The Scottish Government recently consulted on plans to set a legal minimum number of hours of school education school pupils should receive each year. This provision is already contained within the Education (Scotland) Act 2016 but has remained unenacted since the legislation came into force. Our response to the consultation focuses on the definition of learning hours and, more specifically, who should deliver them.
We raise the prospect of placing the definition of 'teacher' on a clearer statutory footing to give our communities the reassurance that responsibility for curriculum design, assessment and learning and teaching rests with those who are qualified to do so.
Professional Standards are embedded in the requirements we set for Scotland’s teaching profession for a reason, and our collective approach to providing quality education needs to take pride in these high standards and put checks and balances in place to ensure that system flexibility upholds them.
