National Improvement Framework 2026

Delivering improvement

Before setting out how we continue to improve the education system, it is important to recognise and celebrate the significant achievements of Scottish education.

• In 2023 Scotland had a higher percentage of the population aged 25-64 with tertiary education compared to the UK, EU 25 average, and OECD average. (OECD, 2023)^[1]
• Levels of literacy attainment at primary and secondary and secondary school numeracy at record levels with primary numeracy attainment at joint highest level to date. (Scottish Government, Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (ACEL) data, 9 Dec 2025)^[2]
• Record low attainment gap in literacy and numeracy at primary and secondary level. (Scottish Government, ACEL data, 9 Dec 2025)
• 95.7 per cent of 2023-24 school leavers were in a positive initial destination. This is the second highest figure (alongside 2021-22) since consistent records began in 2009-10.
• The poverty-related gap for young people leaving school in 2024 and going on to a positive initial destination (3 months after leaving) has reduced by two-thirds (or 67%) since 2009/10 (Scottish Government, summary statistics for attainment and initial leaver destinations, 2025)^[3]
• Scotland has the highest level of spending per pupil in the UK, and the best teacher-pupil ratio. Spending per pupil in Scotland is about £10,100 in 2024–25, which is about 20% higher than the £8,400 per pupil level seen in England. (Institute for Fiscal Studies, February 2025)^[4]
• A record number of school buildings across Scotland are in a good or satisfactory condition since recorded figures began – the proportion of schools in a ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ condition has increased from 62.7% in April 2007 to 92% in April 2025. (Scottish Government, school estates supplementary statistics, 2025)^[5]
• An historic landmark was reached for the number of passes in SQA vocational and technical qualifications and awards at results day in 2025 – topping 100,000 for the first time. ^[6]
• The latest UCAS data, shows record numbers of 18-year olds secured a university place in 2025, including a record number of 18 year olds from deprived areas. ^[7]

This is a testament to the hard work and success of both young people themselves and those working with them across the education, employability and skills sectors. It is also important to recognise the impact that the pandemic, combined with a long period of austerity, has had across society. Our schools were often on the frontline, filling gaps that other services were unable to fill. Since the pandemic, schools have faced greater challenges in dealing with an increase in the number of children and young people with additional support needs, as well as issues with attendance and behaviour. These trends, however, are not unique to Scotland. Despite these pressures, Scotland’s schools still continue to deliver high quality learning and teaching.

The Programme for Government in May 2025 made it clear that education remains at the heart of the Government’s priorities, and that we would work with local authorities to improve the A-B-Cs – Attainment, Attendance, Behaviour and Relationships, and the Curriculum, as well as enhancing support for children and young people with additional support needs.

The use of empirical research, data, and evidence is essential to plan for improvement. The approach to self-evaluation now established across all 32 local authorities will be taken into account as part of HMIE’s work to develop a new framework and inspection methodologies for inspecting schools and local authorities.

Achievement in education is a key factor in breaking the cycle of poverty - ensuring all children and young people have the tools they need to achieve their full potential and create better futures for themselves and their families. It is important, therefore, that young people attend school and engage fully in their learning. Education Scotland has established an Improving Attendance Quality Improvement Programme to provide bespoke support on attendance, which will be offered to all local authorities in session 25-26. The update of our national attendance guidance will be published in Spring 2026, and has been informed by research with young people. We also launched a national campaign on attendance in the autumn of 2025, to reinforce this priority and support improved attendance at school.

We will continue to drive improvement in relationships and behaviour, and minimise its impact on learning experiences by, setting high expectations for all learners, and publishing new national guidelines on the use of consequences as part of positive approaches to relationships and behaviour. We will also continue to implement the Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Joint Action Plan 2024-27 with local authorities, and report annually to Parliament on progress.

Building on the £1 billion investment in the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the 2021/22 – 2025/26 parliamentary term, we will invest up to £200 million in 2026/27 to continue the SAC programme for a further year, providing certainty of support for schools and local authorities beyond the Scottish Parliamentary elections. This will enable continued targeted local support to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on closing the poverty related attainment gap.

We will also continue to support households hit by rising everyday costs where we can, including the expansion of our Free School Meals Programme which is currently available to all pupils in Primaries 1 to 5 and to those eligible pupils from Primary 6 to Secondary 6. Our latest phase of the Programme to those in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in Primaries 6 and 7 made meals available to a further 25,000 pupils building upon the 230,000 already eligible. Families who take up the offer are saving up to £450 per child a year enabling them to address other household costs.

