About the authors

The perceived role of teachers in shaping course offerings and content is lower in Scotland than in the rest of the UK, with a large perceived role for national and local government. [...] The share of pupils in Scotland staying on to S6 (as a proportion of those in S4 two years earlier) has risen from about 44 per cent in the early 2000s to over 60 per cent at the latest count.28 We discuss this in more detail in the exams and assessments section. [...] It has broad responsibilities for the provision of education and youth services, the funding authority for all schools, the employer of teachers in controlled schools and non-teaching staff in schools (other than voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated), and oversees the provision of education services including admissions to all school. [...] This includes levels of spending per pupil and what this delivers in terms of resources, the relative role of schools and local authorities in the system, and the extent of funding focused on more disadvantaged pupils. [...] For example, the pupil:teacher ratio in primary schools in Scotland was 16 in Scotland in 2019-20 (compared with 21 or higher in the other nations) and about 12 in secondary schools (compared with 16 or over in the other nations).