Dumfries and Galloway Council
6 October 2009
Contents
Page
Introduction
i
1.
The inspection
1
2.
Continuous improvement
1
3.
Progress towards meeting the main points for action
3
4.
Conclusion
6
How can you contact us?
Introduction
The education functions of each local authority in Scotland was inspected between
2000 and 2005. A second cycle of inspections began in 2006 taking a proportionate
approach using the findings of the original inspection and other information
subsequently available. Section 9 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000
charges HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, to
provide an external evaluation of the effectiveness of the local authority in its quality
assurance of educational provision within the Council and of its support to schools in
improving quality. Inspections are conducted within a published framework of quality
indicators Quality Management in Education 21 (QMIE2) which embody the
Government’s policy on Best Value.
Each inspection is planned and implemented in partnership with Audit Scotland on
behalf of the Accounts Commission for Scotland. Audit Scotland is a statutory body set
up in April 2000, under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. It
provides services to the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General for Scotland.
Together they ensure that the Scottish Government and public sector bodies in
Scotland are held to account for the proper, efficient and effective use of public funds.
1
Quality Management in Education 2 (HM Inspectorate of Education 2006) is a
framework of self-evaluation for Local Authority Education Services.
i
1. The inspection
HMIE published a report on the inspection of Dumfries and Galloway Council in
May 2007. The education authority prepared an action plan indicating how they
would address the main points for action identified in the original HMIE inspection
report.
HM Inspectors revisited the authority in May 2009 to assess the extent to which the
authority was continuing to improve the quality of its work, and to evaluate progress
made in responding to the main points for action in the initial report.
2. Continuous improvement
Dumfries and Galloway Council has undergone significant changes in political and
professional leadership since the original inspection in October and November 2007.
The posts of Service Director, Schools Services and Service Director, Social Work
Services were established in November 2007. The post holders have sole strategic
responsibility for these areas, reporting to the Chief Executive. A new Chief
Executive will take up post in July 2009.
Senior managers in Schools Services have prioritised a number of important areas,
including the development of a clear and agreed educational vision and the
restructuring of senior management. Crucial to plans for improvement has been the
drive to engage headteachers more fully in the policy-making process. The Director,
Schools Services, is bringing an energy and commitment to the post. In a short
period of time, he has established productive relationships with headteachers,
particularly in the secondary sector. Teamwork at senior level is developing
positively and productively. The Director, Schools Services, has worked hard and
effectively to ensure improved links with other services at strategic level. This is
being done particularly well within the context of the Community Planning
Partnership and the Chief Officers’ Group. Plans for management re-structuring for
School Services are now agreed. Central education services staff are now being
organised into four multi-functional area teams, responsible for school support,
quality assurance and support for pupils with additional support needs.
The Community Learning and Development (CLD) service has been reorganised
twice since the original inspection. During the resultant period of uncertainty, morale
amongst CLD staff has, initially, been low. Recent developments under the new
administration have helped address this issue. Elected members now have an
improved understanding of the work of the CLD service. Improving morale is now
leading to increasing motivation amongst many staff. CLD Principal Officers (POs)
provide effective local leadership within the area structure. They offer an effective
peer support network operating across CLD. CLD area operational staff are well
supported within local area teams. Strategic responsibility for CLD transferred last
year from the Chief Executive to the Director for Community and Support Services.
In July 2009, responsibility will transfer permanently to the newly-created post of
Director for Community and Customer Services. This is intended to address the
need to improve the strategic leadership of CLD in order to help secure sustained
improvement across the service.
1
In some aspects of service delivery there has been continued improvement. In the
period from the education authority inspection (INEA) of 2007, high standards have
been maintained in the pre-school sector. The overall quality of provision in preschool has remained consistently good, with a continuing need to improve the quality
and impact of self-evaluation. In the primary sector, the overall quality of provision
has remained good. Performance in reading, writing and mathematics has
continued to improve from the level of 2003.
The education authority has been successful in identifying necessary continuous
professional development (CPD) priorities, designed to improve attainment. This has
been particularly successful in the teaching of mathematics, the introduction of active
learning approaches and more recently, strategies for the development of higher
order reading skills and reading recovery. There has been some improvement in the
overall quality of attainment for secondary-aged learners. Senior managers are,
however, aware of the need to improve further aspects of secondary attainment.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has identified a number of areas as being of
particular significance in improving further outcomes for learners. The following are
examples of some of these developments.
