 The next item of business is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on OECD education next steps. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, and so there should be no interventions or interruptions, I call on cabinet secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville. Following publication of the OECD independent review of the implementation of curriculum for excellence and Professor Stobart's paper on options for Scotland's future approach to qualifications and assessments in the senior phase, I signalled my intention to consider a reform process underpinned by those findings and recommendations. Today I will provide the chamber with that update. It remains a key priority of this Government to ensure that our approaches to curriculum and assessment are fit for purpose, and so guarantee the best possible educational experience for children and young people, not least as we emerge from the pandemic. It is 10 years since curriculum for excellence was introduced, so it was appropriate to review its implementation. Furthermore, the exceptionally challenging circumstances created by the pandemic have led to innovation and creativity in the education system, which we can also learn lessons from. I am proud to note that the OECD found wide support for CFE and stated that Scotland's curriculum continues to be a bold and widely supportive initiative, and its design offers the flexibility that is needed to improve student learning further. Professor Stobart in his paper described CFE as a pioneering example of 21st century curriculum reform and highlighted that Scotland's curriculum continues to be viewed as internationally as an inspiring example equated with good curriculum practice. Those findings show that the Scottish education remains on the right track. There is no suggestion that any significant overhaul in terms of the curriculum is needed. Instead, the OECD report sets out recommendations for us to build on our current approach and ensure that our curriculum continues to inspire learners now and into the future. Every education system must be open to further improvement, and I have previously made clear my intention to work with all those in education to consider those recommendations and deliver reform required to improve outcomes. This work should be seen as a supportive process and as part of our continuous improvement to retain Scotland's pioneering status in this field. Crucially, that work must be informed by children and young people, and I am committed to respecting children's rights and ensuring that those voices can be heard clearly and genuinely informed in the direction of travel. That is why I announced the intention to establish a Children and Young People's Education Council and ensured that there are young persons representatives and children's rights experts on the Scottish Education Council. It is also important to gain the views of teachers as those closest and best places to take decisions about children and young people's education and health and wellbeing. Therefore, we will engage further with front-line teachers through the national teacher panel and will seek ways in which the role of the panel can be strengthened and expanded. We will also engage through other routes, including the professional associations. This engagement is essential if we are to build on the work that began in 2019 to enhance and develop an empowered education system. While that work was paused effectively during the pandemic, our commitment continues and we must build on the good work pre-pandemic that saw effective developments in teacher agency through the delivery of bespoke remote learning, community activity and response to the local needs of families and communities. I have already taken action on the OECD's recommendations about structural change and support for education. I announced the intention to replace the Scottish Qualifications Authority and consider a new specialist agency for both curriculum and assessment. We are also taking forward reform to education Scotland, including removing the function of inspection from the agency. I invited Professor Ken Muir to act as an independent adviser to the Scottish Government to consider and advise on the implementation of those reforms. Professor Muir is currently gathering views from stakeholders and will submit his recommendations to the Scottish Government in early 2022. That work will play a crucial role in delivering the foundational infrastructure to support the delivery of the curriculum and assessment process, as well as helping to inform the wider reform process. Today, I am pleased to publish a framework for implementation that sets out our approach to engagement and priorities and sequences the initial phases of this work. I chair the Scottish Education Council and, through this, have already started a dialogue on the process, but it is clear that, for this to be a truly co-produced approach to reform, wider discussions are needed and that is what this framework sets out to facilitate. The implementation framework sets out the initial priorities that we will be looking at. They are to reassess the vision of CFE, to agree a measurement and evaluation approach, to align assessment and qualifications, to clarify roles and responsibilities, and to increase curriculum development capacity. We will convene and facilitate dialogue to revisits and assess the 2019 refreshed narrative for Scotland's curriculum, which will be informed by user feedback, Professor Muir's consultation and learning from the pandemic. That work will support initial considerations for the development of a curriculum review cycle, as recommended by the OECD, and will underpin the work on the alignment of assessment and qualifications. We will explore the data and research that is required to inform an