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Scottish education reforms announced
The Scottish executive has unveiled the most radical school reforms "in a generation".
Education minister Peter Peacock said 12 main measures that form part of wider reforms aimed would improve the education system north of the border.
The measures are mainly targeted at secondary schools and include a new three to 18 curriculum and more flexibility in the exam system.
Announcing the reforms Peacock said: "This package, the most comprehensive modernisation programme in our schools for a generation, is about immediate action to deliver improvement.
"Action that will deliver a more exciting education for pupils; action for parents who want their children to have more choice; action to give teachers and headteachers more freedoms; action for the economy by giving employers and young people the skills they need.
"And action that delivers for Scotland an ever improving education system that is competitive on the world stage.
"These reforms will create ambitious, confident Scots who can help build stronger communities and grow the economy. They are another achievement for devolution in Scotland."
Reaction
Graham Donaldson, senior chief inspector at Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, said that plans to extend the inspection scale so to recognise excellence "is the next logical step in what we're doing".
Iain McMillan, director of CBI Scotland and a member of the curriculum review group, said the new 3-18 curriculum would mean that young people are far more stimulated by what and how they learn.
"This is good for young people but also for employers, particularly as some time in the new curriculum will be freed up to learn about the world of work and enterprise," he added.
SNP criticism
However shadow education minister Fiona Hyslop labelled the document "a failure" and said it was a wasted opportunity.
"The glaring omission in these proposals is the failure to champion the raising of standards for all," she said.
"There are welcome changes but these will impact at the margins for a relatively small number of pupils whereas what we need are measures to provide a national impetus to realise national ambitions for education.
"The minister is playing catch up in professional and cross party thinking as these changes are implementing some of the recommendations in the last parliament's education committee report and the outcome of the national debate on education.
"The review is welcome and some of the proposals in the document are exactly what the SNP has been calling for, but it is not revolutionary by any means. This document, which was to change Scottish education completely, shows much in the way of setting targets to set targets, the policy equivalent of talks about talks.
"We have to question where all the resources to ensure these freedoms are coming from. There are new pressures being put on teaching staff by these new developments and the 53,000 new teachers are again touted as the solution, but these new teachers are already earmarked for reducing class sizes in primary schools and in Maths and English in secondary schools as well as being the experts across the primary-secondary divide."
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