27.08.08 Education factfinders focus on impressive Scottish system

Education experts from Australia and Denmark are visiting Scotland this week to find out what makes this country's education system one of the world's best performing.

A delegation of MPs from the state of Victoria in Australia will be meeting with Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, as part of a comprehensive schedule today.

Tomorrow, a group of 12 MPs from the Danish Parliament's Education Committee will also meet with Ms Hyslop as part of a four-day visit to Scotland.

Scotland's recognition by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as having one of the best performing education systems among OECD countries is what has prompted the Australian delegation to visit and they are aiming to learn about the policies and programmes that contribute to this success. Australia is a key country for international benchmarking and engagement purposes, with Victoria being a key state of Australia in education policy and performance terms.

Ms Hyslop said:

"We are delighted to receive this delegation as Victoria is one of the key states we have identified for ongoing engagement in education via our new Education and Lifelong Learning international engagement plan.

"We have a lot to share and compare, particularly on curricular reform, and I look forward to these discussions."

Talks with the Danish delegation will centre on how that country responded to a review of their education system by the OECD four years ago. Denmark has recently undertaken wide-ranging changes to its education system, similar to those being consulted on and introduced in Scotland.

Ms Hyslop said:

"We are delighted to receive this high level delegation from Denmark. We have both opened up our education systems to expert external evaluation by the OECD and have benefited from the quality of their insights and analysis. We will be reporting back to the OECD Education Policy Committee on how we respond to the review in a few years time so are interested to hear how the Danish authorities have responded to their review and found the whole experience."

The delegations will also visit the offices of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC Scotland).

GTC Scotland Chief Executive, Matthew MacIver said:

"We are pleased to welcome the delegations from Australia and Denmark to the GTC Scotland.

"We receive regular enquiries from abroad about our work and in particular the Teacher Induction Scheme which was recently described as 'world class' in an OECD report.

"This is a further endorsement of Scottish education and the standards that the GTC Scotland, as the regulatory body for teachers in Scotland, strives to uphold."

Further Information

• The OECD review of the quality and equity of Schooling in Scotland was carried out by a team led by Richard Teese, professor of Post-Compulsory Education and Training and director of the Centre for Post-Compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of Melbourne.
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report (external website) was published in December 2007 with the following key findings:

Key Strengths

• Scotland is a well-schooled nation by international standards
• Scotland performs at consistently high standard in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
• quality of Head teachers in Scotland
• an impressive system of near-universal and high-quality pre-school education
• the greatest strength of Scottish schooling is its primary schools
• the 2001 teachers' agreement, with its impact on morale and interest in the profession through improved salary and working conditions, and continuous professional development
• the renovation of our schools
• our approach to teacher induction, described as world class in the review

Key Challenges

• the need to reduce the achievement gap that opens up about Primary 5 and continues to widen throughout the lower secondary years;
• the fact that young people from poorer communities and low socio-economic status homes are more likely than others to achieve less
• the need to build on our strong platform of basic education through socially broader and more successful participation in upper secondary education and greater equity in Scottish higher education
• inequalities in staying-on rates, participation at different academic levels of national courses and pass rates
• the number of young people leaving school with minimal qualifications and the comparatively high proportion who find themselves in 'precarious transition'

For further information about this release please contact: Aileen Easton on 0131 244 2972