Educational reform – Scottish style!

The government in Scotland has made education their defining mission, setting out a clear framework for improvement based on four key aims as articulated in the National Improvement Framework (2015). One improvement driver is Assessing Children’s Progress. This new approach to assessment has been developed to integrate curriculum, assessment (particularly classroom assessment) and pedagogy. Teacher professional judgement has been central to this, and national initiatives have focused on supporting and strengthening it. In this context, the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) was launched in 2017, and is a national assessment tool to support improvement in classroom practice while still providing local and national oversight. This innovative approach to national assessments has started well; however, it has also drawn criticism from those inclined to a more traditional form of national standardised assessments or none at all. Professor Andy Hargreaves (University of Boston) and member of the International Council of Education Advisers to Scotland recently commented ‘I think that the solution that is being tried here is different. It involves asking how we use large-scale assessments to inform teachers’ professional judgement … Scotland is at the leading edge in that regard. It is good that you are watching the world, but the world is watching you.’