Curriculum and Assessment Board minutes: March 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Andrew Creamer, Head of Learning Teaching & Assessment, Education Scotland
• Andy Harvey (substitute for Andrea Bradley) National Officer, The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) 
• Clare Hicks, (Co-Chair) Director, Education Reform, Scottish Government 
• Elaine Napier (substitute for Victoria Smith), Head of Education and Standards, General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) 
• Eleanor Passmore, Deputy Director, Early Learning and Childcare, Scottish Government
• Erica Russell-Hensens, Deputy Director, Student Interests, Access and Quality, Scottish Funding Council (SFC) 
• Gavin Yates, Executive Director Connect, Scottish Assembly of Parents and Carers (SAPC) 
• Gill Mann, Interim Head of NQ Policy, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) 
• Gillian Hamilton, (Co-Chair) Interim Chief Executive, Education Scotland 
• James McKean, Policy Officer, Colleges Scotland
• Jane Brumpton, Chief Executive, Early Years Scotland  
• Joan MacKay, Head of Curriculum Innovation and Design, Education Scotland
• Lewis Hedge, Deputy Director, Curriculum and Qualifications Division, Scottish Government
• Martyn Ware, Head of Policy, Research & Standards, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) 
• Matthew Sweeney, Policy Manager, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) 
• Neville Prentice, (substitute for James Russell) Senior Director of Service Delivery, Skills Development Scotland (SDS)
• Nik James, National Official, National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT)  
• Ollie Bray, Strategic Director, Education Scotland 
• Patricia Watson (substitute for Janie McManus) Head of Inspection, HMIE
• Paul Cochrane, (substitute for John Guidi), Salaries and Working Conditions Convenor, Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA)
• Pauline Radcliffe, Chief Executive, Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP)
• Professor Louise Hayward, Professor of Educational Assessment and Innovation, Academic Representative, University of Glasgow
• Professor Mark Priestley, Professor of Education, Academic Representative, University of Stirling
• Sarah Sinclair (substitute for Lorraine Davidson), Head of Professional Learning, Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS) 
• Stewart Nicolson, Chair of the Curriculum, Assessment and Qualifications Network, Association of Directors of Education (ADES) 
• Tim Wallace, Vice President, Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS) 
• Tina Harrison, Deputy Vice-Principal Students, University of Edinburgh 

Apologies

• Andrea Bradley, General Secretary, The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• Donna Stewart, Director of Qualifications Development, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)
• James Russell, Director of CIAG Operations, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) 
• Janie McManus, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education for Scotland 
• John Guidi, District Secretary, Renfrewshire, Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA)
• Julie MacDonald, Vice President, School Leaders Scotland (SLS) 
• Lorraine Davidson, Chief Executive, Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS) 
• Marie Hendry, Chief Executive, College Development Network
• Victoria Smith, Strategic Director, General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) 

Items and actions

Welcome and draft minutes from last meeting, 25 November 2024

Gillian Hamilton (Co-Chair) welcomed attendees to the Curriculum and Assessment Board (CAB) meeting. Draft minutes from the meeting on 25 November 2024 were cleared to be published, with no amendments taken. 

Education reform update

Clare Hicks (Co-Chair) provided an update on wider Education Reform to members:

National Improvement Framework (NIF):

• the refreshed NIF was published in December 2024, which provides a long-term strategy for Scottish education, including the vision, key priorities and key outcomes
• an associated improvement plan was published in January 2025, where the evidence is set out in more detail, as well as key actions and how progress will be measured
• the COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on Scottish education, and we have witnessed sustained financial pressures in the public sector because of this
• the 2025 NIF and improvement plan has a focus on improving attendance, achievement, behaviour and relationships, and the curriculum in schools to boost standards. This work will be underpinned by the ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) approach as Scotland’s framework for the delivery of holistic, rights-based multi-agency support and a shared approach to planning for children and young people’s wellbeing
• The NIF is clear that national and local government need to work together, with a collective responsibility to improve educational outcomes. The Scottish Government is working with COSLA, and ADES to establish a joint education and childcare assurance board to work together to improve learning outcomes for children and young people

Education (Scotland) Bill:

• the Bill is working its way through Parliament and is currently at stage 2
• stage 2 will be completed by 9 May 2025
• the deadline for Scottish Government amendments to the Bill at stage 2 is 2 April 2025

Qualifications reform update

Gill Mann (Interim Head of NQ Policy, Scottish Qualifications Authority [SQA]) highlighted that the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills asked the SQA to:

• rationalise the senior phase qualifications offer, ensuring all young people have a clear and coherent pathway
• look to take steps to remove external written examinations in practical subjects where appropriate, with changes starting to be implemented from 2025/26
• work towards extending the range of approved assessment methods for National Qualifications (NQ)
• explore if NQs could be organised into ‘modules’
• set out a longer-term programme of work to rebalance assessment methods across national courses and align with the curriculum improvement cycle
• second a head teacher into the qualifications body to lead meaningful engagement with Scotland’s teachers

The reform of the Senior Phase Qualifications has two main projects.

