design and tone. This was successfully implemented in the design of the parent guide which was included in gift bags distributed in September 2018. Read, Write, Count web content has now migrated to the Parent Club website. A joint campaign with Eat Better Feel Better under Parent Club is planned for January 2019.
Information and advice for parents on the annual data collection and the related messages on the importance of their role and supporting learning at home to be published on Parentzone Scotland website by March 2018.	Complete Content for parents was published on Parentzone Scotland in April 2018. This new content complements existing content on the NIF which covers the aims of the Framework, and information on assessing children's progress. School level data is also available through the Parentzone Scotland site: https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/learning-in-scotland/nif-evidence-report
As part of the legislative changes to the 2006 Parental Involvement Act (due to be commenced 2019 at the earliest), there will be a new focus on schools' responsibilities to provide simple, practical advice on learning in the home.	Complete As set out above, it was decided in June 2018 not to proceed with an Education Bill. Action is underway to strengthen and update the statutory guidance accompanying the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006. The refreshed statutory guidance will provide the basis for further updates to best practice guidance.
Practical guidance to schools and Parent Councils will be updated by 2019 to reflect an amended Parental Involvement Act. This is expected to include: renewed focus on gender balance and equalities characteristics practical advice on how to ensure a substantive focus on improvement by Parent Councils practical advice on how to support engagement across the Parent Forum as a whole clear definitions of family learning and learning in the home.	Complete As set out above, it was decided in June 2018 not to proceed with an Education Bill. Action is underway to strengthen and update the statutory guidance accompanying the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006. The refreshed statutory guidance will include which to Parent Councils.
Scottish Government to work with the GTCS/ Scottish Education Workforce Council to review and improve the Initial Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development offer to headteachers in relation to parental engagement. Detailed commitments will be contained a National Action Plan on Parental Engagement and Family Learning by June 2018.	Ongoing The Scottish Government and COSLA published the "Learning Together" Action Plan in August 2018. The plan contains a number of actions relating to workforce, professional development and skills which will be progressed in partnership with GTCS and other key partners during 2019.
Local authorities to update their engagement strategies to respond to the LA recommendations within the National Parent Forum's Review of Parental Involvement and to consider cross-authority regional improvement strategies	Ongoing The Scottish Government and COSLA published the "Learning Together" Action Plan in August 2018. The plan includes a joint Scottish Government and COSLA commitment that local authority Parental Involvement Strategies will be reframed as strategies for involvement and engagement, with a commitment to review strategies every three years. The plan also includes a Local Authority Implementation Statement. This statement contains commitments from local authorities to develop comprehensive, effective parental involvement and engagement strategies and to ensure that those strategies consider parents needs for advice, information and support.
Assessment of children's progress
We will ensure that nurseries in the most disadvantaged areas in Scotland benefit from an additional teacher or degree qualified early learning and childcare professional from August 2018.	Ongoing The Scottish Government has fully funded 435 additional teachers or graduates, with all local authorities receiving at least 1 additional Full-Time Equivalent staffing resource. To support this, the Scottish Government has provided additional funding to support additional places for teacher training and the BA Childhood Practice award from August 2017. To ensure that this commitment benefits as many children as possible, local authorities have flexibility in how they allocate their additional teachers or graduates across settings - all local authorities have prepared Action Plans setting out how they plan to do this. The Scottish Government is committed to meeting the recurring costs of this commitment. up to £18 million has been allocated in 2018-19 to cover the additional staffing costs associated with delivering this commitment.
By August 2017, we will develop and implement a package of support for all schools in Scotland to strengthen attachment, resilience and mental wellbeing in children and young people. This will be evidence-based and include interventions that support the link between physical activity and mental wellbeing.	Complete We have strengthened guidance on prejudice-based bullying, recording and monitoring, online/offline bullying, impact and outcomes of bullying. The Recording and Monitoring working group produced guidance for local authorities and schools on recording and monitoring bullying incidents. An Operational Support Group, chaired by the Association of Directors of Education, is supporting its implementation throughout 2018/19. The Bullying and Equalities Module on SEEMiS, the schools management information system, has been updated to reflect the new approach. This will allow appropriate training and advice to be implemented in those schools which have not previously been using the module. All schools and local authorities will have implemented the national uniform approach to recording and monitoring by August 2019. We have also begun work to update the Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: attendance in Scottish schools guidance which promotes attendance and the management of absence for pupils in schools. The guidance focuses on the engagement of pupils, and support for attendance at school, to improve educational outcomes. It also draws together advice on good practice and establishes requirements regarding classifying and recording attendance and absence.
From April 2017 an additional £100 million per annum will be allocated directly to schools on the basis of free school meals eligibility. This new funding will reach at least 95 per cent of schools in Scotland and will be supported by: an operational framework which will support schools in their spending decisions and set out our approach to distribution, monitoring impact and reporting on improving individual children's progress; development of a Scotland specific learning and teaching toolkit providing strategies which are proven to help to close the poverty-related attainment gap; a series of regional engagement events which every headteacher in Scotland will be invited to. These events will take place in February and March 2017. This will enable usto work with headteachers directly and give them advice and support on using pupil equity funding to close the poverty-related attainment gap in their context.	Complete In April 2018, a further £120m of Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) was allocated directly to schools for headteachers to spend at their discretion on additional staffing and resources targeted at closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Every council area is benefitting from PEF and for 2018/19 over 65% of schools in Scotland have been allocated funding for pupils in P1-S3. It is supported by: PEF National Operational Guidance which sets the guidelines and supports schools to plan how they will most effectively invest their PEF allocation to improve the educational outcomes of children affected by poverty. a Scotland specific learning and teaching toolkit providing strategies proven to help to close the poverty-related attainment gap was made available in February 2017. The 2nd series of seven PEF regional headteacher events took place in February and March 2018. These events – which every headteacher in Scotland was invited to attend - enabled the Scottish Government to work with headteachers directly and give them advice and support on using PEF to close the poverty-related attainment gap in their context.
