Culture change should be the objective
We have given evidence to the Education, Children and Young People Committee at the Scottish Parliament as they considered the Education (Scotland) Bill, which proposes replacing the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) with Qualifications Scotland (QS) and establishing an independent HM Chief Inspector of Education.
We told the Committee today: “Culture should be the objective. Rather than taking a narrow starting point in which the structure of agencies is reviewed, conditions required for systemic reform should be the focus.”
And we warned in an earlier written submission that the Bill must be the start of deeper cultural change, saying: “We have extensively consulted with children and young people across Scotland over the last year to understand what their priorities are. The need for education reform is one of top issues raised with us. They are focussed on how they experience education on a day-to-day basis. We hear more about homework, what things the curriculum covers, course choice, exam stress, bullying, access to support, levels of anxiety, school buildings and other issues.
“Children and young people want to see fundamental change, particularly to the way they experience secondary education. In order to fulfil children’s rights to an education which develops them to their fullest potential, this Bill must be the first of many steps in a programme of reform.”
We told the Committee that children’s views must be sought and given due consideration on the proposed changes and in the way the new organisations work.
We said that young people have told us they are concerned that there is a potential for the new QS to be no different from the SQA. They were also critical of the proposals for the Learner Interest Committee, particularly as the majority of people on the Committee may be adults, and that it was possible there would be no children.
We added in person to the Committee: “That distance between the SQA and young people has been a recurring theme. They feel like there is no way they can feed back to the SQA, and they are keen to do it. They want to say what their experiences are, and some of them are not great.”
We asked for children’s views and participation in decision-making to be given due weight, adding: “Children are one of the great sources of innovation. They are ready for the world as it is now, they are aware of what’s going on in the world and they will come up with fantastic ideas about how to make education in Scotland more ready for the 21st century. They have a lot to contribute, they say some great things that adults don’t think about. They are thoughtful and creative. They have a different perspective from teachers and it’s a really important one.”