Education and Childcare Assurance Board: terms of reference

The Scottish Government and local government share ambitions to ensure that all children and young people get the best possible outcomes from their education. There are also duties on both the Scottish Government and local government to secure improvement in education. The 2025 NIF has been developed between the Scottish Government, COSLA, and ADES to reflect these shared ambitions and responsibilities. 

It will be a time-limited group to enable both the Cabinet Secretary and the COSLA spokesperson to consider the key national and local level data, discuss and set strategic priorities, and build a shared understanding and joint approach to those priorities, in line with GIRFEC. A review of the role of the assurance board will take place after six months.

It will meet every two months, and will be responsible for developing its own work programme. The first meeting of the board will agree the future work programme, including consideration of issues such as options around developing a joint evidence-led education workforce strategy, and the practical aspects of delivering the ASN investment as a lever for delivering improvements for the increasing number of children and young people identified as needing additional support for learning.

It will provide a mechanism for identifying and addressing key national and local issues jointly, providing challenge as necessary, with a view to resolving any issues and achieving successful outcomes. 

It will provide assurance to Ministers and elected members in discharging their responsibilities and to support decision making. It will enable them to develop a clear understanding of the role that education and ELC plays in delivering improvement in learning outcomes, reducing variation in outcome and closing the poverty-related attainment gap. It will also provide an opportunity to look at whether the national policy framework is supportive of local improvement outcomes and whether changes need to be made.

It will consider the findings of international surveys of education performance and what action is required at a local and national level to address areas for improvement. The board will work with partners to ensure ownership and engagement with the surveys across the education sector.

It will have ongoing engagement and communication with the education reform programme at a ministerial and COSLA spokesperson level, as well as at official level. 

It will contribute to cross governmental work on child poverty to ensure that there is a whole system approach to improvement and recovery.

It will consider how schools and early learning and childcare settings work in partnership with wider children’s services and other partners, families, and communities.

It will be strongly evidence informed – working to an agreed accountability framework that recognises that evidence is vital to the governance of complex education and ELC systems. 

It will be supported by an officer level group, which will meet a week (or more) in advance of each meeting of the Education and ELC Assurance Board to review progress across agreed priorities for the education and ELC system against intended outcomes and benefits, identify trends (both positive and negative) and the required areas of improvement. Where issues are identified, it will develop options for resolving them and for consideration by the assurance board.

Learning Directorate
April 2025