evaluation system and to support the systematic approach to curriculum review. Specifically, I will be asking the Curriculum and Assessment Board to set up a short-life subgroup to explore options for a sample-based survey looking across the capacities of curriculum for excellence. The subgroup will specifically consider the workload implications for staff of such a survey. That will be the first time that we will have information that looks across the four capacities in such a form, but that has to be done in a proportionate and in a manageable way. We remain committed to teacher professional judgment as the primary means of assessing progress in the broad general education, and we will consider how we can better support that and the achievement of CFE levels data in the future. National standardised assessments will continue to have an important role to play in that. The outcome of that work will be reflected in the national improvement framework from 2022 onwards. In addition, communications and stakeholder involvement strategies will be refreshed, and we will develop and agree next steps to further school empowerment with teachers, practitioners and other stakeholders. I will also continue to work with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers on the commitment to reduce class contact time for teachers by 90 minutes per week. In addition, we will work with local government to deliver the commitment to recruit to 3,500 additional teachers over this parliamentary term. Furthermore, we will evaluate current support and access for teachers and practitioners to professional development for curriculum design and development. The package underlines our commitment to the profession and our support for their on-going role in curriculum design, development and improvement. To enable a coherent and effective response to the OECD's recommendations, we will ensure that there are appropriate programme and government arrangements as recommended by the OECD, building on our current structures and putting the voice of teachers, practitioners, pupils, parents and carers at the heart of everything that we do. Alongside publishing a framework for engaging on the implementation of the recommendations of the OECD, I also want to set out my position on the future of assessment and qualifications. That is distinct from the on-going arrangements for 2022, on which a series of announcements detailing the approach and potential use of contingencies have already been made. Professor Stobart's working paper, Upper secondary education student assessment in Scotland, makes an important contribution to the debate about the future of qualifications and assessments in Scotland, a debate that has intensified in light of the experiences during the pandemic. Professor Stobart does not set out specific recommendations but suggests options based on best practice from around the world, which we must explore as we seek to find the best way of recognising our learners' achievements in the 21st century. Taking Professor Stobart's findings alongside the lessons learned through the pandemic, I believe creates a case for reform. The issue of assessment and qualifications generates strong and sometimes conflicting opinions. However, I am convinced that, given the experience and views expressed over the last two years, the time is right to signal that the Scottish Government supports reform of national qualifications and assessment. Just as work with the OECD and responding to recommendations, it will be vital when considering reform that we work with all stakeholders to, as far as possible, build a consensus on that issue. To that end, I can announce that the Scottish Government will concert on the purpose and principles that should underpin any reform of national qualifications and assessments. That will be the first step in a process that could be done with careful thought and consideration and recognise the importance of national qualifications to learners. I am pleased to announce that Professor Louise Hayward of Glasgow University has agreed to lead a reference group with its membership drawn principally from the curriculum and assessment board. That group will provide advice to Scottish ministers as to how agreed principles may be translated into a design for delivering assessment and qualifications, while ensuring that externally assessed examination will remain part of the new system. Professor Hayward will begin this work in the new year. While I expect this process to lead to reform of our approach to national assessment and qualifications, time must be taking to get this right. I am acutely aware of the impact of the pandemic and, therefore, a dialogue leading to a planned and achievable reform programme will be essential. As I stress throughout this statement, those reform processes will be collaborative and actions will be created with stakeholders wherever possible. I am also very mindful of our children's rights requirement and I hope that through this process and its outcomes that all children and young people can feel a sense of ownership for the changes that we will make. Those actions reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that every child and young person in Scotland can benefit fully from an education and have access to qualifications, which will see them realise their potential and step confidently into their future choices. I will now allow around 20 minutes for questions after which time we will move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if those members who wish to ask a question were to press their request to speak buttons now. I call on Oliver Mundell. