MSPs vote down curriculum body proposals

MSPs have voted down Scottish Labour proposals to create a new public body to handle the country’s curriculum.

The Government’s Education (Scotland) Bill is set for a final vote on Wednesday, but in the consideration of amendments on Tuesday, Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy sought to create a new body – Curriculum Scotland – which would be tasked with devising what pupils should learn.

The body would also be given oversight of the development of teachers and staff, as well as being tasked with accrediting qualifications.

Ms Duncan-Glancy told MSPs the creation of the body would not increase costs on the Government, with funding, staffing and office space taken from Education Scotland.

Control over the curriculum, accreditation and improvement in education is “spread over too many bodies” which “do not always speak to each other”.

“The amendments in this group propose a remedy to this – Curriculum Scotland,” she said.

“A single, arms-length organisation that will steer what is taught, guarantee the standards of certificates that flow from that teaching and the continuous improvement of both.”

Responding to the Labour MSP, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said: “My decision to refocus Education Scotland, which I announced to Parliament in June of last year, was a fundamental step in realising the shared ambition in relation to education reform.

“The curriculum improvement cycle, as members will know, is also already under way, with Education Scotland leading that work with the teaching profession.

“When considering these amendments, I am thoughtful about the principle of legislating only when necessary and I ask members to keep that at the forefront of their minds for voting on these amendments.”

She added: “While I appreciate the intention behind these amendments, I cannot support them.

“I do not believe there are sufficient advantages to establishing a new standalone curriculum body in legislation and the expense that will incur, when we already have a national education agency being refocused on curriculum improvement and supporting implementation across the system.”

The amendment was defeated by 94 votes to 22.

Asked by Scottish Tory MSP Miles Briggs if creating such a body would require a standalone Bill rather than an amendment to an existing one, Ms Duncan-Glancy admitted it was not the “neatest opportunity to do this, but it is the only opportunity that we face”.

While fellow Scottish Tory MSP  Stephen Kerr said he understood the intentions behind the amendments, but added he did not think the plans were the right method of doing so.

The Bill will scrap the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and replace it with Qualifications Scotland, which would work alongside a re-tooled Education Scotland and a newly-created chief inspector of education – who would be tasked with inspecting nurseries, schools and colleges.

In an hours-long session at Holyrood, hundreds of amendments to the Bill were discussed by MSPs.

Ms Duncan-Glancy did not push another raft of changes – on the make-up of Qualifications Scotland’s strategic advisory council – she proposed to a vote after receiving assurances from Ms Gilruth on the group’s membership.

MSPs also backed a push for a review of the accreditation of qualifications in Scotland proposed by Scottish Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie.

Consideration of remaining amendments and a final vote on the Bill are scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon.