8th May 2025
The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government sets out the Government’s plans for education in Scotland for 2025/2026. This focuses around getting ‘the ABCs of education right’ – attainment, attendance, behaviour and the curriculum. Key areas are:
Attainment
- Continuing to invest in the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme, aiming to reduce poverty-related attainment gaps in primary school
- Supporting recruitment, retention and training of educators with skills in additional support for learning (ASL), through local and national programmes
- Holding a data summit on additional support for learning, bringing together all local authorities to create recommendations for improving consistency of support at a local level
- Commissioning Enquire (the national advice and information service on ASL) to improve communication of key information to audiences to meet the needs of children with additional support needs
- Investing in local authorities to work to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels, freeze learning hours and reduce class contact time
- Working with teacher unions and COSLA to agree delivery of reduction in class contact time
- Beginning construction on six new school building projects, using the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP).
Behaviour
- Launching a national attendance campaign in Autumn 2025
- Publishing new national guidelines on the use of consequences as part of positive approaches to relationships and behaviour
- Supporting ‘Time for Inclusive Education’ including the Digital Discourse Initiative – this aims to equip children and young people to navigate digital media and counter impacts of disinformation and online hate
- Strengthen the approach to keeping children safe online, using a Ministerial Online Safety Taskforce to provide direction and identify approaches to protect children and young people
- Implement the Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Joint Action Plan 2024-27 with local authorities, reporting annually to Parliament.
Curriculum, qualifications and assessment
- Establishing Qualifications Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, subject to the Education (Scotland) Bill being passed. New measures are intended to ensure transparency and opportunities for involvement, aiming to restore trust for people taking and delivering qualifications, greater independence from government, and more public reporting on areas for improvement
- Establishing the Centre for Teaching Excellence, hosted by the University of Glasgow, and delivering its full offer to teachers in 2025, supporting teaching and learning to improve outcomes for children and young people
- Continuing the Curriculum Improvement Cycle
- Ensuring the removal of written exams in more practical subjects and piloting digital assessments from 2025/26, for a more balanced approach to assessment
- Working with Qualifications Scotland to support clearer learner pathways in the Senior Education Phase, with more flexible modular courses and a better, more inclusive education experience.
Connect looks forward to championing the voices of parents and carers as the Scottish Government works to deliver this Programme for Government.