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3. COMPULSORY EDUCATION

Compulsory education in Scotland begins normally at the age of five and lasts until sixteen. The leaving dates for pupils who have reached age sixteen are the end of the Christmas term or the last day in May. Compulsory education is divided into primary (ages 5-12) and secondary (ages 12-16).

3A PRIMARY EDUCATION

In general terms, the purpose of primary schooling is to provide a broad basic education concentrating on enabling children to read, write and count, and introducing them to ways of examining and understanding their environment, past and present; helping them to express themselves through art, music, drama and physical activity; and developing their awareness of religious, moral and social values, citizenship and acceptable behaviour. Increasingly, pupils are being made aware of the impact of technology on society and are introduced to the use of ICT from an early stage.

Normally children enter primary school at about the age of five and transfer to secondary schools at about the age of twelve. Three broad stages are normally distinguished in primary schools: P1 to P2 (the infant or early education stage); P3 to P5 (the middle stage); and P6 and P7 (the upper primary stage).

Schools vary in size according to the community they serve: a one-teacher rural school may serve a much bigger geographical area than a large city primary school. Just over one-third of Scottish primary schools have 100 pupils or fewer and less than one in ten have 400 pupils or more.

3A.1 Organisation of the School

Primary schools are organised in classes, by age, from primary 1 ( P1) to primary 7 ( P7). All primary school classes contain both boys and girls and cover the full range of abilities. There is no selection or streaming by ability and children are automatically promoted annually from one class to the next. Each class is normally the responsibility of a class teacher who teaches all or most of the curriculum. Education authorities frequently provide some support for the class teacher in art, drama, music and physical education by employing specialist teachers who normally teach in several different schools. In May 2003 the Scottish Executive announced its intention to increase the number and range of specialist teachers working with primary pupils, particularly by allowing teachers to move between secondary and primary schools.

In the larger primary schools there will normally be more than one class at each stage. The normal maximum class size of thirty-three has been reduced to thirty for pupils in P1- P3. In smaller schools children of a number of different stages will be combined in one class with one teacher. As far as possible, education authorities try to keep such composite classes to a limit of twenty-five pupils. In the very smallest schools where there are fewer than twenty children, one teacher will teach all the children in one class.

The school year covers three terms and must last for a minimum of 190 days (38 weeks). The actual dates of terms and school holidays are determined by each education authority. The school year normally lasts from the second or third week of August to the end of June/ beginning of July, with breaks of one week in October and two weeks in December/January and March/April.

There is no legislation as to the pattern of the school day and week, but it is usual for there to be two sessions per day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon - for five days per week (Monday to Friday). The primary school week normally lasts 27.5 hours in five days of 5.5 hours each. The number and duration of lessons is determined by each headteacher in consultation with the class teachers and education authority.

3A.2 Curriculum

The curriculum in Scottish primary schools is not determined by statute or regulation but by guidance from The Scottish Executive Education Department ( SEED) through various Learning & Teaching Scotland publications under the general title of the 5-14 Programme.

The aim of the curriculum is to provide breadth, balance, coherence and progression. To attain this the curriculum has been divided into a number of broad curricular areas, set in an appropriate balance. Progression is measured by attainment of five levels based on expected performance by the majority of pupils at certain ages between five and fourteen. It is recognised that pupils learn at different rates and some will reach the various levels before others. The curricular areas are:

• language
• mathematics
• environmental studies
• expressive arts
• religious and moral education

Some aspects, such as information and communication technology ( ICT) and citizenship, are developed across all areas of the curriculum.

While time allocations are not determined by regulation, the 5-14 national guidelines recommend that in each week 15% of the available time should be devoted to language (including mother tongue, and foreign languages from aged 10), 15% to mathematics, 25% to environmental studies, 15% to expressive arts and 10% to religious and moral education, leaving 20% flexible to be allocated at the discretion of the school and local authority.

