ABSTRACT
State education is the norm in Scotland. ‘Private’ (or ‘public’) schools account for less than 5 per cent of the pupil population, and to date only two secondary schools have ‘opted out’ of local authority control. The local authorities have traditionally been responsible for schooling and have developed a range of policies supported by strong advisory services. The size of Scotland has resulted in a largely consensual approach to educational policy-making, and the existence of central bodies such as the Scottish Examination Board, the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum, the General Teaching Council and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate working with local authority personnel has meant that secondary schooling has evolved in a more uniform fashion than elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
