Education and Childcare Assurance Board minutes: September 2025

Attendees and apologies

Members

• Councillor Tony Buchanan, COSLA Children and Young People spokesperson (Chair)
• Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Co-chair)
• Laura Caven, Chief Officer, Children and Young People, COSLA
• Graeme Logan, Interim Chief Executive, Education Scotland
• Clare Hicks, Director for Education Reform, Scottish Government
• Andrew Watson, Director for Children and Families, Scottish Government
• Alison Taylor, Deputy Director, Improvement, Attainment and Wellbeing, Scottish Government
• Janie McManus, Chief Inspector of Education, HMIE
• Laurence Findlay, President, ADES
• Steven Quinn, East Renfrewshire Council Chief Executive, SOLACE

In attendance

• Lewis Hedge, Deputy Director, Curriculum and Qualifications, Scottish Government
• Julie Ramsay, Statistician, Learning Analysis, Scottish Government
• David Leng, Head of Scottish Attainment Challenge, Scottish Government
• Claire Chalmers, Statistician, Information Management, Improvement and Evidence, Scottish Government
• Lewis Paterson, Professional Adviser, Scottish Government
• Kylie Watson, Attainment Advisor, Education Scotland
• Laura Meikle, Head of Support and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government
• Lindsay MacDougall, Head of Child Protection Unit, Scottish Government (from 16:25)
• Jennifer MacDonald, Strategic Director, General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) (from 16:25)
• Victoria Bruce, Unit Head, Early Learning and Childcare: Quality, Equity and Workforce Unit, 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

• Sheena Devlin, General Secretary, ADES
• Derek Brown, Highland Council Chief Executive, SOLACE

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions – COSLA Children and Young People spokesperson

The Chair welcomed members to the second meeting of the Education and Childcare Assurance Board (ECAB), and thanked members for their patience following schedule changes. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills was delayed in joining the meeting due to a statement in Parliament. The Chair congratulated Graeme Logan in his new role as the interim Chief Executive of Education Scotland.

Actions/decisions

• ECAB Secretariat to amend the previous meeting minutes to remove Steven Quinn’s apologies. 

Paper 4 – National Improvement Framework statutory review and the associated review of the NIF Interactive Evidence Report (NIFIER)

Judith Tracey provided the board with an update on the National Improvement Framework (NIF) statutory review. 

Claire Chalmers provided the board with a demonstration of the refreshed National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report (NIFIER) dashboard, outlining the improvements that were being made.

The following points were made in discussion:

The board welcomed the review of the NIF and ongoing refresh of the NIFIER. 

Concerns about the robustness of the Additional Support Need (ASN) data were raised and it was agreed that there is still collective improvement to be done. However, work is ongoing to ensure consistency in the ASN data collection.

Education Scotland are creating a sketch note setting out the ABCs of education (attainment, attendance, behaviour and relationships, and the curriculum) for schools and local authorities to use to support leaders with improvement planning in line with national priorities. 

Discussion of the measurability of the seven NIF outcomes and further streamlining which may be needed to ensure accessibility and value to all groups who deliver the outcomes.

Verbal update – attendance

Kylie Watson outlined the context of the work of Education Scotland on improving attendance, and presented a timeline of significant events and actions since 2021, and year on year comparisons on rates of attendance. Education Scotland launched the Improving Attendance Quality Improvement Programme with participating local authorities selected based on published data. The programme looked at overall attendance, relative position, increasing/decreasing trends, persistent absence and the readiness of the local authority. 

The following points were made in discussion:

The Chair said that it was reassuring that issues with attendance were being addressed across all local authorities

Members agreed that strategies to improve attendance vary between each local authority and data cannot be taken in silos. 

There was a discussion about the perception among children and young people that school is less relevant to future career opportunities, with a preference for alternative learning opportunities elsewhere. 

Members discussed the planned national marketing campaign on improving attendance. Testing is underway to determine effective messaging to support children and young people and improve attendance. Scottish Government officials will liaise with ADES and COSLA before the campaign launches at the end of October 2025.

Verbal update – senior phase achievement 2025 including an update on senior phase attainment measures

Lewis Hedge provided the board with an update on the senior phase achievement 2025 and Julie Ramsay presented data from the 2025 SQA results and broader attainment trends.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills joined the meeting.

Judith Tracey provided an update to the board on senior phase attainment measures, and said that the short life working group, which had been established at the request of the first ECAB meeting, had agreed that three new key measures should be included in the 2026 NIF. 