On 1 November 2004 the Curriculum Review Group published the document A Curriculum for Excellence, which outlined the purposes and principles of education from age 3 to 18 in Scotland, and defined an aspiration to enable all young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. In their response (also 1 November 2004) to this document, Ministers set in motion a programme of work to create a single, coherent, Scottish 3-18 curriculum. They outlined a number of key areas of work to achieve this, including de-cluttering the curriculum in primary schools to free up space for children to achieve and teachers to teach. This is being taken forward as part of a larger programme of curricular review following a commitment given by Ministers in their response document to 2002's National Debate on Education, Educating for Excellence (29 January 2003).

Also on 1 November 2004, Scottish Ministers published Ambitious, Excellent Schools, which sets out their vision of a package of reforms which together make up the most comprehensive modernisation programme in schools for a generation. The document lays out actions aimed at heightening expectations, giving more freedom for teachers and schools, offering greater choice and opportunity for pupils and better support for learning, as well as creating tougher, intelligent accountabilities.

The full text of Ambitious, Excellent Schools can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/aesaa-00.asp.

Developments proposed for assessment, testing and reporting policy for 3-14 year olds build an assessment system which puts the learner firmly at the centre of the assessment process and emphasises assessment as part of learning and teaching. Further information about the proposed assessment system can be found in the document "Assessment, Testing and Reporting 3-14, our response" at www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/atror-00.asp.

3A.3 Assessment/Certification

Teachers assess their pupils' progress in a variety of ways. They watch them work, discuss their work with them, set special tasks, in which the teacher can make judgments about the pupils' performance, and set formal assessments or tests, some of which are produced by the school and others nationally. Teachers received guidance on the process of evaluation in the publication: National Guidelines: Assessment 5-14. This encouraged them to use on-going classwork assessment to guide their interaction with pupils and their planning of teaching and to make a professional judgment from time to time about pupils' overall attainment in relation to the nationally defined levels of performance.

Teachers can use National Assessments (called National Tests until August 2003) in English language (reading and writing) and mathematics to confirm their professional judgment of the attainment levels reached by pupils. When a teacher judges that a pupil (or pupils) has/have largely completed one of the five levels (A-E) of the curriculum in the National Guidelines covering these subjects, he or she selects an assessment unit at the appropriate level from a web site and sets it for the pupil(s).

These National Assessments do not lead to certification of pupils but are a means of helping teachers to ensure that their assessments are in line with nationally agreed standards. Under the terms of Departmental Circular 12/92, education authorities have agreed to ensure that schools, using nationally devised tasks in this way, confirm pupils' progress in English language and mathematics and report the results of the tests individually to parents.

For reporting on the progress of pupils to parents an exemplar report has been devised which gives information on the level of attainment in each aspect of the curriculum. This report also provides parents with information on their child's personal and social development in school. The report contains a form which allows parents to comment on it and to note points which could be discussed at parent-teacher meetings. Guidance suggests that all reports should comment on pupils' strengths and development needs; provide an overall assessment of levels of attainment; identify suitable next steps in learning; and provide an opportunity for parents to respond to the report to a named teacher.

3A.4 Progression/Guidance/Transition Arrangements

Pupils in primary schools in Scotland are promoted automatically by age from year to year. Traditionally, there was a divide between primary and secondary education; in recent years considerable moves have been made to make the transition of pupils from one to the other easier and to build up connections in the curriculum.

Particularly since the curriculum is structured in Scotland to cover pupils from 5 to 14, the need for good relations and dialogue between primary and secondary schools has become greater. Secondary schools frequently designate a promoted member of staff to be responsible for these contacts. In some secondary schools, particularly in rural areas, where there may be as many as 20 or more associated primary schools, the task of promoting communication can be complex and time consuming. The SEED has, however, provided an exemplar primary/secondary pupil transition record for education authorities and establishments to use or adapt to suit local circumstances.

3A.5 Teachers

All who wish to teach in publicly funded primary and secondary schools in Scotland are required to have undergone initial training and to hold a Teaching Qualification ( TQ) in order to be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS). Registration is a requirement before a teacher can be employed by an education authority.