We will continue to support the Scottish Attainment Challenge authorities and schools and a number of national programmes, including staffing supply and capacity, professional learning and school leadership with £50 million per annum from the Attainment Scotland Fund.	Ongoing £50m of funding to support nine Scottish Attainment Challenge Authorities and 72 individual schools on the Schools Programme continues into 2018-19. Each authority and school develops annual improvement plans and reports, tailored to their own circumstances, detailing the actions they will take to close the poverty-related attainment gap, and their impact.
We will implement the Getting it Right for Looked After Children Strategy in full. We will take a tailored approach to young people who most need support, increasing positive destinations from school for care experienced young people by 4 percentage points per annum, resulting in parity by 2021.	Ongoing Through our schools, it is important to recognise the needs of care experienced young people and the impact of trauma. It is anticipated that with the additional funding to schools from the Attainment Challenge and PEF that schools can improve the way they support children and young people who have been impacted by ACEs and improve support around mental and emotional health. Towards the end of secondary school, we will continue to focus on improving the outcomes for those with care experience through Developing the Young Workforce, our youth employment strategy, and the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on Widening Access. In 2016/17, 81% of care experienced young people (looked after for the full year) were in a positive destination. In 2016/17, 94% of all school leavers were in a positive destination. Trend Analysis: Despite a small increase in 2016/17, the current figure of 81% remains in line with the baseline figures over the past 3 years but there is a slight trend towards an increased percentage in positive destinations. Analysis of Progress: Based on current figures, a 4% per annum increase would raise the % of care experienced leavers in positive destinations to 93.3% by 2021, resulting in parity as long as the percentage of all school leavers in positive destinations did not also increase. However, the 4% increase per annum has not been met so far and it is unlikely that the upward trend needed to reach parity will be achieved. Also, the percentage of all school leavers in positive destinations is also increasing, making this a moving target. The Getting It Right for Looked After Children and Young People Strategy sets out our national approach to improving outcomes for care experienced children and young people, and the Programme for Government details how we will continue to improve support and protection for our children and young people.
We will begin work in 2016/17 on a strategy for families with disabled children, linking to activity to develop the Child and Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Strategy.	Ongoing The Scottish Government is in the final stages of developing an information resource to support disabled children, young people and their families as part of our commitment to equality for disabled children and young people in Scotland and ensuring that all children can achieve their potential. A consultation on the content of the resource ended in September 2018 and a report will be produced at the end of January 2019. Developing additional content at the request of respondents and those who attended the engagement events will ensure that the resource is a valuable information tool for young disabled people and their families/caregivers. We expect the writing of content to include parent groups and the Young Disabled People's Forum. A website and app will be developed and launched in Spring 2019.
From January 2017 we will implement the Making Maths Count report recommendations to encourage greater enthusiasm for, and a greater understanding of, the value of mathematics amongst children and young people, their parents, carers and the wider public.	Ongoing The ten Making Maths Count recommendations are at different stages of implementation. A significant milestone was reached with the successful delivery of the second annual Maths Week Scotland in September 2018 with participation by schools in all local authorities. The Scottish Government and Education Scotland are working with a range of partners on delivering the recommendations and the National Profile-Raising Group for Mathematics, which continues to meet to monitor implementation.
We will drive forward the actions in our new Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy throughout 2017, with a view to delivering the Strategy's vision of using technology to improve attainment across the Curriculum in the next 3-5 years.	Ongoing Curriculum guidance on Digital Literacy is now in place with delivery in schools being supported by Education Scotland. We continue to work with GTCS to ensure the refreshed professional standards for teachers are strengthened in relation to use of digital. In addition, SCDE are currently developing a framework to support consistency in digital provision in ITE. We will engage further with local authorities to better understand existing barriers to effective use of digital technology.
We will deliver the new Universal Pathway for Health Visitors including the new Child Health Reviews to support early intervention and prevention in those crucial early years. This work is already underway. During 2017 and within the parameters of legislation, we will examine arrangements for information sharing to facilitate appropriate data sharing between professionals on children's progress from the early years onwards.	Ongoing The Scottish Government continues to monitor the progress of implementation of the new Universal Pathway for Health Visitors including all Child Health Reviews to support early intervention and prevention in those crucial early years. We are working with NHS Boards to explore how uptake of the 27-30 month review can be further improved, and where variation in uptake across Scotland can be reduced. We know that there is no legal impediment to the sharing of information from the 27-30 month review with early years settings where there are concerns about a child. We know that this information sharing already happens in some cases – most commonly with parental consent. We need to make that information sharing more systemic in order to better support and protect our most vulnerable children. An Improvement Collaborative looking at elements of the Universal Health Visiting Pathway (including 27-30 month review) concluded in October 2018. We are now looking to share the learning from this and explore what further improvement activity is possible. We will do further work to build on examples of existing good practice both in improving uptake and addressing concerns identified, and testing how to work in partnership with parents to share appropriate and proportionate information with nurseries and early years partners. Good practice guidance will be influenced and refined in light of the work being taken forward by the Getting it Right for Every Child Practice Development Panel who are overseeing the development of a Code of Practice on information sharing.