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of our statement. Far from restoring standards in our education system and seeking to reverse the 14 years of damage that the SNP has done to our once proud educational traditions, the statement confirms that the only plans that the SNP has got is to double down on radical and ill-thought-out reforms to exams, which will end exams as we know them. On top of that, we see a continuation or the very denial that got us into this mess in the first place, which sees a Government glossing over the identified weaknesses in CFE, particularly in relation to knowledge. Can the cabinet secretary tell parents, pupils and teachers why they should trust the SNP to fix Scotland's schools when it is this Government who got us into this mess? I can genuinely say that I am still not quite sure that Oliver Mundell has actually read the OECD report that came out, despite it coming out many months ago now. I mentioned some of the quotes from the OECD in my statement about how it has endorsed curriculum for excellence, how it is the right approach for Scotland and that it does not see the need for fundamental reform of the process. I am not asking parents, young people and teachers to believe any political party. I think that we should look at the independent experts that we have brought in and the messages that we have given. I also do not think that Oliver Mundell read the statement that he got in advance or listened to what I have said, because I specifically said in the statement that we are not talking about ending exams. What we are talking about is having a discussion about the best way of us being able to look at what a learner achieves and be able to recognise that achievement. That type of discussion has, apart from the Conservatives, been largely welcomed among many stakeholders, including those who will not only get the qualifications, but those who will look at the qualifications in terms of other parts of the education sector and employment. I genuinely say to Oliver Mundell that it is not too late to drop the sound bite and the pressure release that you have no doubt already put out. I genuinely take part in a discussion about what the qualifications and assessment process will look like going forward. We are going to look as a Government about what the principles will be. I genuinely hope that the Scottish Conservatives will raise their game and take part in that process with me. We are now, in the cabinet secretary's own words, many months on from the announcement that the SQA is to be scrapped. Far from taking urgent action to begin these much needed reforms, the cabinet secretary is content to leave the SQA unfit in its current form, as the cabinet secretary agrees, presiding over our assessment process this year and potentially beyond. Education Scotland presiding over curriculum, development and inspections. Over five months ago, I laid a motion in this Parliament setting out a timetable of ambition for reform. It would have seen by now an independent inspector established by executive action, an interim body for assessment and curriculum, while the current consultation proceeds and negotiations under way regarding a new deal for teachers stemming from the OECD review. That would be real urgency and ambition for young people. Deputy Presiding Officer, how many more months the minister plans to talk about reform instead of implementing it? By what date she would expect a new assessment and curriculum organisation to be operational? By what date she expects to take forward proposals to reform qualifications? By what date she expects class contact time to be reduced for teachers? Or is this simply set to be another wasted parliamentary term for education in Scotland? I listened carefully to the proposals that Michael Marra put forward earlier on in the year about this. I listened carefully to it because I hope that between Scottish Labour and the Government we can have discussions about how that can be taken forward. Michael Marra will know that we have Professor Ken Muir undertaking that work. The work that he is taking and the way that he is undertaking that reform is crucial, so I appreciate some of the demands to move faster and to move quicker. However, I stressed in my statement and I will continue to do so, that I want to work collaboratively with stakeholders. It is very easy in Government to make statements about a way forward and then try to work out the detail or make statements on the way forward and then work out what stakeholders are thinking about. What we have within Professor Muir's work is a process that has been well respected by stakeholders, which has seen significant numbers of practitioners, of parents and now of young people taking part in that process. What Professor Muir will come back with in the end of January is a considered recommendations based on a very collaborative approach. That is the way that I want to work and that is the way that I have encouraged Professor Muir to work on it. I will, of course, look at that carefully and quickly once Professor Muir reports back and will make further arrangements and announcements to Parliament on that. In the meantime, of course, there is absolutely no doubt that 2022 assessments and qualifications will continue. The SQA will, of course, lead on that process and will do so very effectively, as I have no doubt the chamber would expect. I would like to ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that teachers and staff are central to the process of reform. I will try to lay out some of the details of that in my statement. I am keen to look at the role of children and young people and the role of teachers and practitioners to ensure that they have a very central role in that reform process. One of the ways that we are doing that is through the national teachers panel, which I am looking to strengthen. I am also keen that Education Scotland will work directly with teachers and schools to build local, regional and national communities