A Teaching Qualification may be gained by one of three routes:

• To become a primary teacher or a secondary teacher of technology, physical education or music it is possible to take a 4-year course leading to a Bachelor of Education ( BEd) degree at one of seven teacher education institutions.
• To become a secondary teacher in certain subjects it is possible in some higher education institutions to take a combined degree which includes subject study, study of education and school experience.
• For those who already hold a university degree and wish to teach in either a primary or a secondary school, a one-year course for a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), i.e. leading either to a Teaching Qualification (Primary) or a Teaching Qualification (Secondary), is offered by the teacher education institutions.

Entry qualifications to the 4-year course leading to the BEd degree and a Teaching Qualification (Primary Education) are similar to the general qualifications for entry to university in Scotland.

The Scottish Ministers, through the Scottish Executive Education Department ( SEED), control the training of teachers in Scotland in a number of ways. Approval by the Scottish Ministers is required for courses of training for teachers in schools. Guidelines are published by the SEED which lays down conditions under which that approval is given. Minimum entry requirements to teacher training are nationally prescribed and published annually in the Memorandum on Entry Requirements to Courses of Teacher Education in Scotland, which has the force of regulation.

Annually, the SEED undertakes a teacher workforce planning exercise which results in the Department offering guidance to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council ( SHEFC) on the minimum requirements for newly qualified teachers. The SHEFC is responsible for setting intakes to the different types of teacher training courses and for ensuring, through its funding allocations and in other ways, that these minimum requirements are not exceeded.

The Scottish Ministers receive advice on teacher education from the General Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS), a statutory body of which the majority of members are elected by the teaching profession. The GTCS maintains a register of teachers in Scotland who are permitted to teach in publicly funded schools and no teacher may teach in such a school without registration.

Teachers who have achieved the Teaching Qualification ( TQ) are provisionally registered with the general Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS). (This is essential for anyone wishing to teach in a local authority school.) Full registration then follows a period of probation and assessment.

From August 2002, all newly qualified teachers, who have trained at a Scottish university and have been assessed as a 'home student' have had access to a training post for one school year immediately following qualification. This is called the Teacher Induction Scheme. The training post will have a maximum class commitment of 0.7 Full Time Equivalent ( FTE), with the remaining 0.3 available for professional development. Each trainee will have access to a nominated induction tutor to provide advice, support and guidance. To become fully registered, probationers will have to meet the standards set out in the Standard for Full Registration ( SFR).

Schoolteachers in the public sector in Scotland are appointed and employed by the local authorities. However, their conditions of service are negotiated at the national level by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers ( SNCT), a tripartite body comprising membership from the local authority employers, representatives from the teacher organisations and the Scottish Executive Education Department.

The Scottish Executive has created a new framework for the continuing professional development of teachers under the agreement 'A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century', 35 hours of continuing professional development ( CPD) per annum has been introduced as a maximum for all teachers. The time is to be spent on an appropriate balance of personal professional development, attendance at nationally accredited courses, small-scale school-based activities or other CPD activity.

From August 2004, the maximum class contact time is 23.5 hours in primary and secondary schools and 22.5 hours in special schools and units. Working hours will gradually be amended so that by 2006, in all school sectors, all teachers will work a 35-hour week, with no more than 22.5 hours of class contact time.

The difference between the maximum class contact time and the 35-hour working week is made up of a 30% allowance of time for work relevant to individual teaching duties, including preparation and correction of pupils' work.

3A.6 Statistics

NB More statistical data can be found on the Scottish Executive web site at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats.

Publicly Funded Primary Schools (September 2003 Schools Census)

Independent Primary Schools (September 2003 Independent School Census)

3B COMPULSORY SECONDARY EDUCATION

3B.1 Organisation of the School

Secondary education in Scotland extends over six years from the age of 12. All state schools are comprehensive and pupils attend them full-time for four, five or six years. Subject choice in years 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 makes it possible for pupils to pursue academic or vocational interests, including in many education authorities work experience, but, essentially, the whole secondary curriculum is provided in each school.

