Education and Childcare Assurance Board minutes: November 2025

Attendees and apologies

Members

• Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Chair)
• Councillor Tony Buchanan, COSLA Children and Young People spokesperson (Co-Chair)
• Laura Caven, Chief Officer, Children and Young People, COSLA
• Clare Hicks, Director for Education Reform, Scottish Government 
• Alison Taylor, Interim Director of Learning, Scottish Government
• Laurence Findlay, President, Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)
• Derek Brown, Highland Council Chief Executive, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE)

In attendance

• Dave Gregory, Strategic Director, Lifelong Learning, Education Scotland (attended from 15:00 onwards)
• Patricia Watson, Strategic Director, HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE)
• Kit Wyeth, Interim Deputy Director, Improvement, Attainment and Wellbeing, Scottish Government
• Graham Thomson, Unit Head, Strategic Engagement Unit, Scottish Government
• Orlando Mason, Deputy Director Workforce Infrastructure and Digital, Scottish Government
• Stuart Robb, Unit Head, Education Workforce Unit, Scottish Government
• Iain Macallister, Deputy Director, Early Learning and Childcare, Scottish Government
• Joanna Mackenzie, Team Leader, Targeted Childcare and Family Wellbeing, Scottish Government

Secretariat

• Judith Tracey, Team Leader, National Improvement Framework Unit, Scottish Government 
• Michael Stawpert, Policy Manager, National Improvement Framework Unit, Scottish Government 
• Michelle Kim, Policy Officer, National Improvement Framework Unit, Scottish Government 
• Brianna Fletcher, Policy Manager, Children and Young People, COSLA

Apologies

• Graeme Logan, Interim Chief Executive, Education Scotland, and Interim Chief Inspector of Education, HMIE
• Andrew Watson, Director for Children and Families, Scottish Government 
• Sheena Devlin, General Secretary, ADES
• Steven Quinn, East Renfrewshire Council Chief Executive, SOLACE
   

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions – Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills

The Chair welcomed members to the third meeting of the Education and Childcare Assurance Board (ECAB). 

Paper 3 – Future reform of school education - including the role of the Independent Professional Advisor

Graham Thomson provided the Board with an update on the work undertaken to date by the Independent Professional Advisor (IPA). He conveyed the IPA’s apologies and said the IPA would welcome the opportunity to attend future meetings of the Board, should members wish to engage with him directly as his work progresses. 

The IPA’s work to date focused on engagement with stakeholders to gather information and data to assess how they can be best be supported to drive improvement. Analysis of evidence is underway, with a second meeting of his Advisory Group due to take place in December, and the final report and recommendations due with Ministers in March 2026. As the IPA recognises the importance of capturing local authority views in the preparation of his report, Board members will have the opportunity to provide written comments and the IPA is currently developing a delivery and engagement plan which will set out his approach to the work from now through to March.

The following points were made in discussion:

• the Board welcomed the update and the opportunity to engage with the IPA
• members noted that it would also be beneficial for the IPA to engage with Directors of finance given the potential financial implications of the IPA’s work

Actions/decisions

• the IPA to engage with the Minister for Public Finance on links to the wider public sector reform agenda and report back to the ECAB

Papers 4 and 5 - Overarching approach to upcoming publications

COSLA raised concerns about the fact that, guidance and publications are often produced at the same points of the year, particularly close to the Christmas and Summer school holidays, creating workload pressures for teachers, and local authorities and, potentially, losing focus on key messages.

The following points were made in discussion:

• schools require clearer sight of upcoming national publications to support planning
• it would be beneficial for SG to highlight the difference between the publication of regular statistics, and new guidance or policy documents, to better support teachers
• members agreed it would be helpful to discuss how to manage and potentially reduce the number of publications that are already committed to

Actions/decisions

• the ECAB Officers’ Group to discuss options to consolidate and prioritise publications and meetings. Advice will then be presented to ECAB for consideration
• ECAB Secretariat to develop the publication list further to distinguish routine/annual publications and statistics from new material
• Alison Taylor and Clare Hicks to further consider the timing and value of the publications, and the narrative for items that we have already committed to publishing

Paper 6 - Schools workforce strategy

An update on the schools workforce strategy was provided which set out the steps to a more structured and strategic approach to workforce planning that addresses the systemic challenges we are currently facing.

The following points were made in discussion:

• the need for a long term approach to workforce planning, including clarity on costs, permanence of posts, and sustainable career pathways. Concerns were raised about the lack of permanent contracts and the effects on teacher retention. Concerns were also raised about reliance on the Scottish Attainment Challenge funding, which is increasingly being used as core funding in schools, rather than being seen as something additional
• the wider challenge in recruiting Community Learning and Development staff and the complexity of Additional Support Needs requiring more Pupil Support Assistants. Protecting frontline roles and ensuring a holistic understanding of workforce requirements are essential
• members agreed that improved workforce data is needed at national and local levels, including better data sharing. Variation in data standards makes national decision-making more difficult. Learning from other jurisdictions may help to shape a more coherent data model

Actions/decisions

• Laura Caven to discuss the Scottish Social Work Partnership model with Orlando Mason to see if there is anything that could be learned from it

Paper 7 - Targeted 2-year-old uptake for ELC

An update on the national improvement project on maximising uptake for eligible two-year-olds was provided. The national summary report will be published soon. 

The following points were made in discussion:

• members agreed that the joint approach between the Scottish Government and local government had created a positive experience of the work on the 1140 expansion
• the need to ensure the model works in rural areas where current approaches to 1140 and targeted 2-year-old provision may not fit local contexts
• the upcoming publication of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) statistics in December and the project evaluation in March/April 2026 will provide insight into uptake, local authority practice and impact. Longitudinal evidence on the impact of the two-year-olds uptake will be important for future policy development

Actions/decisions

• Iain MacAllister to engage with Derek Brown on the eligible two-year-olds and 1140 evaluation for rural areas

Any other business

No further business was raised.