Partnership working
The original inspection report highlighted as a key strength the positive impact of
partnership and multi-agency working on young people and families. Evidence from
the follow-through inspection confirmed the authority’s view that partnership working
is strong and improving. At a strategic level, the work of the Children’s Services’
Chief Officers’ Group is ensuring a clear focus on partners working together to
ensure improved outcomes for young people and families. One example of how the
Council is seeking to ensure this focus is in the development of the Lower Annandale
Demonstration Site. At an early stage of development, the project offers a strong
strategic commitment across agencies to deliver services more effectively to children
and families. Senior managers recognise the need to ensure that progress against
agreed objectives and intended outcomes is monitored and evaluated carefully.
Video conferencing
Video conferencing equipment has been installed in four remote primary schools and
five secondary schools. A further five secondary schools will be equipped with this
equipment over the course of 2009. Staff are making increased use of the video
conferencing equipment for a number of purposes including officer meetings, CPD
sessions and curriculum leader meetings. Use of broadband for all video conference
lessons and meetings by the end of 2009 will result in further improvement in quality,
access and value for money.
As part of its drive to achieve equality of provision for children and young people in
rural areas, the authority has continued to support its successful video conferencing
music tuition initiative. This is sector-leading in its quality and focus and an example
of good practice. Children and young people in a number of schools across the
education authority are benefiting from access to high quality instrumental tuition and
from exposure to leading instrumentalists in the United Kingdom. Staff, children and
young people involved in the initiative are gaining in confidence and enthusiasm for
2
music. An external evaluation by the University of Warwick was very positive in
nature.
Teachers’ learning communities
This initiative is developing from the education authority’s good links with higher
education institutions and is successfully involving increasing numbers of staff in
primary and secondary schools in professional dialogue about important aspects of
learning and teaching. The project has been supported by appropriate CPD for staff
facilitators within the schools concerned. The future priority for the authority is to
monitor and evaluate the impact of the initiative, and to ensure that this informs the
overall CPD strategy. In the course of the inspection, staff who were interviewed
were very positive about the potential benefits of the initiative.
3. Progress towards meeting the main points for action
The initial inspection report published in May 2007 identified the four main points for
action noted below. HMIE confirms the authority’s evaluation that it has made
positive progress in taking forward these important areas for development.
Take steps to ensure that all stakeholders are clear about the overall vision
and aims of the Council in relation to its education functions and ensure that
allocation of resources is targeted to achieve stated aims and bring about
continuous improvement.
The authority’s vision is now clearly and directly focused on raising attainment,
developing achievement and ensuring participation for all. Central to ensuring the
achievement of this vision is the commitment to developing staff, partnership working
and developing innovative frameworks to support improvement in outcomes. The
Director, Schools Services, has led the development of this new vision personally,
including consulting and listening to a wide range of stakeholders.
The main focus of this work has been to ensure that elected members and
headteachers have a clear understanding about the authority’s priorities and focus
on improvements for learners. A programme of communication and consultation
with parents and children has also been undertaken, though senior managers
recognise that more remains to be done to share the vision with these two groups.
Stakeholders interviewed in the course of the inspection visit were positive about the
Council’s vision and aims. Elected members were very positive about the vision and
how it had been arrived at and disseminated. A series of seminars, led by the
Director, Schools Services and his team, had helped provide important information
for them on crucial areas of Scottish education.
Centrally-based staff reported that they had been actively and fully involved in
developing the new structure. They also welcomed the positive overall approach to
leadership and management of change. They reported positively on the open style
of leadership. A number of stakeholders reported that the authority’s visions, values
and aims are now clear, simple and well communicated. Some stakeholders
believed that these new approaches and, particularly, clearer, agreed priorities, were
now making a difference to how they were able to undertake their responsibilities.
3
Progress in ensuring that stakeholders in CLD are clear about the Council’s aims
and vision has been too uneven. Regular engagement with CLD staff at, for
example, Area Committee meetings is increasing the awareness of elected members
of the positive contribution made by CLD staff. CLD staff are committed to work in
partnership with Schools Services and other agencies in order to improve outcomes
for learners. There is no clear vision or strategic plan in place which sets out CLD
priorities and developments. Working with staff and partners, however, the CLD
Strategic Team was in the early stages of updating the CLD vision and strategic
plan. Opportunities for CLD operational staff to contribute to the future shape of
services have been too limited.