Education is not compulsory after the age of 16 (year 4) and a number of pupils leave school at that point. 16 is also the age at which pupils take the examinations for the Scottish Qualifications Certificate ( SQC), formerly the Scottish Certificate of Education ( SCE), at Standard Grade or newer National Qualifications equivalents. Both Standard Grade and national Qualifications are examinations intended to cater for the whole school population. Education up to 16 can therefore conveniently be designated Lower Secondary Education and that between 16 and 18 Upper Secondary Education.

In general, the secondary school sets out to provide an education which prepares pupils for a place in society and which meets their personal, social and vocational wishes, and the expectations of their parents, of employers and of tertiary education. In the upper stage ( S5 and S6) a particular aim is to equip pupils to profit from vocational education and training and from higher education.

All publicly funded secondary schools in Scotland are comprehensive in character and most offer six years of secondary education. In the more remote areas, in particular in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, there are 2-year and 4-year secondary schools, which offer only lower secondary education. The justification for these is that they keep pupils longer at home in circumstances where they would need to stay away from home to attend a 6-year secondary school. Many believe that retaining pupils in a small local school increases the chances that they will remain in their home area after leaving school. The courses offered in these schools do not differ essentially from the courses offered in the corresponding years of larger schools. Pupils who progress to S5 and S6 from these schools do so in a larger school at a distance from their home.

All secondary schools offer a general education and, alongside it, some more vocationally oriented courses for pupils from the third year of secondary education onwards.

The school year, week and day are organised as at primary level. Each lesson normally lasts between forty and fifty-five minutes, but schools have considerable freedom to decide on the pattern of their own timetables.

3B.2 Curriculum

All secondary schools offer a similar range of subjects at each stage. The core subjects at each stage are the same but what is offered beyond the core is a matter for the school to decide. Pupils have different specialist teachers for different subjects. They may be taught as a whole class or in groups within the same class in order to differentiate teaching. Classes have no more than thirty pupils in earlier years, no more than twenty-five in later years. In certain practical subjects, e.g. science, the number of pupils is restricted to twenty.

The Scottish curriculum is not prescribed by law but advice on the curriculum of the secondary stage is given to all schools by the Learning & Teaching Scotland ( LTS) document 'Curriculum Design for the Secondary Stages'.

At lower secondary level, in the four years of compulsory education, the curriculum is divided into two stages, each lasting two years. The first two years (S1 and S2) provide a general education, following the national 5-14 guidelines. The aim of the 5-14 programme is to aid planning and sustain pupil progress and transfer from primary to secondary. The third and fourth years (S3 and S4) have elements of specialisation and of vocational education for all.

Schools are recommended through national guidance to design their curriculum for S3 and S4 using the following eight modes:

• language and communication
• mathematical studies and applications
• scientific studies and applications
• social and environmental studies
• technological activities and applications
• creative and aesthetic activities
• physical education
• religious and moral education

All subjects taught fall within the scope of one or other of the eight modes and every pupil should study at least one subject from each of them. Areas such as ICT, citizenship and international education are taught as cross-curricular themes.

In addition to the full 2-year courses in S3 and S4, schools are now able to offer a variety of short courses. The most common format for such courses is that of National Units leading to the award of National Qualifications by the Scottish Qualifications Authority ( SQA).

National Qualification unit courses can be used to complement the curriculum at S3/ S4 and are available in a wide range of subjects. SQC (formerly SCE) Short Courses have also been available since 1988. These are now available in 14 subject areas, the most popular of which are Religious and Moral Education and Creative and Aesthetic Studies. The SQC Short Courses are being replaced by National Units leading to the new National Qualifications brought in through the Higher Still programme. However, such Short Courses are being phased out from 2002 - entries for them will be accepted until 2004. Schools can also offer Short Courses which they have devised themselves but which do not lead to national certification.

3B.3 Assessment/Certification

Pupils are subject to continuous assessment according to the internal procedures of each school and are promoted automatically to the next class.