We agreed requirements for standardised assessment for Gaelic Medium Education by June 2017. These assessments are being developed and will be available in early 2019.	Ongoing In line with the Scottish National Standardised Assessments, we are ensuring that all relevant lessons learned from the "User Review" published in August are taken into account and applied to the Gaelic Medium National Standardised Assessments. We will roll out the Gaelic Medium assessments in 2019, to enable the Gaelic Medium Education sector to use online assessments this academic year.
We will provide moderation and support for teachers' professional judgement from October 2016; ensuring that practitioners have a common understanding of expectations in literacy and numeracy across all curriculum areas.	Complete This action duplicates action being taken forward elsewhere by Education Scotland (see below). The commitment remains to provide the necessary support to improve further the consistency and effectiveness of moderation of teachers' professional judgement.
In December 2016 we will publish plans for gathering information about the health and wellbeing of children and young people including the data gathered at early years stages.	Complete Ministers have agreed that work towards introducing a new Health and Wellbeing data collection of children and young people in late primary stages upwards should be progressed throughout 2018, with the aim of first conducting this exercise in the 2019/20 academic year. This was included in the Scottish Government's "A Research Strategy for Scottish Education" which was published on 18 April 2017.
We will develop a framework for educational interventions and strategies to improve attainment in December 2016, including practical strategies and approaches to building positive attitudes, confidence and capability in literacy and numeracy for all children and young people regardless of background and circumstance.	Complete Education Scotland have developed and published a framework for educational interventions and strategies. To enhance further this work the National Improvement Hub has been developed to support schools in the use of Pupil Equity Funding. It is based on a range of interventions and approaches that are currently being used in schools across Scotland.
We will appoint an independent Commissioner for Fair Access to act as a powerful voice for our most disadvantaged learners.	Complete The Commissioner for Fair Access was appointed in December 2016 and published his first annual report in December 2017. The Commissioner has also published a series of discussion papers on topics including contextual admissions, university league tables, retention, outcomes and destinations of students from deprived backgrounds.
We will ensure that by 2030, students from the 20 per cent most deprived areas make up 20 per cent of higher education entrants	Ongoing The Scottish Government accepted all 34 of the recommendations made by the Commission on Widening Access, including the 2030 target. Implementation is being overseen by the Access Delivery Group, which is chaired by the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science. The Scottish Funding Council's University Outcome Agreement guidance has also been updated to reflect the Government's targets for progress.
We will retain the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) as an entitlement to ensure that school pupils, college students and young people on Activity Agreements from financially disadvantaged households can receive support to overcome any financial barriers to remain in learning.	Ongoing EMA is a demand-driven entitlement and Scottish Ministers continue to provide support to all young people who are eligible, and to help even more school pupils and college students continue their studies and fulfil their potential. The programme was expanded in January 2016 to increase household income thresholds and also include part-time college students for the first time.
We will continue to provide, through the Developing the Young Workforce programme, more opportunities for young people to experience high quality, work-related learning, and to gain vocational qualifications. We will increase the percentage of school leavers attaining vocational qualifications at SCQF level 5 and above by the end of school year 2020/21.	Ongoing The Scottish Government has committed to further expansion of college provision for school pupils, including Foundation Apprenticeships. There has been a positive increase in the number of school leavers achieving vocational qualifications since the start of the programme. 7.3% of 2013/14 school leavers achieved a vocational qualification. This increased to 10.7% of school leavers in 2015/16 and increased again to 12.8% of 2016/17 school leavers.
Develop a range of national programmes and further extend the reach and impact of the Scottish Attainment Challenge.	Ongoing Additional funding from the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF) to support teacher recruitment and development continues, part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge national programmes. £33m, over 3 years, Care Experienced Children and Young People funding stream was announced in June 2018 – the funding goes to authorities to improve educational outcomes of care experienced children and young people. Some funding from ASF was made available to support collaboration within and across the RICs to close the poverty-related attainment gap, including support to address rural specific issues.
Approach to research will also include working with all 32 local authorities to develop local action research based projects on closing the gap led by education psychologists.	Complete The second cohort of Action Enquiry SAC programme for Educational Psychologists commenced in January 2018. All Action enquiry reports are all complete and on our hub. https://education.gov.scot/improvement/research/Action%20enquiry%20research%20focussing%20on%20closing%20the%20poverty-related%20attainment%20gap%20centred%20on%20raising%20attainment%20in%20numeracy%20and%20mental%20health
Consult on the design of assessment within the qualifications system, working with the Assessment and National Qualifications Group.	Complete The removal of mandatory unit assessment for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher was announced in September 2016. Mandatory unit assessments have been removed from National 5 and Higher and preparations are underway for the removal of unit assessments from Advanced Higher from 2019/20 onward.
Making clear our expectations of the SQA, including the importance of listening and being open to the voices of learners, teachers and parents. We will ensure that the Chair regularly reports to Ministers on the improvements being made in relation to these matters. We will request that SQA outline in their annual corporate plan their strategic communications and engagement plans.	Ongoing SQA are taking steps to address how they communicate more effectively with stakeholders. A new chair took up post on 1 September 2017. Specific communications and engagement objectives have been added to the SQA Framework Agreement and Corporate Plan. Regular monthly meetings also take place between DFM and the Chief Executive of SQA, which the Chair now joins. Bi-annual meetings will also take place between DFM and the Chair. SQA have also met with representatives of the Teachers Panel to respond to their specific concerns.
Establish means of collecting any information not currently identified through existing data collection processes	Complete A wide range of additional information and data is now collected through the National Improvement Framework.
From April 2018, we will also draw upon the Care Inspectorate's inspections data to assess the extent to which graduate-level practitioners are improving outcomes for children.	Ongoing The Scottish Government is working with the Care Inspectorate to evaluate the impact of the commitment to delivering 435 additional graduates in nurseries in the most deprived areas. From April 2019, this will include a specific focus area for the inspection year on the influence and impact the role has had on the quality of provision and outcomes for children.
