This paper draws on the project research to consider the extent to which claims that QAE in Scotland has a particular and distinctive character are reflected in the relationship between national QAE policies and European directives. The presentation will provide a brief guide to the key elements of QAE in the Scottish context, with attention to the relationship between key elements of the QAE process and emergent trans-national practices. A further theme of the presentation will be the extent to which there are formal and informal mediating processes in internal United Kingdom processes that influence the shape of relations with Europe. To what extent can Scotland set its own QAE agenda?Methodology: The paper draws on the project methodology and the work in progress that we shall report on consists for the most part of policy text analysis and interviews with selected policy 'brokers' operating at the interface between national policy and European/international developments. The data are analysed using a discourse analysis approach drawing primarily on the work of Fairclough (2002).Conclusions: the research is in progress at the time of writing, but we anticipate being able to offer some reflections on the extent to which Scotland uses Europe as an arena for the articulation of a particular approach to QAE; and that this operates discursively in the internal politics of the UK. We also anticipate offering a characterisation of the quality assessment and evaluation process in Scottish schooling in terms of its developmental, monitoring and regulatory capacities. We will consider what this case tells us about the Europeanisation of education through QAE and discuss its contribution to the understanding of education governance.