• a first strand of rationalisation work will review the current portfolio of qualifications in the senior phase to streamline the offering, creating clearer pathways
• a second strand of work will review the balance of assessment in national courses. Work has started in practical subjects

Emma Sinclair (Head of School Qualifications Unit, Scottish Government) then gave an update on wider qualifications reform:

• the first version of the digital profile hosted by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) went live on their world of work website in January 2025. This digital tool will showcase pupils’ skills, qualifications and career achievements to support career growth and development
• SDS and Education Scotland are collating initial reactions. Once this has been conducted, a more formal launch of the profile is planned for autum 2025
• Interdisciplinary learning (IDL), and personal achievement collaboration groups with practitioners, have been established as part of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC). This is to define the place of IDL in schools to ensure a high-quality offer for all young people, and to explore ways of supporting and measuring personal achievement in pupils’ educational journeys

The Co-Chair invited members to provide any feedback or ask questions. General feedback was positive but included the following comments:

• consideration of the capacity of the system
• involvement of employers in this work to inform labour market needs
• resources and timing is critical 
• two term-dash creates a barrier
• focus on progression and what matters in each subject/topic area
• important that the co-creation with internal and external stakeholders is balanced
• important to acknowledge that not all senior phase qualifications valued by schools are delivered by SQA, particularly in the IDL space
• assessment approaches need to join up with the CIC work
• important to see coherence with the wider education reform programme

Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC): workshop

Ollie Bray (Strategic Director, Education Scotland) introduced this agenda item to provide members with an overview of the CIC work over the last twelve months.

Updates were provided on the commitments agreed at CAB in June 2024:

• Education Scotland (ES) continue to enact the model for the CIC, which allows a cycle of approximately ten years, with four interlinked stages: 1) analysing; 2) engaging and co-creation; 3) sharing, learning and adopting, and 4) mobilising, monitoring and evaluating
• work continues on a high-level coherent plan for the CIC. This will be organised in horizons: short (1-3 years), medium (3-6 years) and long-term (6-10 years) with 2024 as year one
• ES will work with the SQA to ensure that the CIC and the reform of qualifications and assessment are aligned

Communications and planning:

• a newsletter has been created: Curriculum Improvement Cycle – Education Scotland
• key papers have been published: 'a case for change', 'language matters' and 'towards a new technical framework'
• a range of information webinar sessions have taken place and more are planned for the summer term and for next session
• a stakeholder forum has been created with all organisations represented on CAB

Language of curriculum review:

• the draft 'language matters' document that was approved by CAB at the last meeting has now been published

Four contexts for learning (including curriculum areas): 

• phase 1 includes health and wellbeing, english and literacy, gaelic and literacy, mathematics and sciences, with initial steering, core and collaboration groups established
• phase 2 (beginning April 2025) includes: modern languages, expressive arts, ethos and life of the school as a community, opportunities for personal achievement, religious and moral education/religious education, social studies and technologies
• transition now complete for “National Response to Improving Literacy” (NRIL) and “National Response to Improving Maths” (NRIM) boards to CIC steering groups

Cross curricular themes/core competencies: 

• the CAB sub-group have continued to work on the themes at a series of design sprint workshops. ES considering how to integrate these themes into the new technical framework and an up-date will be provided at the next CAB meeting in June

Technical framework: 

• a ‘know, do, understand’ framework is being developed with early testing underway

It was noted that Education Scotland’s paper three “working to make change happen” is due to be published in early April. It will demonstrate the journey ES and wider partners have been on over the past 12 months as well as being clear in approaches that will be adopted moving forwards and mapping high-level interdependencies to ensure the success for the programme. 

Gillian Hamilton (Co-Chair) highlighted the energy from teachers and partners has been very empowering and encouraging to see. Members were invited to provide any feedback on the CIC update. Comments included: 

• critical that sense making is not conflated with implementation. The successful implementation of curriculum reform requires a defined and pragmatic period before implementation/roll out in schools
• teachers need space and time to allow for capacity to embed these changes. Defining language is an important first step but should not replace sense-making
• there is an important role for CAB in the CIC
• interdependencies with other key work needs to be considered in relation to timelines for curriculum reform. Qualification development takes time, we need to make sure work is joined up
• helpful to see a methodology for how this all works relating to one subject area
• principles ES have developed for the CIC work has been taken forward (e.g. collaboration and engagement with teachers) needs to be maintained
• time and resources are very important to enable practitioners and schools to engage with changes
• continued challenges for early years practitioners and managers to have time to engage meaningfully in this reform work
• vital that practitioners are adequately supported to implement these reforms, with the national agencies supplying as much helpful material as possible

It was noted that engagement sessions between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and primary school head teachers is about to commence. Curriculum improvement and qualification reforms are a key aspect of these session, providing a valuable opportunity for engagement with school leaders. 

Any other business

Co-Chair thanked members for their valuable input and feedback on the updates provided today, and confirmed there was no other business.

The next meeting will be held on 5 June 2025, in-person at a school in Glasgow. An exact location will be confirmed in due course.