From 2020, we will also draw upon two additional health visitor assessments at 13 months and at around 54 months.	Ongoing Preparatory work is on track to enable data to be available from the 13-15 month and 4-5 years health visitor assessments by 2020.
From 2021, we anticipate a revised ELC census that will provide additional data on some of the drivers of children's outcomes. Work is ongoing in all of these data development areas. However, the main data gap is around health and wellbeing in the younger primary years. Recent evidence, particularly from Growing Up in Scotland (GUS), has highlighted the importance of quality to ensure better outcomes for children. It showed that the most important factor is that early learning and development is delivered by a profession that is dedicated to the care, learning and development of our youngest children. This is being drawn upon in taking forward actions from the ELC Quality Action Plan.	Ongoing Preparatory work is on track to enable data on number of hours spent in ELC, which is a driver of child outcomes, to be available from the ELC census by 2021 Data is currently available on the wellbeing of children at age 27-30 months. This information can be used to support children and their families when additional support is required, using a joined up approach in the spirit of GIRFEC. Health and wellbeing data is available at aggregate level for 4-12 year olds through the Scottish Health Survey; and we are developing a new Health and Wellbeing Census that will provide data for P4 upwards.
A wide range of activity is underway across Scottish schools, supporting teachers to improve literacy and numeracy. Identifying and promoting good practice and innovation will be vital in further raising attainment, promoting excellence and equity and in appraising what makes a difference.	Complete Education Scotland have a number of initiatives in place to support practitioners, including: benchmarks; support for teacher judgement on achievement of levels; sharing good practice through the national numeracy and mathematics hub, the mathematics principle teacher and faculty heads network and the national literacy network; the promotion of the literacy across learning resource; development of a new self-evaluation framework for ITE providers.
Parental involvement and enjoyment of literacy and numeracy is being promoted through the Read, Write, Count initiative, the First Minister's Reading Challenge, Maths Week, and the Deputy First Minister's Holiday Maths Challenge.	Ongoing These programmes continue to develop and expand to support a wider range of children, young people and parents. The FMRC is now open to secondary schools, public libraries and community groups in addition to primary schools. RWC continues to support universal gifting to families of P2 and P3 children, a social marketing campaign to encourage parental engagement, targeted outreach sessions, and support for P4-7 in areas of high deprivation. The DFM's Maths Challenge is issued to P6 pupils and their families prior to specific holiday periods. The second Maths Week Scotland took place in September with schools in all local authorities participating. Literacy, numeracy and parental engagement are supported in the early years through Play Talk Read, Bookbug, and Play at Home, as well as expansion of ELC to all 3 & 4 year olds and entitled 2s.
Consideration of options for driving improvements in literacy and numeracy has been included in the draft work plan of the Curriculum and Assessment Board.	Complete The March 2018 meeting of the Curriculum and Assessment Board considered performance data, activity and interventions relating to driving improvement in literacy and numeracy. Following the meeting the Scottish Government and Education Scotland are taking forward work to further evaluate the support for literacy and numeracy learning with focus on supporting capacity and confidence amongst practitioners.
BISSR 2016 has been signed off by members of the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) and the final report was published on 12 December 2017. Scottish Government and SAGRABIS will issue a joint response to the report's findings which sets out priority actions for local authorities, schools, Scottish Government and SAGRABIS members to undertake.	Complete The Scottish Government and SAGRABIS published an agreed response to the findings of BISSR 2016 in June 2018. The response includes a number of actions for Government, Education Authorities and schools to take forward. /publications/developing-positive-whole-school-ethos-culture-relationships-learning-behaviour/
Education Scotland are currently undertaking a review of Personal and Social Education in schools. The review commenced in July 2017 and is split into 3 phases. Phase 1 – a literature review of guidance available to teachers – was completed in August 2017. Phase 2 commenced in October 2017 and is expected to be complete by spring 2018. Phase 3 – which analyses findings and develops recommendations is expected to commence in June 2018. It is expected that the overall review will be completed by the end of 2018.	Ongoing Phase 1 of the Scottish Government PSE Review was completed in August 2017 and was refreshed in September 2018, to ensure that all relevant materials were included. Education Scotland completed the Thematic Inspection of PSE Delivery in schools in May 2018 and the final Inspection report was published on 28 August 2018 https://www.gov.scot/publications/schools-personal-and-social-education-review/ Phase 3 has focused on stakeholder engagement to draw in additional views to the Thematic Inspection in order to inform the final report and suite of recommendations. The final report is on track to be delivered before the end of 2018.
The 15-24 Learner Journey Review has been underway throughout 2017, looking at how to make young people's learning from 15-24 more relevant, coherent and effective. The outcomes from Stage 1 of the review will be published in 2018, with options for future implementation.	Complete Learner Journey Review 15-24 published on 10/05/2018. The Review made 17 recommendations, grouped under five broad themes. A Scottish Government Directors' group has been established to oversee delivery of implementation, and officials are working with national and local partners to scope the work necessary to deliver all 17 recommendations. Published review: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00535273.pdf
Continue to support use of the Insight senior phase benchmarking tool at local level to secure improvements in learner outcomes through the provision of ongoing training and support from the Insight Professional Adviser Team and newly established network of local authority Insight leads – ongoing.	Ongoing The Insight Professional Adviser Team (comprising two senior educationalist secondees from local authorities) have provided dedicated support to schools and local authorities to enhance their understanding and usage of the data within Insight, in their local context. The Team also provides a means for users to feedback to the Insight team with ideas for refinements to the tool and suggestions on what kind of learning opportunities would be most useful. In 2019, the Team will focus on strengthening links with the BGE benchmarking tool and data leads from the RICs while continuing outreach work to ensure maximum use of the tools across Scotland.
