The Evolution of the Scottish Attainment Challenge, 2015 to Present Day

• Speakers: Callum MacFarlane and  Jacqui Ward (Education Scotland, United Kingdom)
• Chairperson: tba
• When: 00 SES 12 A / Thursday, 24/Aug/2023: 3:30pm - 5:00pm
•  Location: James McCune Smith, 438AB [Floor 4]

Education remains one of the most effective means we have to improve the life chances of all of children and young people, and the right to and goals of education are enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). In Scotland, almost one in four children are officially recognised as living in poverty (Scottish Government, 2023a). A significant proportion of these children, 69% (170,00), are living in working households (Scottish Government, 2023a).  There are specific households with children who are known to be at a higher risk of poverty.  These include households with single parents, 3+ children, disabled household members, of a minority ethnic background, with children under one or a mother uner 25 (Scottish Government, 2023a).  The Scottish Attainment Challenge was launched in 2015 with the mission of closing the poverty-related attainment gap with funding of £750 million over the parliamentary term.  In 2021 the programme was refreshed with the support of a further £1billion over the next parliamentary term until 2026.  This session will consider the evolution of the programme from its inception in 2015 through a global pandemic and to the current day, including the rationale for its new amended mission:

“to use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.“

Much has been learned in the implementation of the Scottish Attainment Challenge and so the session will consider the impact of some of these, such as:

• governance
• funding structures which have responded proactively to research and feedback from education senior leaders and practitioners
• role of Attainment Advisors in leading, supporting and challenging progress in the programme at various levels of the system including class, school, local authority and national
• research strategy and the associated monitoring and reporting mechanisms around impact
• involving others and ensuring children’s voices are a central tenet of the programme, including those identified with additional support needs

The impact of the Scottish Attainment Challenge and its approaches has been the subject of many news articles, research and blogs.  However what is obvious from all is that there is no one solution to tackling poverty-related attainment gaps (Poverty Alliance, 2021). As there are multiple causes and consequences of poverty-related attainment gaps, so there needs to be multiple and various supports to address and mitigate against these gaps.  The Scottish Attainment Challenge Logic Model released in 2021, supports this notion (Scottish Government, 2021a) with its theory of change exemplifying the various approaches to making a difference depending on the context.  The session will consider the impact evidence through the lens of the Scottish Attainment Challenge 5 year progress report (Scottish Government, 2021b), the impact of COVID (Scottish Government, 2021c) and how this dovetails with research from other sources such as The Poverty Alliance (2021), EEF research such as that on Pupil Premium (2022) and lessons learned (2018), Audit Scotland (2021), etc.  It will also look at the new approach being taken to evidence impact using a more real-time approach to collating data (Scottish Government 2022).  The session will conclude with details of next steps being implemented across the system to improve outcomes for children and young people affected by poverty and tackling poverty-related attainment gaps in Scotland.