United Kingdom/Scotland

by Giles Pepler, Sero

Scotland in a nutshell

Scotland has a population of just over 5 million - thus it is comparable in population with many smaller European countries. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh.

Scotland has always been the most independent of the four home unions and, under the ruling Scottish National Party, it is gradually moving towards full independence. The party is committed to holding a referendum on this in the near future.

The population in Scotland is sparsely distributed, especially in the northern part of the country, the Highlands and Islands. As such, one might expect online education to be particularly desirable and more highly evolved. It is therefore surprising that the scarcity of population is matched by a scarcity of virtual schools.

For more details on Scotland see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland

Education in Scotland

Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from other parts of the United Kingdom. The Scotland Act 1998 gives Scottish Parliament legislative control over all education matters, and the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 is the principal legislation governing education in Scotland.

Traditionally, the Scottish system at secondary school level has emphasized breadth across a range of subjects, while the English, Welsh and Northern Irish systems have emphasised greater depth of education over a smaller range of subjects.

Following this, Scottish universities generally have courses a year longer (typically 4 years) than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK, though it is often possible for students to take more advanced specialised exams and join the courses at the second year. One unique aspect is that the ancient universities of Scotland issue a Master of Arts as the first degree in humanities.

The majority of schools are non-denominational, but as a result of the Education Act 1918, separate denominational state schools were also established. The vast majority of denominational state schools are Roman Catholic but there are also a number of Scottish Episcopal schools. Catholic schools are fully funded by the Scottish Government and administered by the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate. There are specific legal provisions to ensure the promotion of a Catholic ethos in such schools: applicants for positions in the areas of Religious Education, Guidance or Senior Management must be approved by the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, which also appoints a chaplain to each of its schools. There is also one Jewish state primary school.

Qualifications at the secondary school and post-secondary (further education) level are provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, which is the national awarding and accrediting body in Scotland, and delivered through various schools, colleges and other centres. Political responsibility for education at all levels is vested in the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Education and Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Departments.

State schools are owned and operated by the local authorities which act as Education Authorities, and the compulsory phase is divided into primary school and secondary school (often called high school). Schools are supported in delivering the National Guidelines and National Priorities by Learning and Teaching Scotland.

Inspections and audits of educational standards are conducted by three bodies: Care Commission inspects care standards in pre-school provision; Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education or HMIE for pre-school, primary, education, further and community education; with the Scottish office of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA Scotland) responsible for higher education.

Schools in Scotland

In 2010 there were 92,030 children in 2,586 pre-schools, 365,326 pupils in 2,099 primary schools, 301,014 pupils in 376 secondary schools and 6,800 pupils in 163 special schools. The proportion of pupils in special schools continues to be about one per cent, with approximately 1.2 per cent of pupils spending all or most of their time in special schools or classes. There is a decreasing trend in the number of schools and pupils since the period shown (2003), with pupil numbers having fallen by a further 0.5 per cent since 2009.The total number of teachers in all sectors or visiting specialists was 52,188, which is 796 fewer than the 2009 figure of 52,984. The pupil teacher ratio in schools increased from 13.2 in 2009 to 13.3 in 2010. Full statistical tables can be found at School Education Statistics

Pupils usually start primary school at age five, although there are some younger pupils. They attend primary school for seven years and are usually 11 or 12 when they start high school. They can leave school after turning 16: this is usually after fourth year. However, many children choose to stay on to complete fifth and sixth year. In Scotland, pupils sit Standard Grades instead of GCSEs and Highers instead of A levels.

There are 376 state secondary schools. There is not a set name for secondary schools in Scotland, but whatever they might be called, with just a few specific exceptions in mainly rural or island authorities, they are all fully-comprehensive non-selective state secondary schools. Amongst the state-run secondary schools:

• 188 are nominally High Schools: these are spread across the country
• 131 are nominally Academies, spread across the country but are in high concentration in North-East Scotland and Ayrshire. There are also three Royal Academies, in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Tain and Inverness
• 15 are nominally Secondary Schools (colloquially abbreviated to "secondaries")
• 14 are nominally Grammar Schools. Most of these schools were defined as grammar schools under a previous (now dissolved) system but their names remain. Popular areas for grammar schools are Argyll and Bute, East Lothian and South Lanarkshire
• 13 are simply Schools. These schools cater for Primary as well as Secondary school children. They are found in rural areas or islands
• 8 are Junior High Schools. These schools are found exclusively in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. They cater for school children from the first year of Primary (P1) to the fourth year of Secondary (S4)
• 3 are Colleges. These are Madras College (in St Andrews, Fife), Marr College (in Troon, South Ayrshire) and St Joseph's College (in Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway)