Two significant areas of development are underway. The first is to improve the data set by including employment data. Scottish Government and SDS are working with HMRC to develop solutions that will allow individual level employment data to be shared to support service delivery and service reform. The aim is to have these arrangements in place by Autumn 2018.	Ongoing The Scottish Government is on track to test the proof of concept with SDS and HMRC by the beginning of 2019. Legal gateways are now agreed and we are now working on data sharing agreements. Timescales have slipped due to challenges with setting up the data sharing arrangements. A decision will then be made on whether we take this further based on the benefits achieved from accessing individual level tax information and the costs involved for full implementation.
The second is ongoing capacity building with partners who access the data set to help them understand the breadth of information available, how to best interrogate it and how to use it to challenge service delivery and planning. SDS is leading on this work with local authorities and colleges with support from the Scottish Government.	Ongoing SDS continue to lead and progress ongoing engagement with local authorities and colleges with a particular focus on the Opportunities for All shared dataset; which includes school leavers but covers a broader cohort of young people aged 16-24. This is being achieved through regular engagement with partners which helps them to better understand the breadth of information available, how to best interrogate it and how to use it to support service delivery and planning.
Education Scotland will work with RICs to support leaders and practitioners to identify and use effective learning, teaching and assessment strategies which promote inclusive practices, improve achievement and raise attainment aligned with regional improvement plans.	Ongoing Education Scotland continues to deploy six Regional Advisors, one for each RIC to support and challenge Regional Leads and workstream leads. Phase two plans were submitted to the Chief Inspector by 3 September 2018 and Education Scotland has now completed its review of them. The review process included a series of roundtable meetings convened by Education Scotland. These involved Education Scotland Regional Advisors and senior staff along with RIC Leads. They provided a valuable opportunity for RIC Leads to familiarise themselves with others' plans and for rich, robust professional dialogue for the purpose of peer support and challenge and the sharing of good practice.
To ensure further improvement in levels of service delivery, SDS is: working with schools and authorities to improve the participation measure; and engaging in activities to include learners with additional support needs, disengaged learners and mainstream learners in all services.	Ongoing SDS is into the third year of this new enhanced offer from Aug 2018 and it is now fully embedded. SDS is tracking the uptake in each school. The core elements to SDS's school partnership agreement are agreed with each individual secondary school. The SDS offer now begins in P7/S1 and involves general group work to develop career management skills. SDS Careers Service in schools incorporates a needs matrix used from S2 where those most at risk of not finding a positive destination are provided with enhanced support levels from S3 – S6. Every customer's needs are assessed and validated. Targeted one to one support is provided to those vulnerable groups and includes needs and skills assessments, career development planning, and reviews of progress towards the individuals' aspirations. The needs matrix includes the selection of those with additional support needs, including young disabled people and those who are care experienced.
Education Scotland will continue to provide support to improve the consistency and effectiveness of moderation of teachers' professional judgement further across the country.	Ongoing The Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officer (QAMSO) programme completed a second year in June 2018, with evaluative evidence suggesting that teachers are becoming increasingly more confident about making judgements around Curriculum for Excellence levels within the broad general education as a result. The 2017/18 programme included the introduction of the sharing of standards in reading, as well as numeracy and writing from 2016/17. The programme continues to develop based directly on feedback from the profession, with the introduction of listening and talking planned for session 2018/19, as well as more of a focus on QAMSOs who have already undergone training being supported to lead moderation activities within their local area. The moderation hub continues to be updated with relevant supports for teachers.
Three Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Regional events for Directors of Education and College Principals are being delivered jointly by SFC and SG in order to consider barriers to growing school college vocational pathways. The outcome of these events will determine next steps, to include consideration of any additional measurements required. The Outcome Agreement process has been intensified, ensuring expectation of greater collaboration within regional partnerships and a step change in provision of vocational programmes in the senior phase. Expansion will be captured under current SFC measurements.	Ongoing The 3 regional events took place at the end of 2017. As follow up, a joint letter from SFC and SG was issued setting out expectations around school collaboration and outlining next steps. An action plan has been agreed by SFC and SG. The intensification of the outcome agreement process is underway. The expansion of vocational pathways is ongoing. Four follow up events are planned for early 2019 to consolidate and to review progress.
A network of 21 Regional DYW Groups have been established to bridge the gap between employers and education. This network also links with the network of DYW local authority leads. A formative evaluation of 4 of these Regional DYW groups will be undertaken in 2017/18 to support the continuous improvement of the network, providing recommendations for areas of improvement across all Regional Groups, including driving and measuring performance and creating efficiencies.	Ongoing The network of Regional DYW groups has been replaced by a joint network that brings together the DYW regional leads with the local authority/college DYW leads The report of the evaluation was published on 15 November 2018.
School Improvement
We will remove mandatory unit assessments for National 5, Highers and Advanced Highers on a phased basis over a three-year period from school year 2017/18. This will reduce workload for teachers and young people.	Ongoing The removal of mandatory unit assessment for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher was announced in September 2016. Mandatory unit assessments have been removed from National 5 and Higher, and preparations are underway for the removal of unit assessments from Advanced Higher from 2019/20 onward.
