Scottish education agencies to be replaced by 2024

Scotland's education and exams agencies are to be scrapped and replaced by the summer of 2024, MSPs have been told.

Ministers had already announced the Scottish Qualifications Authority would be broken up after a report said there was too much focus on exams in schools.

A new body is to be set up alongside a replacement for Education Scotland, and a separate school inspection agency.

The education secretary said there would be a "national discussion" about the future of education in Scotland.

Shirley-Anne Somerville told MSPs that the "significant" changes planned were designed to build trust in a schooling system which "needs to evolve and improve".

But opposition parties said the move was "spin" and a "rebranding of the SQA masquerading as serious change".

Ms Somerville originally announced that the SQA would be replaced in June 2021 as part of a "substantial" overhaul of education.

A report on senior education from the OECD had backed Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence as a whole, but said there was too much focus in senior years.

And a further report has now been drawn up by Professor Ken Muir, making recommendations for the future structure of education agencies - which ministers have agreed to accept.

This will include a new qualifications body - tentatively named Qualifications Scotland in reports, although this may change - as well as a replacement for Education Scotland.

The report recommends setting up these new bodies later in 2022, with the aim of having them fully operational by summer 2024.

Another separate agency is to be established to run school inspections, and legislation will need to be passed at Holyrood to set up all three.

Ms Somerville said: "These changes are significant and are designed to improve outcomes and build trust in Scotland's education system.

"Scottish education has much to be proud of, but the system needs to evolve and improve.

"Some changes will take time, but I do want to move through this agenda at pace, with operating models for new bodies in place by the end of this year."

Ms Somerville also promised that there would not be compulsory redundancies at the SQA or Education Scotland as a result of the restructuring.

A further report is expected in due course about the future of examinations more generally, with the government aiming to reform the assessment system following two years with no formal exams due to Covid-19.

The minister's statement was brought forward by a day after the government admitted having "inadvertently shared" details too early due to an "administrative error".

SQA chairman David Middleton said it was "extremely disappointing" that details of the report were leaked before staff at the authority were able to see it.

But he added: "We are pleased that the announcement recognises the strength and coherence in our broad range of functions and that much of these will stay together in a new qualifications body."

The Scottish Conservatives dismissed government's plans as "spin" and a rebranding exercise, saying the government had "frittered away another opportunity to fix our broken education system".

MSP Oliver Mundell said: "Pupils, teachers and parents were promised a new strategy, but it seems the SNP are only willing to commit to cosmetic changes, rather than addressing the failures at the heart of our education system."

Labour's Michael Marra called for the current SQA management to be removed by the end of the week, and to have no involvement in setting up the new bodies.

He said: "This cannot be a rebrand of the organisation, as it appears to be. As for the sorrowful lack of personal vision or ideas from this government, the new crowd-sourced vision for education joins the swollen ranks of reviews and working groups doomed to produce nothing."

Ms Somerville insisted that the changes were not a rebranding exercise, and said it would not be responsible to sack management seven weeks before this year's exams are due to begin.