Item 15 - Senior Phase Update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 24 June 2026
Back to Educational Services Committee — 24 June 2026 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Chief Education Officer Educational Services Committee: 24 June 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Senior Phase Update 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to update members on the work exploring timetable options and Reduced Class Contact Time (RCCT), and to highlight the breadth of courses on offer to our young people in our schools and with our partner providers. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that Committee: a) Note the progress made with timetabling options, and Reduced Class Contact Time (RCCT); and b) Note the breadth of offer for our young people in the courses and awards on offer in our schools and with our partner providers. 3. Background 3.1 In 2025 we undertook a consultation considering changing the existing 32 period asymmetric week our mainstream secondary schools to a 33 period week model. Feedback received in the consultation and at committee prompted Officers to consider other potential models, and to involve a wider stakeholder group in collaboration. 3.2 During this same timeframe, the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) reached an agreement between COSLA, Scottish Government and Trade Unions on the timescale and funding for Reduced Class Contact Time (RCCT). It is expected that Councils will implement RCCT in Early Years, Primary and ASN sectors in time for August 2027, and the Secondary sector in time for August 2029. 3.3 Each year we work across schools and our partner providers to maximise the offer of courses for our young people in the Senior Phase. Each school has their own provision of courses in house, and work together to provide a consortium offer, where classes are composed of students from a number of schools, but hosted by one of them. We also work in partnership with other learning providers, such as Working4U, local colleges (West College Scotland, City of Glasgow College and Glasgow Clyde College) and the ITEM 15
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Widening Participation teams across our local universities (University of Glasgow, Strathclyde University, Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of the West of Scotland). For the second year running, we have been working with employers directly in the curriculum, with courses co- constructed with BAE Systems and Babcock Engineering, providing qualifications and a direct route into employment. 4. Main Issues 4.1 We have reconvened our Reduced Class Contact Time Working Group, with membership drawn from Management and Trade Unions. Report on progress with plans to implement RCCT will be brought to both Education Committee and LNCT. 4.2 We have continued to meet with our secondary school timetablers, gathering intelligence on the deployment of staff and beginning work on drawing up timetable models that could best fit RCCT. This group will become a formal sub-group of the RCCT Working Group, and will bring forward models for consultation during session 2026/27. 4.3 Consultation on models developed would take place in summer and autumn of 2027, timed so that the outcome of consultation can be implemented ahead of course options ahead of the 2028/29 timetable. This would make transition to RCCT in session 2029/30 more straightforward. 4.3 On offer for our young people in 2026/27 are 20 National 3 courses, 38 National 4 courses, 48 National 5 courses, 43 Higher courses, 15 Advanced Higher courses, 33 National Progression Awards, 9 Skills for Work courses, 8 Foundation Apprenticeships and 10 other courses. Appendix 1 shows the course offer across each of our schools. 4.4 Our schools have worked hard to explore the wider qualifications catalogue, and each year reflect on the offer made in each school, considering their ongoing commitment to courses they have offered for many years, and whether they are able to introduce new courses for their students. 4.5 For session 2026/27 we have worked with each school to identify where courses would only have a small number of students enrolled, and encouraged schools to offer these are part of our consortium offer. This has a two-fold impact – it better deploys teaching staff across schools and helps to ensure a more equitable offer of courses across our schools. 4.6 Whilst the consortium offer helps address the equity of course provision, sadly it hasn’t solved the scale of the equity issue. No course of the 21 on offer at level 3 is offered across all of our schools. 16 of the 47 courses at level 4 are offered across all schools, with 35 of 71 courses on offer at level 5 being offered across all schools. 33 of our 67 courses at level 6 are available in all of our schools, with 7 of the 20 courses on offer at level 7 available in all schools. Appendix 1 shows this in greater detail.
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4.7 Our work to standardise a Senior Phase timetable across all of our schools will address this equity issue, ensuring that the school you attend shouldn’t adversely affect the availability of subject choices. 4.8 In our planning for session 2027/28, we will standardise the dates schools undertake their course options choice process for S4 to S6. This will ensure that viability of courses is determined across schools, rather than by each school individually. It will also help prepare our schools for greater collaborative working for future sessions. 4.9 Standardising the dates will have a positive impact on the choices our young people are presented with and will help teaching staff where they wish to introduce new courses. Previously, each school would put a new course on their options choice form and individually decide whether it would have enough students interested in taking it to make it viable. Often, a new course may not attract a high number of students in one school alone, potentially making it seem less viable for a school to deliver it. By doing this together, the number of potential students would be pooled across schools, increasing the chances of the course running with a bigger number of students drawn from across schools. This is a key step in alignment to our wider objective of a common Senior Phase timetable. 5. People Implications 5.1 There are no direct people implications resulting from this report. 6. Financial & Procurement Implications 6.1 It presently costs £700k per annum to deliver Qualifications Scotland courses and awards. 6.2 There are no procurement implications associated with this report. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 Failure to develop models to implement Reduced Class Contact Time in our secondary schools could see us struggle to be ready to implement this change. 7.2 Failure to ensure that all courses are on offer across our schools to all senior Phase students would result in an inequitable offer for some of our students and could impact negatively on their progression to chosen careers or further study post-school.
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8. Environmental Sustainability 8.1 Whilst the provision of a common timetable across our schools would lead to a more efficient use of resource and provide greater opportunity for learners to choose from a wider offer of courses, this offer would also increase the number of young people travelling between establishments. A greater analysis of the impact of this would need to be done as part of the consultation on new timetable models. 9. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 An Equalities Impact Assessment would be undertaken in relation to the proposed timetable models. 9. Consultation 9.1 Consultation has been undertaken with relevant services including Finance and Legal to ensure that the proposed approach is aligned with financial and governance requirements. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 Having a Senior Phase curriculum that provides best value and is fit for purpose contributes directly to strategic priority 1 – our communities are resilient and thriving and strategic priority 4 – our council is inclusive and adaptable. Gillian Hamilton Chief Education Officer Date: 8 June 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Person(s) to Contact: Andrew Brown Senior Education Officer Email: andrew.brown@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: Appendix 1 - 2026/27 Senior Phase Offer Background Papers: None Wards Affected: All wards