From January 2017, we will work with teachers and local authority colleagues to gain a clear understanding of Curriculum for Excellence achievement of a level data and senior phase assessment data available through Insight. Using this data we will work together to drive improvements in learner outcomes at local level, particularly through the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative.	Ongoing The Insight benchmarking tool continues to support the evaluation of improved outcomes for young people in the senior phase and is contributing to understanding the impact of curriculum design in the Broad General Education. Work is ongoing to increase capacity and capability across Scotland's professional education sector in the use of Insight, as well as helping to inform and embed school improvement activity at local level. In addition a review and refresh of the technical manual and associated materials ('deep dives') available to support professionals is being undertaken with improvements being delivered incrementally from September 2018 through September 2019. A BGE Benchmarking Tool has also been rolled out allowing schools, local authorities and RICs to analyse achievement of CfE level data in a consistent way, using a number of pupil characteristics considered to have an influence on attainment.
Throughout 2017, we will intensify our programme for reducing workload in schools based on ideas contributed by teacher associations and other partners in education. Inspection teams will continue to challenge unnecessary bureaucracy and offer practical assistance to schools and local authorities including supporting the use of school improvement planning to tackle bureaucracy by June 2017.	Ongoing Education Scotland continue to challenge unnecessary bureaucracy within schools and local authorities, particularly in areas such as planning and reporting.
School inspections and other Education Scotland evaluative activity will, from September 2016, be more focused on the priorities within the National Improvement Framework. We will gather evidence on the quality of learning, teaching and assessment, progress in raising attainment and achievement, and the leadership of change through school inspection.	Complete Of the 121 schools across primary, secondary and special provision inspected as part of the sample for the NIF between August 2017 and June 2018. Each inspection to gather robust evidence on the quality of learning, teaching and assessment, progress in raising attainment and achievement, and the leadership of change. Evidence from inspections informs the NIF interactive evidence report.
Inspections in early learning and childcare settings, schools and learning communities will contribute to professional learning and capacity building to support the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence; and provide evidence on implementation by June 2017.	Complete Inspection teams carry out professionals dialogue to support continuous improvement. This takes place with staff, pupils, parents and partners. Dialogue with senior leaders is a daily part of work to understand the context of the school and to provide appropriate support and challenge for continuous improvement. Dedicated time for professional dialogue with practitioners and teachers is built into each inspection model, providing specific time for inspectors to support and challenge the thinking of teachers and practitioners and help them plan next steps for improvement. Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate continue to work together to develop a single shared inspection model for early learning and childcare..
Developing the Young Workforce will continue to be a focus of inspection and review activity across all sectors. In school year 2016/17 there will be a specific focus on how well the Career Education Standard (3-18) and the Work Placements Standard are being implemented.	Ongoing Evidence on how well the Career Education Standard and the Work Placement Standard are being implemented continues to be gathered and discussed within relevant inspections. These data are regularly reviewed, analysed and shared with relevant colleagues.
In September 2017, we will gather information from 2016/17 school inspections and other evaluative activity on the quality of learning, teaching and assessment, progress in raising attainment and achievement, and the quality of partnerships.	Complete HM Inspectors evaluate the quality of learning, teaching and assessment; progress in raising attainment and achievement; and the quality of partnerships in all NIF inspections.
We will extend the reach and impact of the Attainment Advisers, through regional alignment, to promote collaboration and joint delivery across local authorities from October 2016. Using the data available from the Framework, the Attainment Adviser team will work directly with schools where they can make the biggest difference to accelerate efforts to close the gap. Educational leadership of the programme will be extended through a new Chief Adviser role.	Ongoing Education Scotland has been working to strengthen the collaboration between and across local authorities and regional collaboratives through the Attainment Advisors. Different models of practice are being considered and developed to ensure maximum benefit to schools and RICs. Attainment advisors are supporting and continuing to encourage collaborative working. An online Scottish Attainment Challenge Community continues to be used to encourage the sharing of ideas and projects.
We will develop by June 2017 a new Standards and Evaluation Framework, which will set out clear expectations for schools and the focus and frequency of school inspection.	Complete The standards and evaluation framework was published on Education Scotland's website on 20th April 2018. https://education.gov.scot/what-we-do/inspection-and-review/Standards-and-evaluation-framework
We will, by the end of 2017, support the publication of school-level reporting for parents and communities against their own action plans.	Complete Education Scotland has published guidance to support school-level reporting for parents and communities. This brief guidance offers advice to schools for annual standards and quality reporting. The paper underlines the requirement in statute for schools to work with parents and other partners, to prepare this report taking into account national priorities as outlined in NIF, SAC and PEF. It builds on the advice on improvement planning which was published in December 2017. https://education.gov.scot/improvement/self-evaluation/annual-reporting
Working in partnership with local authorities and partners to develop the shape and composition of the RICs. We will ensure that the experience of current and emerging partnership working informs the establishment of RICs.	Ongoing All 6 RICs have delivered their first full Regional Improvement Plans in September 2018 (following initial, interim plans in January). We are supporting delivery of those plans through additional grant funding from Scottish Government and the provision of expert support from Education Scotland to each. SG funding will support each RIC to further develop its dedicated regional capacity for improvement and collaboration, thereby extending the reach, visibility and impact of the RICs during the current school year.
Provide a clear vision and framework within which effective school level collaboration can take place. We will work with partners to develop this framework and support development of resources and tools to support collaborative approaches in the classroom. As part of their inspection process Education Scotland will look at how schools and establishments are working collaboratively with others and we will share evidence about what works.	Ongoing Initial scoping discussions held with ES and policy contacts. Outline options for commissioning joint work with ES and local government to follow by end 2019, to align with continued RIC development and deliver output recommendations in spring 2019. Potential testing prior to availability for 2019/20 school year (expected date amended accordingly).
Support schools and establishments to work together in a learning journey cluster to develop a 3-18 curriculum offer, support transitions and clearly focus on outcomes. We will also support schools and partners in working to support transitions to a positive destination as part of their wider learner journey.	Ongoing This commitment is linked to the one immediately above. It will be delivered through that activity and through further development of RIC support to schools.