Other schools include The Community School of Auchterarder, Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross; The Nicolson Institute, Stornoway, Western Isles; North Walls Community School on Hoy, Orkney Islands and Wester Hailes Education Centre, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh. All of these are, equally, fully comprehensive non-selective schools, differing only in designation from all other state secondary schools in Scotland.

Further and Higher education

Universities in Scotland

Higher Education in Scotland is overseen by Scottish Funding Council (SFC). This allocates resources for teaching and learning, research and other activities in Scotland's colleges and universities in support of the Scottish government's priorities.

Scotland has fourteen campus-based universities, and in addition the Open University in Scotland, one college of higher education, two art schools, one conservatoire, and the Scottish Agricultural College. (Data from Universities Scotland - see also their Facts and Figures report.)

Higher Education in Scotland is also delivered via almost all of the further education colleges.

There are two universities (University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University) who have been involved in the Higher Education Academy Benchmarking programme. This might be thought to be a rather small number (e.g. compared with Wales) - however seven Scottish universities have set up the Scottish Benchmarking Group, with a little support from the Higher Education Academy, to carry out collaborative activities related to benchmarking: the universities involved are Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian, Paisley. Stirling and Strathclyde.

For a list of universities in Scotland (current as at April 2013) see Category:Universities in Scotland

Polytechnics in Scotland

There are no designated Polytechnics: However, some of the newer universities have evolved from polytechnic status.

Colleges in Scotland

Post-16 education in Scotland is also overseen by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

There are 43 FE colleges in Scotland whose locations are mapped on the Scottish Funding Council website, including eight which are partners in the University of the Highlands and Islands. As with English FE colleges, there has been a trend over the past twenty years for smaller colleges to merge and form larger organisations: the most recent merger has been the formation in 2010 of the City of Glasgow College, formed from Central College, Glasgow (no. 11 on the linked map), Glasgow College of Nautical Studies (20) and Glasgow Metropolitan College (21) merged in 2010 to form The City of Glasgow College.

Nine of the colleges work alongside the University of the Highlands and Islands:

1. Perth College
2. Lews Castle College
3. Orkney College
4. Shetland College
5. Inverness College
6. Moray College
7. North Highland College
8. Argyll College
9. West Highland College

All of the colleges, with the sole exception of Newbattle Abbey College - a college of adult education - offer higher education programmes as well as vocational training.

For a complete list of colleges in Scotland see All colleges in Scotland - and also Category:Colleges in Scotland - each college has an entry on the wiki.

Further mergers are currently (April 2013) in progress - see individual college entries for details.

Education reform

Curriculum for Excellence is the emerging new 3-18 curriculum for Scotland's public education system. It has been under development since 2002 and the development process has involved substantial and continued engagement with teachers and practitioners.

It has built upon the existing good practice across all sectors of Scottish education and takes account of research and international comparisons. It recognises the professionalism of teachers and the importance of this in exercising the freedom and responsibility associated with broader guidance.

The curriculum is being implemented by four partner organisations; Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS), Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) and the Scottish Government.

The curriculum phase of the Curriculum for Excellence Programme has now been implemented. The Programme will continue until 2016 when the implementation of the new qualifications, which are being developed by SQA, is completed.

Schools

The Learning and Teaching Scotland website - renamed Education Scotland from July 2011 gives details of the Scottish secondary curriculum.

New National Qualifications called National 4 and National 5 will be introduced. They will replace a number of current National Qualifications – Standard Grade General, Standard Grade Credit, Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2. Standard Grade Foundation will be replaced by the updated Access 3. Revisions will also be made to the current Access 1, Access 2, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications.

The new qualifications will be phased in between session 2013/14 and session 2015/16, with the new curriculum introduced to S1 pupils from 2010/11. The new National 4 and National 5 qualifications will be introduced in 2013/14, as will the new Access qualifications. The new Higher will follow in 2014/15 while the new Advanced Higher will be available from 2015/16 onwards.

