Demands for reform have been a feature of Scottish education for a long time, but very little has really changed in recent years or decades. The curriculum has shifted a bit, and there are a few more options these days, but in so many ways my son’s education has thus far been pretty much the same as the one I received in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Scotland is, of course, a very conservative country, and that’s arguably even more true when it comes to education, so you would perhaps be forgiven for thinking that the lack of serious change was driven by a dearth of ideas.

But the thing is, there really are lots of different options for serious, meaningful, long-term reform, both at home and abroad.

There are, for example, different school structures in Scotland, such as the junior secondary schools found on a few of the Orcadian islands, the 2-18 format of the school in Tobermory, or Jordanhill’s independence from the control of any council.

Recently, many primary schools have begun to experiment with play-based learning in primary 1 and 2, and there are some tantalising suggestions that at least one council might trial a form of composite class structure that merges nursery classes with this in the first year or two or primary.

Despite the eternal disappointments for those who want to see real exam reform in Scotland, the types of qualifications that young people complete are changing, with courses such as National Progression Awards – which have no final exam – and Foundation Apprenticeships now very much on........

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