of practitioners to lead and to shape and design the reform work as it goes on. I also mentioned in my answer to Michael Marra about the work that Professor Muir has already undertaken within stakeholder engagement that has been exceptionally well attended by teachers. However, I would certainly welcome any further suggestions and proposals about how we can further strengthen the role of teachers and front-line practitioners on this issue from Mr Stewart or, indeed, other members across the chamber. Megan Gallacher, to be followed by Rona Mackay. Beatrice Pond, from the OECD Education Directorates, stated in June that the curriculum for excellence had too many owners, while lacking clarity about the responsibilities and that curriculum for excellence is just moving forward and has no structured approach to look forward, plan and communicate with a long-term perspective. Cabinet Secretary, the statement provided to Parliament today adds more levels of bureaucracy without clear direction. Why is so little progress being made since June? To give one example of what has been happening since then, the discussions that we have had within the Scottish Education Council on how we can take this forward has been a very important part of this. One example of the aspects about this is how we look at that refreshed narrative, which the framework sets out early timetables for movement on this. That is the first step to the review process that the OECD has recommended. The OECD recommended a way that we could implement this. It said that this was a long-term approach that was required. We have accepted the recommendations from the OECD and the suggestions about how we should implement this report, not just the actual recommendations per se within the report. That is exactly what we have been doing. I hope that some of the examples that I have given once again can reassure the member that we are making good progress on doing just that. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that any sample-based system of measurement and evaluation complements data that has already been collected and protects professional judgment of our teachers. It is important that we ensure that teacher professional judgment and the achievement of curriculum for excellence levels data, ASAL, remain primary means of assessing progress in broad general education. As I mentioned in my statement, there will be a short-life subgroup that will explore options for sample-based surveys to assess progress across the four capacities. That will include consideration about how we can provide better support for teacher professional judgment. The consideration of that short-life subgroup will sit alongside, of course, the upcoming consultation on proposed changes to the national improvement framework measures of progress. The Scottish Government has promised 3,500 more teachers by the end of this parliamentary term, but we know that the teaching profession is struggling, both with recruitment and retention. Can the cabinet secretary tell us specifically what the Scottish Government is doing to encourage new teachers into the profession, but perhaps more importantly encourage the existing teachers to stay? Myrnton, we have quick-filled a very important issue around how we can achieve that target of 3,500 extra teachers. We are, of course, undertaking work on recruitment, as the usual recruitment campaigns continue. We are working very, very closely with local authority colleagues to ensure that we are doing everything that we can at a national level to take away the impediments, for example, of temporary funding. That is why I was pleased to announce further baseline funding for local authority that will assist in the recruitment of permanent contracts that will be more attractive to some teachers to come into or stay in the teaching profession. Very importantly, I will remain committed to very close dialogue, as I have since becoming Cabinet Secretary for Education with the professional associations, to ensure that I am listening very closely to what they have to say, both on recruitment and on retention. Thank you very much. I will ask the cabinet secretary what steps she will take to reduce class contact time for teachers and giving them more time to plan their lessons. The Government is committed, as we said in our manifesto, to reduce class contact time for teachers by 90 minutes per week, with the aim of giving teachers that time to ensure that they have more time to develop curriculum and to ensure that they have the time that they need to effectively teach their class. Of course, the terms and conditions of services for teachers are not the responsibility solely of the Scottish Government. They are the responsibility, of course, of the Scottish negotiating committee for teachers. It will be for the SNCT to agree the implementation for this reduction in the class contact time. That work is on-going. Those discussions are on-going, and I look forward to seeing the progress that we can make on that. The cabinet secretary has been left to clear up John Swinney's blunder over national testing. Having scrapped the national survey just a few years ago, the Government is now bringing it back, this time with a tail between its legs. Why on earth is the cabinet secretary still clinging on to the national collection of local testing data, even though that leads to damaging school league tables? Can we be very clear about what we have said about the data proposals that we have, particularly for sample-based surveys? We will ask a subgroup of the curriculum and assessment board to explore sample-based surveys. That does not mean that they will bring back the SNLN. There are reasons for that. That was taken away and why we moved to a different approach. One of the reasons for that was, as I think I quoted to Willie