The last certification of Standard Grade qualifications will be in 2013/14; Access 1-3, National 4 and National 5 will be ‘dual run’ alongside Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 in 2014/15. The new Higher will be introduced and ‘dual run’ alongside current Higher, Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 in 2015/16 .

Literacy and Numeracy Units will be available as freestanding Units at SCQF levels 3, 4 and 5. These Units will also be available to adult learners. There will be mandatory Units in Access 3 and National 4 English and Mathematics Courses and National 5 Lifeskills Mathematics. At National 5, some, but not all, literacy and numeracy skills will be included within English and Mathematics Courses. These skills will not be separately certificated by SQA.

Post-secondary

The main further education qualification framework is provided by SVQs (Scottish Vocational Qualifications). These are parallel to English NVQs and are managed by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) which is the national accreditation and awarding body for Scotland, covering both secondary school and FE courses. SQA’s functions are set out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 as amended by the Scottish Qualifications Act 2002.

The organisation has two main roles: accreditation, and awarding qualifications.

SQA Accreditation:

• authorises all vocational qualifications delivered in Scotland (other than degrees)
• approves education and training establishments which plan to enter people for these qualifications

SQA Awarding Body:

• devises and develops qualifications
• validates qualifications (makes sure they are well written and meet the needs of learners and tutors)
• reviews qualifications to ensure they are up to date
• arranges for, assists in, and carries out, the assessment of people taking SQA qualifications
• quality-assures education and training establishments which offer SQA qualifications
• issues certificates to candidates

Within these roles SQA offers a range of services for businesses and training providers, ranging from course and centre approval through customised awards, to endorsement, credit rating and licensing services.

Administration and finance

In contrast to the rest of the UK, university tuition fees were abolished in 2000 for students living in Scotland and the rest of the EU (but not the rest of the UK). Students who fulfil the residency criteria and are studying in a full-time higher education course at a Scottish university or college do not pay tuition fees. The tuition fees rate is currently set at £1,775 but the Scottish government pays this to the college or university directly. Exemption from tuition fees is not linked to how much money students have.

Schools

Schools currently receive individual budgets annually from the Scottish Government through local authorities, calculated using formulae based on a range of variables to reflect the age range and situation of the school. Guidance is offered on devolved school management of their finances.

Gross revenue expenditure for 2008-09 was:

• Pre-primary education: £3.19 million
• Primary schools: £1.79 billion
• Secondary schools: £2.02 billion
• Special education: £5.09 million
• Other expenditure: £2.29 million
• Total expenditure: £4.87 billion

Followng a report commissioned by the Scottish Government it is likely that some changes will be made. Changes are likely to include:

• cluster level management of budgets, to enable groups of schools - such as primary and secondary schools which share a catchment area - to manage their budgets together. These clusters should also be able to determine their own management structure
• a national formula for the distribution of money to schools
• revisions to the current guidance on devolved school management to set out the roles and responsibilities of schools, local authorities and national government, with new guidance to make sure that schools have more consistent autonomy to manage the budgets that are central to fulfilling their role
• schools should not have to deal with budgets over which they cannot exercise control
• school budgets should be expressed as a cash sum
• schools should receive three year budgets aligned to school improvement plans

Post-secondary

Funding for colleges and higher education is allocated by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and administered by the Council. The total allocated to colleges in 2011-12 is £545 million by SFC. College allocations are split into two main categories: general funding and strategic funding. General funding includes recurrent teaching grant, fee waiver grant and student support grant. Further Education (FE) Funding is responsible for managing these elements of the general funding category.

The main teaching grant (£421.0 million) is allocated on the basis of activity to which a standard unit price is attached. Any fees that colleges are assumed to earn are removed from this process, and the grant is enhanced to recognise additional costs such as entry costs, social inclusion, remoteness and achievement costs.

The SFC also allocates funds to influence the geographical supply of education. This includes providing additional funding to the central region, the south region, the west highlands, Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire.

Full-time FE education is free to those deemed legally resident. It is also free to students on discrete courses or who are on certain benefits such as DLA, incapacity benefit etc. Part-time FE education is means tested. Once colleges have submitted their final data, SFC will aim to settle the cost of fee waivers in full or claw back any unused funds.