• percentage of school leavers achieving five or more passes at All SCQF L4 or better, by SIMD quintile
• percentage of school leavers achieving five or more passes at All SCQF L5 or better, by SIMD quintile
• percentage of school leavers achieving five or more passes at All SCQF L6 or better, by SIMD quintile

The working group agreed that setting the all SCQF measure at 5 or more passes, as opposed to the 1 or more for the SQA National Award key measure, would provide a measure of ambition for many young people, as long as it includes a wide variety of awards.

The following points were made in discussion:

Members welcomed the overall improvement in pass rates over the past year. 

There was a need for more detailed analysis linking pass rates, entry patterns, and staffing levels across local authorities, to better inform future local authority planning and support. 

There was a broad agreement that the local authority Quads work could support improvement and promote better consistency in attainment data.

Paper 3 – Independent Professional Advisor on school reform

The Cabinet Secretary provided an update to the board on the Independent Professional Advisor (IPA) on school reform. The announcement of the appointment of John Wilson was made on Tuesday 4 September. 

The Chair highlighted his concerns surrounding the lack of engagement prior to the announcement. Then Cabinet Secretary explained that the appointment of John Wilson stemmed from a Programme for Government commitment, and stressed the value and importance of partnership working and collaboration, with COSLA, SOLACE and ADES through this board. 

Scottish Government officials will be providing COSLA officers and ADES with regular updates on the work of the IPA, including through the Education Reform Programme Board, taking account of the fact that Mr Wilson has been appointed on an independent basis.

Actions/decisions

• ECAB Secretariat to invite John Wilson, the IPA, to the next meeting of the board.

Verbal update – issues raised during the progress of the Education (Scotland) Act 2025 regarding existing safeguarding and complaints processes

Lindsay MacDougall and Jennifer MacDonald (GTCS) joined the meeting.

Lindsay MacDougall provided an update to the board on the issues raised during the progress of the Education (Scotland) Act 2025 regarding existing safeguarding and complaints processes following a child protection concern, or when allegations of abuse are made against a local government employee. 

A working group with representatives from GTCS, Education Scotland, the Care Inspectorate, Disclosure Scotland, Police Scotland and SSSC has been established to review how information is shared between bodies. 

While the proposed Chief Inspector amendment to the recent Education Bill was not passed, these issues are a focus of continued collaborative work with GTCS and other stakeholders, building on the previous work of the information sharing group. 

Collaborative engagement with key stakeholders, including SPSO, ADES networks, COSLA, and Directors for Education, is ongoing, to respond to identified improvement areas. There was an acknowledgement of the concerns that have been raised and variability in practice in relation to child protection and safeguarding that was highlighted by HMIE from their inspection perspective. Members noted the ongoing engagement to explore these issues, including with the National Public Protection Leadership Group, and the ramifications for wider local authority complaints handling procedures - which has been a consistent feature of these discussions. It was suggested that the Society of Personnel and Development Scotland should be consulted. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills noted her need for assurance of the robustness of these important processes and her expectation that ADES and COSLA play a proactive role in ongoing discussions.

Actions/decisions

• COSLA to work with ADES to ensure best practice regarding existing safeguarding and complaints processes are shared and in place across all relevant authorities.

Lindsay MacDougall and Jennifer MacDonald (GTCS) left the meeting.

Any other business and future meeting arrangements

Judith Tracey informed the board that, at the Strategic Board for Teacher Education (SBTE) meeting on 23 June, there was an action to take concerns raised by the SBTE regarding the membership of the ECAB to the next ECAB meeting. Members discussed the concerns raised by the SBTE but concluded that the ECAB had been established as part of the monitoring and accountability framework under the Verity House Agreement, and that is why the membership was limited to national and local government, both of which have statutory duties in relation to education. Members also noted that there are many other existing governance groups (of which the SBTE was one) which will continue to ensure that the views of stakeholders are well represented, and can be fed into the work of the ECAB. 

Vikki Bruce raised an item on the Speech Language and Communication Action Plan. She invited the board to review progress on the Early Years Speech, Language and Communication Action Plan annually, providing both scrutiny and strategic direction to actions arising from the plan. 

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills noted the success of the Scottish Attainment Challenge: Ten Years On conference. She also said that the launch of the public consultation on the future of school inspections had been welcomed by the profession. Finally, she mentioned that the Centre for Teaching Excellence was officially launched on 3 September in Glasgow, receiving positive feedback from teachers.

Actions/decisions

• membership of the ECAB to remain as it was for the time being, but will be kept under review.
• board members to provide scrutiny and strategic oversight to the Speech Language and Communication Action Plan before its publication in Autumn 2025
• Laura Caven to circulate the published RCSLT report to ECAB members.

The Chair thanked members for joining the second meeting of the ECAB.