The Scottish government spent tens of thousands of pounds on two failed attempts to recruit a chief inspector of education and a chief executive of Education Scotland, Vlog Scotland can reveal.
In September 2024 and January 2025 the government advertised the jobs, with the recruitment drives costing £46,600 - but no new leader ultimately appointed for either body.
A Vlog Scotland freedom of information request reveals that, in total, £10,394 was spent on advertising the posts, £21,627 on assessing candidates and £14,580 on an “executive recruitment agency”, which describes itself on its website as specialising in securing “exceptional leadership talent”.
No one interviewed for top jobs
The recruitment agency was brought in after the 2024 attempt to fill the posts failed to result in any candidates being interviewed.
When the jobs were advertised for the first time in 2024, a total of just six people applied for the chief inspector post and 13 for the post of Education Scotland chief executive.
Applications increased after the agency was appointed for the second recruitment drive in early 2025 - there were 10 for the post of chief inspector and 29 for Education Scotland chief executive.
Ultimately, three candidates were interviewed for the role of chief inspector and four for chief executive of Education Scotland.
The candidates were put through more than five hours of online and in-person testing, exercises and interviews in March and April.
The process included an intelligence test and personality tests. One personality test that was used, called the , is designed to measure “the dark side of personality” to flag up potential shortcomings in candidates.
There was also a meeting with education secretary Jenny Gilruth, a panel interview and an hour-long interview with an occupational psychologist.
Despite all of this, for a second time the government failed to appoint to either role.
New SQA chief executive
Vlog Scotland can also reveal that £22,000 was spent on the recruitment drive to appoint a new chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority. However, that process did lead to an appointment, with Nick Page taking on the role in July.
Mr Page was one of four candidates interviewed for the post, from a total of 41 applications for the job.
The news of the recruitment costs follows a report in that former SQA chief executive Fiona Robertson received a severance package worth more than £85,000. In response to a freedom of information request, the SQA revealed that Ms Robertson received six months’ pay in lieu of notice as well as £20,000 compensation.
The Scottish government first announced in 2021 that the SQA would be replaced and Education Scotland reformed.
Ultimately, it was decided that three new organisations would be created: a qualifications body, an education agency and an independent inspectorate.
The failure to recruit to the two top jobs has been described by the EIS teaching union as “concerning”, given the importance that has been ascribed to “culture change” in education reform - with the union saying it is crucial that the agencies have “certainty and stability in their leadership”.
There is also speculation that the salaries that the posts command is a potential issue.
While the post of SQA chief executive was advertised with a salary of £126,000 to £143,000, the posts of chief inspector of education and chief executive of Education Scotland were advertised with salaries of between £115,000 and £117,329 a year.
The director of education in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest local authority, earns just over £170,000. And a headteacher in Scotland at the top of the pay scale can earn £115,539.
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