The Scottish curriculum aims to ensure that all children develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to flourish in life, learning and work, both now and in the future, and to appreciate their place in the world.

​​​​The Scottish Government: National Improvement Framework (NIF) was established in 2015 and sets out the vision and priorities for Scottish Education. The vision for education in Scotland is: 

• Excellence through raising achievement and improving outcomes: ensuring that every child and young person achieves the highest standards in literacy and numeracy, as well as the values, attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary to shape a sustainable future as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors.
• Achieving equity: ensuring every child and young person has the same opportunity to succeed, no matter their background or shared protected characteristics, with a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap.

Key priorities of the National Improvement Framework

To deliver this vision, the priorities are as follows:

• Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education.
• Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing
• Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people
• Improvement in skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people.
• Improvement in achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy.

Key areas to improve outcomes

The following six key areas (known as drivers) continue to provide a focus to gather evidence and make further improvements:

• School and Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) leadership - focuses on the quality and impact of leadership within schools and early learning and childcare settings.
• Teacher and practitioner professionalism - focuses on teacher and practitioner professionalism in Scotland and the impact of their professional learning on children and young people’s progress and achievement.
• Parent/carer engagement and family learning - focuses on supporting parents to be involved in the wider life of their child’s setting and school.  It also aims to help engage parents and families in their child's and their own learning.
• Curriculum and assessment - considers a range of evidence on what children and young people learn and achieve throughout their education and how well this prepares them for life beyond school.
• School and ELC improvement - focuses on the quality of education in each school and early learning and childcare setting in Scotland.

• Performance information - brings together information and data to identify priorities and bring about improvement.

The Scottish Government reviews the National improvement Framework annually and publishes an Improvement Plan which is informed by priorities taken from the regional, local, and school level improvement plans. It is also informed by the data set out in the National Improvement Framework Interactive Evidence Report (NIFIER).

The School Information Dashboard represents a change to the way that school and national level information and data is presented through Parentzone Scotland. It brings together a wide range of information, previously featured on Parentzone Scotland, and the Scottish Government website, along with some additional elements, to fulfil this commitment.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) sets out the rights that all children (up to age 18) should expect and what they need to grow up happy, healthy and safe.  It is a law which will help ensure that children are at the heart of education in Scotland.  The UNCRC is effective from July 2024.

We need an education system which ensures that every child and young person experiences great teaching, resources, and support for learning that builds their confidence and equips them to be successful and to contribute to their life, work, and world, so they know how much they matter. We will respect, protect, and fulfil the rights of every child and young person to ensure these are incorporated fully across the Scottish education system.

The convention outlines the central role played by parents and families and recognises that they also need protection and assistance to support the rights and wellbeing of their children.

The UNCRC Rights of the Child Booklet is now available on the Parent Club website. This resource provides information for parents, carers and family members about children's rights and introduces the UNCRC. To find out more about why the booklet was created, read the launch of the UNCRC parents booklet blog.