The report of an independent review (led by Peter Doran) set out a strategy for provision for children and young people with complex additional support needs in Scotland.
Source: The Right Help at the Right Time in the Right Place: Strategic review of learning provision for children and young people with complex additional support needs, Scottish Government
Links: Review report | Scottish Government response | Scottish Government press release | Capability Scotland press release | Children in Scotland press release | Cosla press release | NASUWT press release
Date: 2012-Nov
A commission report examined whether the school system in Scotland was meeting the present and future needs of young people. Scotland's schools offered a good and remarkably even quality of education: but their measured performance was 'not world leading'. Although Scotland had in place policies, such as Curriculum for Excellence, that potentially contained the seeds of significant improvement, it was not clear that it had developed the kind of change processes that would be required to deliver success.
Source: Commission on School Reform: Interim Report, Reform Scotland/Centre for Scottish Public Policy
Links: Report | Reform Scotland press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the divergent approaches in England, Scotland, and Wales towards raising schoolchildren's basic standards of competence. It considered whether the divergence reflected differences in social policy objectives, and/or different understandings of the best way to achieve them. Empirical findings pointed to a widening gap in educational attainments across the countries, and highlighted the critical situation in Scotland where test results had stagnated in the previous 10 years.
Source: Paola Mattei, 'Raising educational standards: national testing of pupils in the United Kingdom, 1988-2009', Policy Studies, Volume 33 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the association between substance misuse in schools and examination/truancy results, based on research in west Scotland. Contrary to the findings of previous studies, high value-added schools were associated with greater substance use prevalence. High value-added schools occurred throughout the socio-economic spectrum and ranges of exam results and truancy rates. Substance use in Scotland was more likely among disengaged students and those with poorer student-teacher relationships. Associations between value-added education and substance use were not mediated by pupils' perceptions of school ethos.
Source: Wolfgang Markham, Robert Young, Helen Sweeting, Patrick West, and Paul Aveyard, 'Does school ethos explain the relationship between value-added education and teenage substance use? A cohort study', Social Science & Medicine, Volume 75 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
Researchers found that the new 'curriculum for excellence' in Scotland was continuing to cause 'anxiety' among teachers, particularly in relation to assessment. Teachers broadly supported the principles of the new curriculum: but many were struggling to translate the new ideas into practice.
Source: Mark Priestley and Sarah Minty, Developing Curriculum for Excellence: Summary of findings from research undertaken in a Scottish local authority, School of Education, University of Stirling
Links: Report | NASUWT press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Apr
An article examined what the increase in resources directed at English universities arising from top-up fees meant for the relative funding of English and Scottish undergraduates. The apparent historical advantage in funding per head in Scottish institutions compared with English ones had been largely driven by compositional differences: Scotland had a high proportion of medical, science, and engineering undergraduates. The top-up fee introduced in 2006-07 brought funding per head in England to a level similar to that experienced in Scotland, and the future increase would result in funding per head in England outstripping that in Scotland by some magnitude.
Source: Lorraine Dearden, Alissa Goodman, and Gill Wyness, 'Higher education finance in the UK', Fiscal Studies, Volume 33 Issue 1, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