In the first two years of lower secondary education ( S1/ S2) assessment is carried out in accordance with the national 5-14 guidelines. At the end of the four years of lower secondary education, pupils are eligible to receive the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (National Qualifications) from the Scottish Qualifications Authority ( SQA). This certificate, intended to be attainable by all pupils, is gained by external examination together with an element of assessment carried out by the school itself and moderated by the SQA.

The official certificate issued by the SQA sets out a pupil's achievement in National Qualifications courses and units which have been successfully completed. The school is responsible for carrying out the assessments of the work of pupils on these Short Courses but the SQA moderates school assessments to make sure that national standards are maintained.

The SQA also offers modules which can be taken by pupils in S3 and S4 and, if they complete them successfully, the pupils receive credit towards the National Certificate, which is a 'non-advanced' vocational qualification.

A National Record of Achievement ( NRA) was introduced in a pilot scheme in February 1991. It was a standard document for recording details of qualifications and learning experiences which would be recognisable by, and command wide acceptance from, employers throughout Great Britain and beyond. The NRA was replaced by a Progress File in secondary schools from session 1999-2000. It is also available to the post-school sector, including further education colleges, and for Skillseekers and New Deal training programmes. The Progress File helps users (of whom five different groups have been identified) to assess their own development; to consider what core skills they possess and how they might develop them further; to record their qualifications and their non-educational achievements; and to plan their careers.

The National Qualifications are available at five levels: Access, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Higher, and Advanced Higher. The Intermediate 1 and 2 levels are equivalent to Standard Grade General and Credit levels respectively, while the Advanced Higher level is equivalent to and has replaced the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies ( CSYS).

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework ( SCQF) is a framework which brings together all mainstream Scottish Qualifications. The SCQF builds on the Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer ( SCOTCAT) scheme, agreed by all Scottish higher education institutions and further education colleges in 1992. The SCQF is now being progressed under the partnership of the Scottish Executive, The Scottish Qualifications Authority ( SQA), The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education ( QAA) (Scottish Office), and Universities Scotland.

The framework currently incorporates all the mainstream Scottish qualifications from Access level to Doctorate level. This includes both academic and vocational qualifications provided in schools, colleges and higher education institutions. Scottish Vocational Qualifications ( SVQs) have been placed at various levels of the framework, and work continues on how to incorporate them fully by allocating credit points to them.

Qualifications in the framework are allocated credit points and placed in one of the 12 levels within the framework. Individual academic qualifications are credit-rated according to their "size" in terms of notional learning hours (1 credit point for each 10 hours of learner effort, assuming a 1200 hour learning year).

The SCQF is designed to make the Scottish qualifications system easier to understand for everyone, including employers, learners, and those involved in the provision of learning.
It demonstrates the relationships between qualifications. It allows learners to plan progress towards their learning and career goals. Since it allows the transfer of credits from one qualification towards another in relevant subjects it avoids repetition of learning.

Current and future SCQF developments include work in community learning and development, in Scotland's Colleges and Schools, in the social services and health sectors, working with Employers and the recognition of prior and experiential learning. The framework will continue to develop and expand to include other kinds of qualifications and learning.

3B.4 Progression/Guidance/Transition Arrangements

All pupils are admitted to secondary education from primary schools when they have completed seven years of primary education. There are no restrictions on entrance. Additionally, promotion from year to year is normally by age, i.e. pupils move on from stage to stage irrespective of their performance in any single year.

Secondary schools have a well-established system of guidance, with staff who are appointed to schools with the particular remit of offering personal, curricular and vocational advice to pupils. Schools have different ways of organising their guidance systems, but it is usually the case that a guidance teacher has responsibility for a particular group of pupils either for a year or for several years. Such guidance is particularly important at the major decision points when pupils have to make choices about which subjects to take and which to discard, for example at the end of S2, and again in S4 when they choose subjects for specialisation in upper secondary education or require advice about what they might do on leaving school at the statutory age.

