Scotland is making important changes to its curriculum, qualifications and assessment system to better support children and young people from ages 3 to 18. The document provides an initial timeline to give clarity to partners and practitioners across the education and skills system.
Scotland is making important changes to its curriculum, qualifications and assessment system to better support children and young people from ages 3 to 18. This will help ensure every learner is recognised for the knowledge, skills and achievements they develop during their learning journey.
The recommendations of the OECD report in 2021, the National Discussion 2023 and the Scottish Government’s response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment (2024) provided clear messages about what should change in relation to curriculum, qualifications and assessment. There are also elements of the Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape, Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation, 2023, which are pertinent to the work. Common themes across these reports include the need to introduce a systematic approach to curriculum review, clarify the position of knowledge, create clearer progression between the Broad General Education (BGE) and the senior phase and onwards into post-school learning, review the balance of approaches to assessment and consider ways in which broader achievement can be recognised.[1]
The document provides an initial timeline to give clarity to partners and practitioners across the education and skills system, as well as to parents, carers, children and young people, about what will happen and when, and to support early thinking about when and how teaching, learning, and assessment will start to feel different. While change to curriculum, qualifications and assessment should be expected, the focus will remain on the enhancement of excellent learning and teaching as we know this will make the greatest impact on outcomes for children and young people.