Annual Report and Accounts 2025 - 2026

Performance report

Chief Executive’s Statement

Welcome to Education Scotland’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2025–26. I was appointed Chief Executive at the end of April 2026, following a year in which the organisation was led by three Interim Chief Executive Officers. Each provided valued leadership and stability during an important and complex phase of reform. I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to them for their professionalism, commitment and stewardship of the organisation. Despite leadership change, Education Scotland has continued to deliver with focus and purpose, maintaining momentum and supporting colleagues and partners across the education system which you will see from this Annual Report and Accounts.

I am grateful for the opportunity to lead Education Scotland at this pivotal point. My professional experience has been rooted in leading systems transformation, with a strong focus on achieving sustained improvement and meaningful impact. Education Scotland now operates with a clear and focused remit as Scotland’s curriculum agency, and I am confident in our capacity to deliver positive outcomes for learners, educators and the wider system in the years ahead.

This reporting year has been characterised by continued educational and public service reform, a challenging financial environment, and organisational transition. During the year, preparation for the separation of Education Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education in Scotland (HMIE) was intensive. The two organisations formally separated into two distinct public bodies on 1st April 2026. Throughout this period of change, our focus has remained on embedding reform, enhancing our leadership role in curriculum design and improvement through our work with practitioners, and ensuring governance and assurance arrangements remain robust and effective.

Our Annual Action Plan for 2025–26 provided a clear connection between an intensive phase of reform and the development of our Corporate Plan for 2026–31. It ensured continuity of delivery while allowing the organisation to respond flexibly to emerging priorities and risks. Despite significant organisational change, Education Scotland made strong progress against its strategic priorities during the year, with all five priorities either achieved or progressing well overall.

At the core of our work is the Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC), which is now live across all curriculum areas. More than 1,500 practitioners were actively involved in co‑creating curriculum frameworks over the year, ensuring that refreshed guidance is firmly grounded in professional expertise, evidence and classroom practice. This practitioner‑informed approach is strengthening system coherence, professional confidence and shared ownership, and it will continue to underpin implementation planning in the period ahead.

Professional learning and leadership remain central drivers of system improvement. During 2025–26, our professional learning offer supported approximately 3,500 meaningful interactions with educators, with almost 1,200 participants completing programmes. Evaluation evidence demonstrates strong impact, with almost all participants reporting a clear intention to apply learning in practice. In addition, the national Into Headship programme was unconditionally reaccredited by the General Teaching Council for Scotland, reaffirming its importance in sustaining leadership capacity across the education system.

We have continued to provide targeted support in priority areas including attendance, attainment, additional support needs, relationships and behaviour, and wellbeing. Our collaborative work with local authorities through a range of programmes demonstrates the contribution Education Scotland continues to make to system‑wide improvement. The launch of the Youth Voice Toolkit further reflects our commitment to children’s rights and meaningful participation, supporting practitioners to embed authentic youth voice across educational settings.

In March 2026, Ruth Binks was appointed as Chief Inspector of HMIE. Her experience and leadership continues to support the Inspectorate as it establishes itself as an independent organisation. We will continue to work constructively together as system leaders. Considering the significant change experienced by the Inspectorate during the year, inspection activity was strengthened across a wide range of settings, including joint inspections with the Care Inspectorate, and prison inspections.

As we enter 2026–27, Education Scotland is well positioned to build on the foundations laid during this reporting year. Our focus will increasingly shift towards supporting confident, system‑wide implementation of curriculum reform, underpinned by high‑quality professional learning and sustained collaboration with practitioners, partners, children and young people. Through our Corporate Plan for 2026–31, we will continue to set out how we will deliver excellence and equity for Scotland’s learners, while maintaining strong governance, careful risk management, financial sustainability and cyber resilience.

Finally, our people are central to everything we do. We recognise that sustained change has had a personal impact on colleagues across the organisation. While staff turnover has remained comparatively low, feedback from the Civil Service People Survey highlights areas we must improve. In response, we have begun work on a new People Plan to address these issues, and I will maintain personal oversight to ensure we make meaningful progress.

Donna McMaster
Chief Executive, Education Scotland