3B.5 Teachers

All who wish to teach in publicly funded primary and secondary schools in Scotland are required to have undergone initial training and to hold a Teaching Qualification ( TQ) in order to be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS). Registration is a requirement before a teacher can be employed by an education authority.

A Teaching Qualification may be gained by one of three routes:

• To become a primary teacher or a secondary teacher of technology, physical education or music it is possible to take a 4-year course leading to a Bachelor of Education ( BEd) degree at one of seven teacher education institutions.
• To become a secondary teacher in certain subjects it is possible in some higher education institutions to take a combined degree which includes subject study, study of education and school experience.
• For those who already hold a university degree and wish to teach in either a primary or a secondary school, a one-year course for a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education ( PGCE), i.e. leading either to a Teaching Qualification (Primary) or a Teaching Qualification (Secondary), is offered by the teacher education institutions.

Entry qualifications to the 4-year course leading to the BEd degree and a Teaching Qualification (Primary Education) are similar to the general qualifications for entry to university in Scotland.

The Scottish Ministers, through the Scottish Executive Education Department ( SEED), control the training of teachers in Scotland in a number of ways. Approval by the Scottish Ministers is required for courses of training for teachers in schools. Guidelines are published by the SEED which lay down conditions under which that approval is given. Minimum entry requirements to teacher training are nationally prescribed and published annually in the Memorandum on Entry Requirements to Courses of Teacher Education in Scotland, which has the force of regulation.

Annually, the SEED undertakes a teacher workforce planning exercise which results in the Department offering guidance to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council ( SHEFC) on the minimum requirements for newly qualified teachers. The SHEFC is responsible for setting intakes to the different types of teacher training courses and for ensuring, through its funding allocations and in other ways, that these minimum requirements are not exceeded.

The Scottish Ministers receive advice on teacher education from the General Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS), a statutory body of which the majority of members are elected by the teaching profession. The GTCS maintains a register of teachers in Scotland who are permitted to teach in publicly funded schools and no teacher may teach in such a school without registration.

Teachers who have achieved the Teaching Qualification ( TQ) are provisionally registered with the general Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS). (This is essential for anyone wishing to teach in a local authority school.) Full registration then follows a period of probation and assessment.

From August 2002, all newly qualified teachers, who have trained at a Scottish university and have been assessed as a 'home student' have had access to a training post for one school year immediately following qualification. This is called the Teacher Induction Scheme. The training post will have a maximum class commitment of 0.7 Full Time Equivalent ( FTE), with the remaining 0.3 available for professional development. Each trainee will have access to a nominated induction tutor to provide advice, support and guidance. To become fully registered, probationers will have to meet the standards set out in the Standard for Full Registration ( SFR).

Schoolteachers in the public sector in Scotland are appointed and employed by the local authorities. However, their conditions of service are negotiated at the national level by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers ( SNCT), a tripartite body comprising membership from the local authority employers, representatives from the teacher organisations and the Scottish Executive Education Department.

The Scottish Executive has created a new framework for the continuous professional development of teachers. Under the agreement 'A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century', 35 hours of continuous professional development ( CPD) per annum has been introduced as a maximum for all teachers. The time is to be spent on an appropriate balance of personal professional development, attendance at nationally accredited courses, small-scale school-based activities or other CPD activity.

From August 2004, the maximum class contact time is 23.5 hours in primary and secondary schools and 22.5 hours in special schools and units. Working hours will gradually be amended so that by 2006, in all school sectors, all teachers will work a 35-hour week, with no more than 22.5 hours of class contact time.

The difference between the maximum class contact time and the 35 hour working week is made up of a 30 % allowance of time for work relevant to individual teaching duties, including preparation and correction of pupils' work.

3B.6 Statistics

Statistics for compulsory and post-compulsory secondary schools ( SEED, September 2002):

Further and more detailed statistics to those given here are available on the Scottish Executive web site at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats.

Publicly Funded Secondary Schools (September 2003)

Independent ( i.e. Private) Secondary Schools (September 2003)

Statistics for initial training of teachers (2002-2003) for compulsory and post-compulsory secondary school teaching:

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