In our series of papers on Where next for Scottish education? Graham Donaldson and I argued that Scottish Education is at a crossroads. The establishment of a new Government brings with it the opportunities to decide on the future direction of travel for Scottish education. This is more important than ever given the ongoing and emerging challenges presented by the pandemic, conflict, population displacement, the digital revolution, and climate change which are all affecting how we live, learn and work. Here in Scotland, poverty, job market uncertainty and stressed public services all contribute to feelings of further anxiety about the future.
Education cannot be immune from these seismic pressures, yet to date, significant debate about their implications for our young people is strangely muted. This situation is coupled with teachers facing increasing challenges in their classrooms, particularly in relation to meeting additional support needs, fluctuating attendance, and concerns regarding pupil behaviour. Our own data collection from nurseries in one city indicates practitioners fear that this situation may become more rather than less challenging over the next few years. We must seize the opportunity offered by a new political cycle to future-proof our education system.
Over the past decade we have seen investment in creating a fairer and better education system, but the parameters of the policy debate have remained worryingly narrow. We need to think much more deeply about how school education can best equip our young people — our future leaders — to thrive in an environment of constant and deep economic, social and geopolitical uncertainty. We need a strong and shared understanding of what a “Scottish education” aims to achieve and the associated experiences and pathways necessary to get there. However, establishing a common understanding of and commitment to a fundamental purpose will be both complex and highly contested.
Without clarity of purpose, a focus on “delivery” can lead to a lot of effort with little real gain. Particularly in turbulent and uncertain times, we all need to be clear and steadfast in our commitment to purposes and values or risk a potpourri of incoherent policy initiatives. Put simply, we need a fresh and well thought through meta-narrative for Scottish education which can support decisive action.
Central government and national agencies need to seek and welcome well founded but challenging ideas. That means creating participative, deliberative mechanisms that move beyond light-touch consultation and avoid preoccupation with operational matters. Issues of practice and delivery are vital but should flow from clarity of purpose and be seen as the professional responsibility of those directly involved in delivery.
A commitment to subsidiarity means placing those with the most relevant and up to date insight and experience at the heart of decision-making. The key is to be clear about what decisions are best taken where and by whom without the need for permission-seeking from tiers of local and national government. Of course, subsidiarity needs to be coupled with professional learning that is also driven by purpose. Effective professional learning needs to strike the right balance between meeting locally determined needs led by teachers and leaders and injections of fresh thinking and challenge from relevant sources, not least universities. This will test the capacity of those working beyond schools to work at pace with teachers and others in schools and elsewhere in ways that lead to real impact in classrooms, rather than the illusion of change.
We also need a much more imaginative and systematic approach to evaluation, including formal accountability. Too often, decisions are unduly influenced by those making the loudest noise rather than clear and thoughtful reflection on well-founded evidence. An independent, reformed inspectorate should not just make judgements about quality and performance at institutional and local authority levels, important though these are, but it should also be an authoritative source of evidence and insight based on first-hand engagement that can provide an overview of the quality and progress of the education across the system. In line with the fundamental thrust of this article, inspection and other forms of evaluation need to operate in a context where purposes are well thought through, clear and lead to greater transparency and authentic improvement across the system.
If all of this is to succeed, we need to proactively and consciously build a networked learning system that can support professional learning across curricula, classrooms, schools, localities, and professions. There are already exciting examples where this is occurring organically in, for example, the West Partnership and Dundee. However, if this is to become the norm, rather than the exception, such a system needs to be at the heart of national policymaking.
Young people need and deserve a system that is driven by a strong sense of common purpose, embodies a reinvigorated professional culture, recognises the need for genuine subsidiarity in decision making, and is committed to evaluation based on evidence and enquiry. This would be an appropriate direction of travel and would be a good start to future-proof Scottish education.
