Seòmar agus comataidhean

Work to refresh guidance on the use of mobile phones in schools is underway. There have been high level discussions with local authority and school representatives as part of that process. The Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools, which includes a wide range of representative interests, including local authorities and others, will oversee the development of the refreshed guidance, which will be published in the Spring.

As announced in the statement to the Scottish Parliament on 12 December 2023, the Council of Deans agreed to reconvene their Initial Teacher Education (ITE) National Maths Group.

The first meeting of the reconvened group took place on 29 January 2024 and we understand that the Council of Deans will be communicating with members in due course about the timings and focus for future meetings.

The ITE Maths group will meet up to four times per year. An Education Scotland representative will be invited to each meeting. Contact details for the Council of Deans are available at: https://www.scde.ac.uk/contact-us/ .

Education Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government and as such there is regular engagement between Scottish Government and Education Scotland officials on a range of education matters. Senior Scottish Government officials will next meet the Interim Chief Executive of Education Scotland to discuss education on 28 February 2024.

We are working with local authorities on the infrastructure required to deliver our commitment to the expansion of free school meals.

The 2024-25 budget has made provision for £43m of capital funding for school infrastructure, in addition to the £10m of capital funding provided in 2023-24.

This will support the expansion to P6 & P7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, as part of our wider commitment to expansion.

The Scottish Government is providing a variety of ways for teachers and practitioners to feed into the design process, including working with the following stakeholder groups:

• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

• Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE)

• General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)

• Association of Directors of Education (ADES)

• Professional Associations and Trade Unions; including EIS, SSTA, NASUWT, SLS and AHDS.

• Scottish Government Strategic Board for Teacher Education

• Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS)

• National education bodies

• Early Learning and Childcare representatives

• Community Learning and Development representatives

As announced in the statement to the Scottish Parliament on 12 December 2023, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education has arranged for HM Inspectors to carry out a national thematic inspection of mathematics in 2024. The report from the thematic inspection will be published in autumn 2024.

HM Inspectors have recently written to local authorities to outline the approach that they will take for this national thematic inspection.

The final thematic report will be developed by HM Inspectors and will be published on the Education Scotland website and shared with schools and local authorities. The document will summarise the findings of HM Inspectors and highlight what is working well, and what needs to improve.

No individual has been or will be, invited to lead the maths curriculum review by Scottish Government. The appointment of a national maths specialist will be open and transparent, following established Scottish Government recruitment procedures.

As announced in the statement to the Scottish Parliament on 12 December 2023, the review of the maths curriculum framework will begin this year (2024), with a revised maths curriculum to be tested with teachers before the end of the year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23510 on 19 December 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The initiation of a systematic curriculum improvement cycle was announced on 12 December 2023, however the background to the cycle stems from the OECD 2021 report “Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future” and its specific recommendation for Scotland to "develop a systematic approach to curriculum review” which was accepted by Scottish Government.

Since then, the Curriculum and Assessment Board, which includes a range of stakeholders including Education Scotland, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland, leading academics, and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, has already considered and offered views on a range of papers in relation to taking forward a systematic curriculum review cycle in Scotland. Papers were informed by a rapid evidence review supported by the OECD, which looked at international best practice.

In updating the curriculum framework, we will harness the expertise and insights of our teachers, practitioners and subject specialists amongst others. In determining how best to do that, in early 2023 Education Scotland began a number of different curriculum review pilots to test out different approaches, reporting into the Curriculum and Assessment Board.

A wide range of stakeholders will be involved in taking forward each substantive curriculum improvement cycle, in particular teachers, practitioners and subject leads across Scotland, the Curriculum and Assessment Board and the organisations represented on it.