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.
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' 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.
On 14 October 2010, Cabinet Secretary for Education Mike Russell announced that Learning and Teaching Scotland would be subsumed, along with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education into a new body named the Scottish Education Quality and Improvement Agency. This was later renamed to Education Scotland.