The student support allocations consist of £78.7 million for bursary support and £16.9 million for FE discretionary funds and childcare funds. Bursary funds are allocated on the basis of previous spend behaviour. The other funds are allocated according to student activity, headcount and deprivation. There is an emphasis towards part-time students in the childcare fund allocations. SFC runs an in-year redistribution process to direct the funds to where they are most needed; this includes colleges giving up funds and clawbacks from previous years.

Quality assurance

HMIE [HM Inspectorate of Education] is responsible for inspecting all non-university education provision, including schools and colleges. The Inspection section of the Education Scotland website describes the basis and process of inspection as follows:

• Having all learners or users at the heart of inspection and review
• Independence, impartiality and accountability
• Improvement and capacity-building
• Building on self-evaluation
• Observing practice and experiences directly: focusing on outcomes and impact
• Transparency and mutual respect
• Partnership working with the users of HMIE services and other providers/scrutiny bodies
• Proportionality, responsiveness and assessment of risk
• Best value
• Equality and diversity

Schools

The recently completed inspection cycle covered every local authority primary school over a seven year period and every local authority secondary school over a six year period. This has been followed by annual inspections of a sample of 400 schools each year, to provide a national overview of the quality of school education in Scotland. The HMIE website [now part of Education Scotland] gives detailed guidance for inspection at all levels: pre-school [1]; primary schools [2]; secondary schools [3]; special schools [4]; independent schools [5].

The inspection framework for schools is likely to be revised in 2011, following a review: [6]. Potential changes would involve:

• a smaller, but representative, sample of schools inspected each year
• an annual process of 'risk assessment'
• spreading observation of teaching and learning across the whole school, rather than concentrating on four subject departments
• increasing consultation with parents
• increasing consultation with staff
• online reporting
• shorter notice periods

Post-secondary

The current (2008-2012) framework for college inspections is described in [[7]]. The Quality Framework addresses four high level questions, arrnged under three key principles:

High Quality Learning

• How well are learners progressing and achieving relevant, high quality outcomes?
• How effective are the college's learning and teaching processes?

Learner engagement

• How well are learners engaged in enhancing their own learning and the life and work of the college?

Quality Culture

• How well is the college led and how well is it enhancing the quality of its services for learners and other stakeholders?

ICT in education initiatives

Virtual initiatives in schools

SchoolsOutGlasgow.net

SchoolsOutGlasgow.net was an online learning project aimed at addressing the learning needs of pupils who do not, or cannot attend school regularly. It ran from around 2003 but is no longer running. The web site SchoolsOutGlasgow.net no longer exists. SchoolsOutGlasgow.net was a response by Glasgow City Council (GCC) to the specific learning needs of pupils who do not, or can not, attend schools regularly. Interrupted learning has generally been associated with marked underachievement and a subsequent reduction in life chances, little access to job opportunities and a reduced likelihood of participation in life-long learning initiatives. The project, thus, could be seen as a move to ensure equality of opportunity in learning for some of the most vulnerable learners within the present construct of school education. It was, however, only one in a range of support for learning initiatives within GCC.

Glow

GLOW is moving towards a virtual campus. However, the platform is now outdated and much criticised and there is no sign of a new one emerging.

There is a linked initiative by North Ayrshire Council at [8] - the website is still available, but inactive as the initiative ran out of money.

SCHOLAR

SCHOLAR is currently the most significant development in online learning, although it uses the GLOW platform, so its use is limited. At present Lews Castle College, part of UHIMI is developing a range of study units for SCHOLAR for students who have completed their Advanced Highers, aimed at facilitating the transition from school to university study.

Education Scotland

Education Scotland provides online resources for all curriculum areas, including Early Years (pre Primary) and Special Needs.

National Qualifications Online

NQ Online supports learning and teaching in Scotland's secondary schools and further education colleges. It includes teaching and student packs on individual subjects, practical activities for the classroom, specimen exam questions, sample projects and management advice.

Highland Virtual Learning Community

Highland Virtual Learning Community provides a wide range of online resources and links for Primary and Secondary school pupils and teachers, but does not provide direct teaching.