Rennie in a previous committee experience, some recommendations from the OECD in 2015, which said that the SNLN did not give national agencies enough evidence, which is why the moves were made. I appreciate different views on standardised assessments from some parts of the chamber, but what we are seeing as we move forward is a greater use of those by-teachers themselves. A real understanding, for example, from staff feedback surveys in each of the last three years that reports are providing practitioners with valuable insights into the learning needs of individuals. I have explained the reasons why we have made the change, I have explained the reasons and the advantages of what we have with standardised assessments and the process that we now have in place to look at what we can do in the future to improve the data that we have. Cabinet Secretary, I warmly welcome the Children and Young People's Education Council. Can you tell us anything more about plans to ensure that students' legitimate and constructive views and assessment will continue to be valued and respected and provide reassurance that young people's voices will not be lost in the midst of expert public and political deliberations? It is very important as we move forward with education policy as a whole that we have a very strong voice for children and young people. That is why I took the decision to establish the Children and Young People's Education Council. That will have parity of esteem with the Scottish Education Council, and I will chair both of those. Those are two bodies in which children and young people will play an important part in, but it is very important that we look to encompass children and young people in all the work that we are doing within education. I appreciate that, as I said in my statement, there are differing views on how we can move forward in assessment and qualifications, but I hope that all of us, regardless of where we are with those views at the moment, will take a step back and listen to what children and young people want from their future. It is important that we all do that. I do not share the cabinet secretary's enthusiasm for standardised testing. I welcome the fact that the implementation plan includes a number of green manifesto commitments, including the reintroduction of a sample-based measurement system and a review of the role of indicators and measures with her view to reducing teacher work-code. How that review into indicators and measures will be taken forward, and by whom? I appreciate that we still have a difference of opinion on some issues in education, and robust discussions continue on those. I want to work carefully with all colleagues across the chamber, particularly my colleagues in the Scottish Greens, to ensure that we can have robust but constructive conversations on that. In the particular issues that Ross Greer mentioned in his question, what I would like to see is us working collaboratively. The Scottish Education Council will play an important part in our discussions. We will also ensure that whatever way we are determined to move forward with particular working groups, the voices of children and young people and practicing teachers will play an important part in that. Of course, I am happy to continue to have particular dialogue with Mr Greer on those issues, if he should so wish. As we have emerged from the pandemic, it is clear that far more must be done to guarantee the best possible education for Scotland's children. Today's statement rightly recognises the need to involve pupils and teachers. What engagement will the Scottish Government have with parents and carers as key partners in the education attainment? A very important point, which I hope that I can reassure Ms Goslaw that I share her opinion on the need for us to speak directly with parents and to hear them listen to their views. One of the examples that I could give was speaking to Professor Murgis yesterday on the work that he is undertaking on reform, in which he spoke about the number of parents that are coming forward to take part in the webinars that he has organised as part of the reform process that he is in. I can also point to the fact that parents representatives are members of the education recovery group as we look to Covid. However, particularly as we move forward with some of the packages that we have been speaking about today, they are represented on the Scottish Education Council as well. Posing on our young learners, can I ask the cabinet secretary that, prior to a newly reformed system of national qualifications and assessment coming into place, if it will assure the current cohort of learners that they can have absolute confidence in their hard-won qualifications and achievements? If that is indeed the last question, which is, of course, entirely up to you and not me, but if it is the last question, I think that we end on a very important point about reassuring young people, their parents, teachers and those who will look at the qualifications, although we are undertaking reform of qualifications and assessments. As we do so, we have national qualifications that remain highly regarded in their current form, which has been demonstrated by the credibility that has been attached to them over the past 100 years, including over the past two years, despite the efforts of the pandemic. The current cohort of learners can have every confidence in the value of their qualifications and achievements. Again, that is not necessarily just the view of the Scottish Government and the SQA, but I would appoint to, for example, a letter from many employers led by Sandy Begby, who recognised the value of this year's qualifications just as much as any other here and how every young person should be proud of the qualifications and their achievements at school and within education.