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1 BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION
Introduction
1.1 This report presents the findings of the public consultation on the next generation of National Qualifications in Scotland. The Scottish Government launched the written consultation on 10 June 2008 and it ran until 31 October 2008. Ipsos MORI was commissioned to undertake:
- an analysis of the consultation responses;
- qualitative research in order to gather informed views of a range of key stakeholders. This involved focus groups and depth interviews with parents, pupils, teachers, headteachers, college students and lecturers and employers;
- an analysis of discussions from 5 national stakeholder consultation events, held across Scotland.
Background
1.2 Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) was launched in 2004 with the aim of improving the educational outcomes for all children and young people aged 3-18. Among its aims are to provide a framework for young people to gain the skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work that are fundamental in preparing them for life after formal education. CfE is designed to be a coherent and inclusive curriculum that will enable Scotland's young people to become successful learners, effective contributors, responsible citizens and confident individuals.
1.3 In Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education ( HMIE) 2006 report Improving Scottish Education2 it was stated that "Scottish education does many things well and some things particularly well". However, it also highlighted some areas for improvement. In particular, it was suggested of young people that "too many do not develop sufficiently the competences, capabilities and values which are vital for the future success and well-being of both themselves and Scotland as a whole." A 2007 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD), Quality and Equity of Schooling in Scotland3, also identified the strengths of the Scottish education system but raised concerns about inequalities in the system. In particular, that too many young people are leaving secondary education with minimal or no qualifications.
1.4 In response to these challenges, the Scottish Government wants to create a qualifications system that reflects the values, purposes and principles of Curriculum for Excellence: a flexible system that offers pupils of all abilities a route to progress into the next stage of their life.
1.5 In order to inform this system, the consultation on the next generation of National Qualifications was launched in June 2008 and covered four main proposals:
- Access, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications will be retained as points of stability and all National Qualifications will be reviewed in line with CfE;
- a new qualification will replace Standard Grade General and Credit and Intermediate 1 and 2 ( SCQF 4 and SCQF 5) qualifications, reflecting the best of both;
- new awards in literacy and in numeracy will be available at SCQF levels 3 to 5;
- increased flexibility to better meet the needs of young people.
1.6 After a competitive tendering process, Ipsos MORI was commissioned to analyse the responses to the consultation, conduct and analyse the qualitative research, sample findings from consultation events and to synthesise the evidence from all strands into this report.
1.7 The following chapter describes the consultation strands in detail. Subsequent chapters comprise an in depth analysis of the findings for each proposal in the order they appear in the consultation document. Appendix 1 provides summary tables of responses to each consultation question, Appendix 2 is a list of the organisations and individuals that were sent a copy of the consultation document and Appendix 3 is an example of a topic guide used in the qualitative research.
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