Schoolhouse Home Education Association

Schoolhouse Home Education Association provides support and information for parents, carers and young people who are learning at home rather than school. It also offers links to subject-specific online resources in Art, English, Environment, Ecology, Nature, Film, Geography, History, Languages, Maths, Music, Science and other subjects. It does, however, acknowledge that it is difficult to take Standard Grades or Highers as an external candidate. It suggests GCSEs and A levels as an option, as well as vocational qualifications or the International Baccalaureate.

The Scottish Government The Scottish Government provides guidance to parents and local authorities on home education. Besides Schoolhouse, it also recommends the England-based 'Education Otherwise' (http://www.educationotherwise.net/)

Virtual initiatives in post-secondary education

The Re.ViCa wiki explores recent virtual campuses in higher education in detail [[9]]. Within Scotland, four universities are cited as beingknown for large-scale e-learning implementation or significant activity (including research) related to this: University of Edinburgh; Heriot-Watt University; Robert Gordon University; and the University of Strathclyde. These universities include some provision at further education level, usually linked to one or more of Scotland's colleges.

Linking further and higher education the major developments in virtual campuses have been led by the University of the Highlands and Islands [10]. In 2011, this gained full university status, having started life as UHIMI - the Unoversity of the Highlands and Islands Millenium Institute in the 1990s - the history of the project, and its transition into a full university is given on the University website at [11]. UHIMI, with its headquarters at Inverness, developed from eight FE colleges: Inverness College; Lews Castle College; Moray College; North Highland College; Orkney College; Perth College; the Gaelic language college of Sabhal Mor Ostaig; and Shetland College. Both FE and HE courses in all these colleges are available online, largely using videoconferencing for delivery, with learners frequently drawn from more than three colleges. All of them have physical bases, both main college campuses and numerous small outreach stations in the more remote locations of the highlands and islands. Tutorial support is provided both on a virtual and face-to-face basis.

Virtual colleges

Interactive Design Institute

The Interactive Design Institute - IDI - is a distance learning provider of online qualifications in Art and Design. It was established in 2004 to offer on-line courses in Art and Design to UK and international students. IDI is a Collaborative Partner of the University of Hertfordshire. It has enrolled students from over 47 countries. Its aim is to establish a global community of designers – students, educators and practitioners – who can share their creativity, ideas and experiences.

IDI offers a range of art and design courses up to and including Degree level.

IDI offers City & Guilds awards at levels 1 and 2 in Drawing and Painting, Creative Sketchbooks and Fashion Design and Illustration.

IDI is also approved by ABC Awards to offer the Level 3 Diploma in Foundation Studies (art, design and media) online. This qualification is the standard entry requirement for degree level study in art and design in UK colleges and universities.

IDI's degree level qualifications are awarded by the University of Hertfordshire. Subjects include:

• BA (Hons) Graphic Design BA (Hons) Product Design
• Dip (HE) Interior and Spatial Design Dip (HE) Illustration Dip (HE) Photography Dip (HE) Interactive Media Design

Colleges study

In 2007 the SFC commissioned Sero to produce a study of e-activity in Scotland's colleges - the full report is accessible from the SFC website archive and the project website can be found at [12]

Lessons learnt

General lessons

A distinctive feature of Scotland’s engagement with e-learning is its development of the ‘Glow’ platform for all schools and colleges. Like the South Yorkshire e-Learning Programme, this is an initiative designed to encourage the development of blended learning, using shared online resources in a traditional classroom setting. However, again like the SYeLP, its effectiveness has been hampered by a somewhat unwieldy platform. This may suggest that large-scale initiatives of this kind are doomed to failure because they are not small and agile enough to keep pace with new developments in software. The attempt to bring all online education into a single site to make it more accessible for all teachers is beginning to seem like a flawed concept. So, for the moment at least, developments in the use of e-learning seem likely to continue to be fragmented and motivated by enthusiastic individual teachers or schools.

New, smaller, more user-friendly developments may prove more effective. For example, Xtensis, which has provided the repository for NLN materials since the demise of BECTA, has now produced a platform called XtLearn (http://www.xtlearn.net/) where individual teachers can develop their own repository of favourite online resources. These can then be shared more widely with other teachers using the platform. An example collection of resources can be seen here: http://goo.gl/B7ISz

References

• Eurydice National system overview on education systems in Europe and ongoing reforms, October 2011
• Eurybase, The Information Database on Education Systems in Europe: The Education System in the United Kingdom - Scotland, 2009/10

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