Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS or LT Scotland) was a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of ...

of the Scottish Government, formed by the merger of the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum (SCCC) and the Scottish Council for Educational Technology (SCET). It was the main organisation for the development and support of the Scottish curriculum, and was at the heart of developments in

Scottish education Education in Scotland is overseen by the Scottish Government and its executive agency Education Scotland. Education in Scotland has a history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly diffe ...

until its merger with Her Majesty's Inspectorate for Education to form Education Scotland in 2011. The role of LTS was to provide advice, support, resources and staff development to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in Scotland, combining expertise in the curriculum 3–18 with advice on the use of ICT in education.

History

LTS worked in close partnership with the Scottish Government,

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for the inspection of public and independent, primary and secondary schools, as well as further education colleges, community lear ...

, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers' association for its 32 member authorities. History Formed in 1975, COSLA exists to promote and protect the intere ...

, education authorities, schools and with a range of professional associations, playing a key role in the drive to improve learning and teaching. LTS provided support for people working in the Scottish

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

—including

ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, school managers,

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

s, and support staff—and was accountable to the

Scottish Executive Education Department The Scottish Government Education Directorates were a group of the civil service directorates in the Scottish Government. The Directorates were titled Children, Young People and Social Care; Schools; and Lifelong Learning. They were responsible ...

. LTS operated the LT Scotland Online Service, the successor to the National Grid for Learning in Scotland. It also ran a professional development programme known as ''Masterclass'', and a range of supported online communities of practice including ''Heads Together''. LTS managed Glow, a national intranet for schools and practitioners, offering a range of teaching, learning and collaborative tools across the Web, in a secure and fully authenticated way—bringing together more than 700,000 students, 50,000 teachers, all lecturers and students in initial teacher education and many others across the country. LTS had been charged with leading the development of Scotland's '

Curriculum for Excellence Curriculum for Excellence is the national curriculum for Scottish schools for learners from the ages 3–18. It was developed out of a 2002 consultation exercise – the 'National Debate on Education' – undertaken by the-then Scottish Execut ...

' programme. The purpose of the programme is to improve the learning, attainment and achievement of children and young people in Scotland. It is also about ensuring that pupils achieve on a broad front, not just in terms of examinations. LTS also led the innovative Assessment is for Learning programme in Scotland. On 14 October 2010, Cabinet Secretary for Education Mike Russell announced that Learning and Teaching Scotland would be subsumed, along with

into a new body named the ''Scottish Education Quality and Improvement Agency''. This was later renamed to Education Scotland. {{authority control Public bodies of the Scottish Government Education in Scotland Scottish Government Learning and Justice Directorate