Working with Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate to develop a single shared inspection model for early learning and childcare and a commitment that each institution will only be subject to a single inspection per cycle.	Ongoing Inspection of early learning and childcare is undertaken by both Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate. Currently Education Scotland undertakes inspections for all educational establishments, including education in early years settings while the Care Inspectorate inspect care and social care settings. Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate undertake joint inspections where an establishment is providing care and education for example early learning provision or schools with residential accommodation. Joint work to further enhance the singe shared inspection model for early learning and childcare is ongoing.
Consulting on an approach to fair funding, as set out in the consultation paper published alongside the Next Steps publication.	Complete The Scottish Government established a Funding Reference Group with COSLA and ADES. A consultation on these proposals was undertaken in summer/autumn 2017 and around 100 responses were received. A summary was published in Feb 2018. Agreement with local government on the final policy (to revise Devolved School Management guidelines) was announced in June 2018.
Developing an approach to funding that truly empowers schools, and provides the framework of support which schools need, based on the outcome of the consultation.	Ongoing Work is underway with local government to co-produce new revised Devolved School Management guidance, led by a local government secondee and expected to be published in 2019.
Education Scotland will support leaders and practitioners to develop their skills in providing professional learning for others through the RICs which is focused on learning, teaching and assessment in and across curriculum areas and sectors.	Ongoing Education Scotland has delivered professional learning to senior leaders in assessment and moderation in the RICs. This is in addition to the support to leaders and practitioners within the Quality Assurance and moderation support officer (QAMSO) events. Local authority assessment coordinators received a range of information support assessment and moderation in and across curriculum areas. Education Scotland has delivered a range of events on Benchmarks across curriculum areas as part of assessment and moderation support. Practitioners and leaders are supported further in assessment and moderation through the suite of materials on the National Moderation Hub.
Education Scotland will promote collaborative practitioner enquiry in and across services and regions to support leaders and practitioners to drive innovation and improvement in learning and teaching.	Ongoing Two cohorts of teachers (166 in total) have now completed the SCEL Teacher Leadership programme, in sessions 2016/17 and 2017/18, with a third cohort of 201 teachers beginning in August 2018. The programme is focused on practitioner enquiry. SCEL launched a prototype programme in session 2017/18 programme which focused on Supporting Teacher Leadership, aimed at those supporting teachers to engage in enquiry and take enquiring approaches. This cohort concluded in October 2018 with a second cohort commencing in November 2018.
Professional learning materials for schools linked to improving learning, teaching and assessment are planned for inclusion on the National Improvement Hub by the end of March 2018.	Complete Professional learning materials to support learning, teaching and assessment have been published within GLOW and on the National Improvement Hub. The Moderation Hub on GLOW is a virtual learning environment delivering career-long professional learning on all aspects of moderation. Teachers require to use their GLOW login to access these materials. The moderation cycle is also published on the national improvement hub: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/The%20Moderation%20Cycle. Materials to support schools in improving approaches to self-evaluation for self-improvement were published on the National Improvement Hub.
Education Scotland is committed to working with local authorities and schools through RICs during 2017/18, to help them further develop the use of data to continually raise attainment and achievement and close the poverty-related attainment gap.	Ongoing Education Scotland has put in place a Regional Advisor to work with each of the six regional improvement collaboratives. Each advisor continues to engage with the regional improvement lead to take forward regional improvement planning. Regional Advisors have worked with regional leads to review scrutiny and attainment data. These reviews were used to inform phase two regional improvement planning.
We refreshed and released updated guidance on managing school exclusions 'Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2' in June 2017. We plan to undertake a review of 'Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1' in January 2018, with the aim of publishing findings by October 2018.	Ongoing We have formed a Working Group comprising of members of SAGRABIS to review 'Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1', which met for the first time in April 2018. The review has identified a number of revisions to the document which have required an extension to the timescale for completion. It is anticipated that the review of this work will conclude by the end of 2018. A series of engagement sessions with key stakeholders are now planned for February 2019, with publication of the document to follow shortly after
Education Scotland is committed to working with local authorities and schools through RICs during 2017/18 to improve school self-evaluation further and continue to build capacity for improvement in these areas.	Complete Education Scotland continues to link with each of the 32 authorities through teams of link attainment advisors and area lead officers. Education Scotland continues to plan and deliver (at both local and regional level) capacity building activities which are helping to improve school self-evaluation and build capacity for improvement. Participants have evaluated these events very positively.
Education Scotland is committed to working with local authorities and schools through RICs during 2017/18, to continue to improve the capacity of staff to self-evaluate for improvement.	Complete As above, Education Scotland worked with schools, local authorities and RICs throughout the 2017/18 session.
Education Scotland will continue to support the effective use of funding to raise attainment and close the poverty-related attainment gap.	Ongoing Attainment Advisors, Area Lead Officers and Regional Advisors have provided ongoing support and challenge to schools and local authorities to raise attainment and reduce the poverty-related attainment gap through the challenge authorities, schools programme and universal support. PEF events were planned and run jointly between SG/ES/RIC. These events were effective in enabling participants to hear key messages about the SAC programme nationally. This was complemented by presentations from the EEF and RIC lead. Sharing practice sessions enabled participants to hear about emerging practice in the use of PEF and initial evidence of impact on learners. A key success of these events was working with RICs to provide a regional perspective on next steps for further improvement. Through session 2018/19 there will be an increased focus on effective use of PEF funding through universal authorities and use of the PEF Care Experienced Fund.
