Scotland

Introduction

This page contains details of information and organisations concerned with policy and regulation of higher education in Scotland.

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Key Government Departments for Scotland

The Scottish Government includes the departments for Education and Training, encompassing FE and HE, lifelong learning, school education, training and skills, HM Inspectorate of Education and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, nurseries and childcare, children's services, children's hearings, social work and HM Social Work Inspectorate. Higher education work includes:

Higher Education Review to consider the competitiveness of higher education in Scotland
International Lifelong Learning Scotland's Contribution
Health and well-being including: health, health promotion and improvement, community care, older people, mental health, learning disability, substance misuse, social inclusion, equalities, anti-poverty measures, housing and regeneration.
Justice including: criminal law and procedure, youth justice, criminal justice social work, police, anti-social behaviour, sectarianism, human rights, community safety, drugs policy and related matters, vulnerable witnesses, victim support and civil law, charity law, religious and faith organisations.

In 2006 the independent 21st Century Social Work Review Group’s report Changing Lives delivered three main messages and challenges:

Social work services don't have all the answers, so there needs to be capacity to deliver personalised services
Best use of social work skills is not made, so there needs to be capacity to develop the workforce
Doing more of the same won't work, so there needs to be capacity to create sustainable change

These challenges reflect the wider principles of public service reform, placing social work at the forefront of that agenda.

The Social Work Scotland website has been set up by the Scottish Government to enable access to a wide range of information about the change programme for social work services in Scotland.

Higher Education Organisations for Scotland

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) distributes more than £1.6 billion to Scotland’s 43 further education colleges and 19 higher education institutions for teaching and learning, research and other activities in support of Scottish government priorities. Current areas of concern include:

Articulation between further and higher education
Quality assurance and enhancement, including a response to the Scottish Executive’s Report Taking Forward Learning to Improve (PDF, 980KB)
Monitoring, evaluation and accountability
Design of learning environments (Spaces for Learning)
Widening access - learning for all
Career pathways of graduates

The SFC funds sparqs (student participation in quality Scotland) to assist and support students, students' associations and institutions to improve the effectiveness and engagement of students in quality assurance and enhancement in institutions across Scotland

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) was created in 2001 by bringing together all Scottish mainstream qualifications into a single unified framework. It was developed in partnership by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, Universities Scotland, Quality Assurance Agency Scotland and the Scottish Executive. The single unified framework has 12 levels, covering qualifications from Access to Doctorates.

The QAA Scotland Committee has delegated responsibilities from the QAA Board for the management of QAA's work in Scotland. Their quality enhancement framework includes enhancement themes.

Universities Scotland exists to represent, promote and campaign for the Scottish higher education sector.

NUS Scotland NUS Scotland is an autonomous body, which forms its own policies, whilst maintaining strong links with the National Union of Students of the UK.

The Higher Education Academy's (HE Academy) work in Scotland to reflect its distinctive higher education system and unique enhancement-led approach to quality. The HE Academy works in partnership with Universities Scotland, the Quality Assurance Agency (Scotland), the Scottish Funding Council and the National Union of Students (Scotland) in a Quality Working Group which has overall responsibility for the implementation of the Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF).

The HE Academy’s aims in Scotland are to:

Support the professional development of individual staff
Support institutions
Support communities of practice through the HE Academy's Subject Centres
Contribute to and influence national policy

Social Work Education in Scotland

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is responsible for promoting and developing education and training for the social services workforce in Scotland. It is also responsible for regulating and awarding professional social work qualifications.

Qualifying programmes: From January 2003, a new Framework for Social Work Education was announced and the first four-year honours degree courses in social work began in 2004, based on the Standards in Social Work Education which incorporate the National Occupational Standards, the QAA Benchmark Statement for Social Work and other specific requirements.

Post-qualifying programmes: The SSSC is introducing a professional development model, within which social work post qualifying education can be approved. Specialist Training will be available from SCQF 7 – SCQF 11 (M Level). The SSSC has developed rules for specialist training course, and the first course to be approved under these Rules is the Practice Learning Qualification (Social Services. Advanced standards are currently being developed.

Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) was launched in 2007 and replaces the former Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE). The latter was established in 2003 as a collaboration of the nine Scottish universities involved in teaching social work, with the aim of transforming the education and training of Scotland’s future social workers. IRISS is a charitable body and is focusing on the higher education response to the challenges emerging from the Scottish Executive report Changing Lives: Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review. Current projects include:

Sector Skills Councils for Scotland

TheSSSC hold the responsibility, under the umbrella of Skills for Care and Development, for the sector skills agenda related to social care, children and young people’s workforces in Scotland.

Policy and Regulation