In June 2025, we set out a single combined timeline for the reform of curriculum, qualifications and assessment. While increasing the effectiveness of our curriculum, qualifications and assessment system, we will also build a culture that supports children and young people in the achievement of their own goals and learning pathways. The Curriculum Improvement Cycle is considering curriculum content, the role of knowledge, clarity on progression, transitions across early years, primary and secondary, strong alignment between Broad General Education (BGE) and the Senior Phase. This work will inform the development of our new qualifications offer. The work will continue to be developed collaboratively in conjunction with a range of key stakeholders, including teachers, practitioners, children and young people. The cycle will build on the key strengths of Curriculum for Excellence and Scotland’s education system, while making improvements to ensure it remains forward looking and supports high-quality teaching and learning.

The main focus of the current phase of the 10-year cycle is evolving the technical framework, that supports the ‘What’ of curriculum: i.e. the documents and guidance that teachers and practitioners use to plan learning for and with children and young people and alongside communities and partners. These will be phased out from August 2028 and be replaced by a new technical framework.

A wider review of additional support for learning (ASL) will commence in 2026, with data improvement as a core strand of this work. As part of this, in November 2025, we held an ASL Data Summit (a Programme for Government commitment), which brought together 31 Local Authorities and key partners from across the education system to consider how we strengthen support through evidence and collaboration. The Summit generated significant outputs, which will enable us to look at the data we collect both locally and nationally regarding pupils with additional support needs, and how we can improve consistency of identification, support, and the reporting of children’s needs at a local level. The outputs from the ASL data summit will therefore be considered and, where possible, a data improvement plan will be developed to set out the short, medium, and long term actions to enhance ASL data and its use to support improvement.

The Education (Scotland) Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament in June and given royal assent on 6 August 2025, and work is underway to have the new bodies that were created fully operational. This act is the cornerstone for the future of the national public body infrastructure, and will set the tone for the way that the system should operate in future.

Having a new qualifications body and inspectorate will put us in a strong position, and will be complemented by the Centre for Teaching Excellence, which was launched in September 2025.

Education Scotland becoming a curriculum focused body is also key, as it will be taking forward the Curriculum Improvement Cycle. Curriculum Improvement and Qualification Reform are being taken forward together as one integrated programme. This ensures all changes are aligned, consistent, and support a more joined-up education system.

The Scottish Government is continuing to look at ways to improve the education system for the benefit of children and young people and those who educate them. John Wilson, an experienced former headteacher, has been appointed as an independent professional adviser to report on potential future reform options of school age education following the passage of the Education (Scotland) Act 2025, with his final recommendations due to report in March 2026.

At its most recent meeting in October 2025, our International Council of Education Advisers highlighted that social and global trends are changing the world in which our education system operates. Rapid digital transformation risks outpacing the ability of schools across the world to adapt. That is why we need to strive for a system of education which continuously maximises the value of digital technologies for the benefit of all. When everyone is able to reliably access the technology they need, and all users are digitally literate, behaviour and practices can begin to change; driving efficiencies, improving learning experiences and widening access to the benefits of technology.

We are undertaking a rapid online learning review which is due to complete in December and will inform future activity for 2026 in relation to online learning provision in Scotland’s schools – including decisions on the National e-Learning Offer and National Digital Academy provision.

To ensure that teachers are equipped to grasp the opportunities that AI presents, as well as navigate the inherent risks, we are working at pace to develop and publish a set of guidelines and guardrails for teachers on the ethical use of AI in schools.

Delivering improvement and closing the poverty-related attainment gap is something that schools and ELC settings cannot address on their own. There needs to be a more holistic approach to take account of the wider relationship between home and schools. We set out in the Programme for Government that families must be able to access the support they need, where and when they need it – with services designed to respond immediately, reducing unnecessary bureaucracy, and wrapping the support around them. Our commitment to increase funding flexibility to better enable partners to deliver whole family support is being rolled out initially to a core group of local authorities, with the intention of extending to other parts of Scotland quickly thereafter.

The full details of the actions that will be taken to deliver the outcomes, the evidence to support them, and how we will measure progress will be set out in an Improvement Plan which will be published alongside the NIF.