We will obtain a detailed report from the Digital Schools Award Scotland Framework which will provide an insight into progress for those schools registered as well as the areas in which schools are having difficulty and require further support. This will be used to influence the Digital Learning and Teaching programme for 2018/19.	Complete Education Scotland have obtained a report from DSAS which highlights key areas of success and areas where further support is required. That information is being analysed and considered and will help to inform the direction of the Digital Learning and Teaching Programme. Education Scotland remain in close contact with DSAS and will continue to obtain monthly reports on progress across the framework.
As part of the Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Blueprint Action Plan for 2017-18 we committed to providing dedicated support to local authorities to assist them in improving uptake amongst eligible 2 year olds.	Complete Working with the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative (/policies/improving-public-services/children-and-young-people-improvement-collaborative/), the Scottish Government is supporting 9 local authorities in an 'Improvement Practicum' focused on uptake of the entitlement o funded ELC for 2 year olds. This will run from September 2018 until September 2019. We are also considering other ways to disseminate the results of this work and other examples of good practice across Scotland as part of the ongoing work in the 2 year old offer national project.
We are also exploring options through UK legislation to enable the sharing of data by DWP and HMRC to allow local authorities to identify eligible families. This should assist with increasing registrations of 2 year olds.	Ongoing Scottish Government officials continue to work with internal colleagues and with UK Government counterparts to identify legal and proportionate ways to share data on eligible populations with Scottish local authorities. The Scottish Government is also in discussion with agencies and services that work directly with parents (including for example DWP and Health Visitors) to explore how information on the 2 year old entitlement can be passed on to eligible families and to see where/if application processes can be simplified.
Performance information
From February 2017, we will roll out training in the use of the standardised assessment tool to equip teachers with the necessary data literacy skills to identify areas for improvement.	Ongoing Tailored training packages for local authorities have been developed with SCHOLAR, who are part of the ACER partner group delivering the Scottish National Standardised Assessments. Two courses have now been increased to five including new courses on using SNSA data for improvement and a focus on ASN. Training is taking place across all 32 local authorities in 2018/19 at times agreed with individual local authorities to ensure they have the training they need at the time they need it.
We will publish by December 2016 a research strategy that makes clear the gaps in our evidence base and how these gaps will be filled. We will continue to extend the use of research to underpin the interventions and strategies used in classrooms to close the gap as part of the research strategy. This will include the creation of a national forum for academics and practitioners to come together to ensure that cutting-edge evidence is being implemented in practice, informed by the International Council of Education Advisers.	Complete The Research Strategy for Scottish Education was published in April 2017. A range of research projects are underway – details of this activity are set out in Annex A. Both the Strategy's National Advisory and Academic Reference Groups have now met twice, with further meetings planned for January and April 2019.
We will review the learning journey for all 16-24 year olds to ensure that education provision for young people is as effective and efficient as possible and provides more stepping stones for those needing most support from September 2016.	Complete Learner Journey Review 15-24 published on 10/05/2018. The Review made 17 recommendations, grouped under five broad themes (information, advice & support, provision, alignment, leadership and performance). A Scottish Government Directors' group has been established to oversee delivery of implementation, and officials are working with national and local partners to scope the work necessary to deliver all 17 recommendations. Published review: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00535273.pdf.
We will consider further evidence in particular from early years, Developing the Young Workforce and on health and wellbeing to use in the National Improvement Framework by December 2017.	Complete The National Improvement Framework now brings together a broader range of evidence, including on early years, Developing the Young Workforce and health and wellbeing. This evidence, and the full range of NIF data is available via the NIF Interactive Evidence Report.
We will publish a draft information 'dashboard' covering the broad general education by summer 2017, making detailed performance information available to teachers and local authorities.	Ongoing The school information dashboard was launched on Parentzone Scotland on 29th August 2018. This provides information on state funded schools (primary, secondary, special) to the general public. The BGE tool is now available to schools, and the Professional Adviser provides dedicated support to schools and local authorities to enhance their understanding and usage of the data within the BGE tool in local context, and gathers feedback from users on the use of the tool, ideas for refinements to the tool, and suggestions on what kind of learning opportunities would be most useful. This outreach work will continue throughout 2019, We will review the use of the BGE tool in the latter part of 2019, once users have had chance to use the tool. We will also review if, and how, the BGE tool should be used alongside Insight to describe the complete learner journey,
We will take steps to ensure initial teacher education prepares students to enter the profession with consistently well-developed skills to teach areas such as data literacy. Education Scotland are developing a self-evaluation framework for universities to use. This will highlight effective practice and be available in 2017/18.	Complete Education Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and GTCS developed a self-evaluation framework to support universities to demonstrate the quality of learning and teaching in the priority areas of literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and additional support needs. This was made available in June 2018.
Accelerate efforts to share what is working to close the gap through the new National Improvement Hub and through a new network of empowered leaders. Develop a space on the Hub to showcase what is working across Scotland updated regularly by the Attainment Advisers.	Complete Attainment Advisors are working closely with local authority SAC project leads to promote and share examples of what is working via the NIH. These are tagged 'Scottish Attainment Challenge' so that they can be found easily on the hub. A review of NIH items has recently been undertaken to ensure the examples are refreshed and reflect current practice. Plans are underway to develop a 'live narrative' approach which will be more interactive for users. A new group to review all Education Scotland publications on the NIH is currently being formed. The remit of this group will be to ensure that Education Scotland digital content is reviewed, refreshed and remains relevant for users. A number of HT focus groups took place over the course of session 2017/18 and the feedback from this has been used to identify priority next actions to showcase what is working across Scotland.

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Annex B - Summary of ongoing/completed activity from the 2018 National Improvement Plan

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