Since devolution, educational policies across the four UK nations have moved in different directions. Scotland has implemented its Curriculum for Excellence, using a competency-based approach that aims to improve attainment and equity. There are mixed opinions about the success of the reforms; since 2010, Scotland’s PISA results have tumbled. To help us see through the ‘Scotch mist’ (i.e., something that is hard to find or perhaps imagined), we travelled to Scotland to meet with key commentators who were closer to the reform programme. In this presentation, we will share highlights from these meetings. Some of the questions that we cover include ‘how is the Scottish education system performing?’, ‘who are the main influencers on policy?’, and ‘What has been the effect of policy change on subject uptake?’