Scottish education is on the verge of major changes.

Stakeholders and decision-makers will be eager to measure their success, and new research from the University of Edinburgh argues that it’s important to know what students think.

In Scottish Education and Society since 1945, Lindsay Paterson, Emeritus Professor of Education Policy, School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh, examines how student surveys paved the way for important education and social change in Scotland.

Beginning in the 1940s, Scotland set a global standard by allowing student voices to drive educational policies for almost a century.

The result was high-quality data which brought interest from policymakers and researchers around the world.

Policy works when students are taken seriously

By the 1970s, a study called the Scottish School Leavers’ Survey was being administered every two years.

Prof Paterson said that this gave decision-makers the information they needed to judge policies.

"Through these surveys, researchers from around the world saw Scotland as a testbed for theories of inequality and methods for improvement.

He found that data also shows students were enjoying school “to an unprecedented extent” in the 20th century.

“A growing proportion – over three quarters by the end of the century – told the surveys that there were teachers who understood their needs and helped them to study.”

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One of the keys to the success of student surveys was taking students seriously, he added.

“Questionnaires were sent directly to the young person at home. Back at the beginning of the survey, some of these young people had never received a letter in their life.

“This made young people feel as if their views mattered.”

Questions about their feelings and their individual experiences also led to useful, engaging responses.

“They were taking young people’s agency seriously.

“They were respecting young people and saying: ‘You are responsible for your life. We want to know what you want to do with it and how can government help you?’”

With the recent publication of the Hayward Review’s final report and other high-profile surveys of student experience, new education policies are right around the corner.

And as Scotland enters a new phase of transformation, Prof Paterson said that current decision-makers should take a lesson from the history books.

Good policy is a long game

Prof Paterson’s book makes the case that patience is key for effecting positive change.

Because Scotland collected data regularly every two years, beginning in the 1970s, policymakers were able to track change over time and determine whether policies were working in the 20th century.

By looking back at major changes in Scottish education, Prof Paterson’s book found that much of the collected data didn’t become useful until trends fully developed.

Often, this could take 10 or 20 years.

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Snapshots can give misleading views on how well reforms are working, he said.

But a problem we face today is that the surveys, and the stream of reliable data, ended in 2003. 

And although the Scottish Government has recently resumed participating in a number of national and international surveys, Prof Paterson said it could be decades before we know whether the changes brought about by the likes of the Hayward Review are positive.

“And that’s tragic. At a time when other countries, including England, are moving in the direction of gathering more data, it’s really rather sad that Scotland doesn’t have that.

“Whatever is put in place after this report, we won’t really be able to judge it for at least one full cycle of secondary school, so around six years.

“But if what I find in the book is anything to go by, it’s actually far longer

“It’s probably going to be at least two decades, maybe longer before we can truly be sure whether things have worked or haven’t worked.

“Which is a long time for politicians.”

But it’s also a long time for parents, students and teachers, key stakeholders whose livelihoods and futures depend on the efficiency of the education system.

Prof Paterson’s new book is available to purchase through the Edinburgh University Press. You can download a copy for free online via Open Access.