A better shared understanding of aims is assisting the authority in its plans to
manage the financial and other resources of the service efficiently. The number of
disparate authority initiatives has been reduced to ensure that resources are
targeted at agreed priorities with the aim of improving outcomes for learners. One
example of this has been the commitment to ensuring that the school day for all
P1 and P2 children has been lengthened in line with best practice. Other examples
of where resources are being targeted to help ensure improvements for learners
include a focus on early intervention and developing children’s behaviour.
Increasingly, use of Education Officers’ time is being targeted in a proportionate way
to ensure that resources are allocated to those schools which need the greatest
support.
Finalise and implement proposals for restructuring Schools Services and CLD
so that the potential among staff in these teams can be fully realised to further
increase the impact on all young people and their families.
Plans to deliver education services through a locality-based approach are being
finalised. Authority staff are in the process of setting up a system of four district
teams to provide support and challenge to schools. This approach is consistent with
the Council’s overall strategy to decentralise its services. The location of education
teams alongside those of other key services in local areas is designed to promote a
more integrated approach to meeting the needs of children and families. The
appointment of staff to the district teams is almost complete. This new structure will
take effect from the beginning of the new school session in August 2009.
Over the two years since the original inspection, Schools Services have continued
successfully to encourage schools to work and learn together. Schools share good
practice and expertise and this is bringing improvements to children and young
people’s learning experiences. Staff have been working together effectively to
consider and develop the curriculum in line with the national initiative Curriculum for
Excellence. In some areas, there has been particularly effective partnership working
with colleagues from other services, including police and health, to enhance and
extend children and young people’s learning. The authority is building on good
practice and has put in place a project in the Annan area to demonstrate a model for
multiagency working to better meet the needs of children and families. The authority
is now well placed to maximise the potential of local teams to provide high quality
and relevant services to children, young people and their communities.
CLD service delivery is improving after a period of uncertainty. Good progress has
been made in elements of the CLD restructuring. CLD operational staff are
operating effectively within the area management model. The service is in the early
4
stages of introducing a quality improvement and management information system.
Good links have been developed between CLD and schools in some areas. In best
practice, CLD staff have been engaging positively and constructively with identified
schools. Examples of effective practice include youth work staff from the Oasis
Youth Centre, along with Young People’s Support Service (YPSS) staff, working with
S3 pupils identified as being at risk. Adult learning staff offer good support for family
learning initiatives in identified primary schools. Their input is valued by partners.
However, the potential amongst staff in Schools Services and CLD to work closely
together to increase the impact on all young people and families requires even more
development. This will remain a continued priority area.
Raise attainment in secondary schools.
Performance at S4 in relation to SCQF Levels 3, 4 and 5 was above national
averages in 2008 but is below the level of performance in 2007. Performance at
Level 3 or better in English and mathematics has been recognised as a key priority
for improvement by the education authority. The authority has responded well to this
challenge. It has been focusing its performance analysis proportionately on those
schools which are not performing well at these levels and has indentified priorities for
immediate action to improve outcomes. Key indicators at S5 have shown an
increase in performance from 2006 to 2008 for candidates gaining 3+ and 5+ awards
at SCQF Level 6. Overall, key indicators at S6 have shown an increase from 2007
to 2008. Performance has improved in relation to comparator authorities in 2008.
Senior managers are aware of the need to improve further these aspects of
attainment. They have clear plans in place to address those areas which need
further attention and recognise the need to monitor closely the progress of these
plans.
Finalise and implement plans for improving the school estate, including
addressing the challenges of demographic change and falling rolls.
The authority has successfully taken forward its Public Private Partnership schools
building programme according to agreed timescales. Two schools are due to be
completed in August 2009 with a further eight scheduled for completion between
January and May 2010. The Council has built three new primary schools under the
Council’s capital programme. One has recently opened and the other two will open
in August 2009. Plans are now underway for another two new primary schools.
Funding is secured for both of these schools. The School Estate Management Plan
has been revised to include new priorities. The authority has used funding from
Scottish Government to improve specialist facilities in secondary schools.
Conditions surveys on all schools will be completed in June 2009. This information
will be used to inform future planning for improvements to the school estate. The
authority has continued to explore ways of providing cost effective rural schooling. It
has put in place a range of suitable approaches for the joint management of some
primary schools. The authority continues to face significant challenges in addressing
the requirements of the school estate.
5
4. Conclusion
Dumfries and Galloway Council has undergone significant changes in its political and
professional leadership since the original inspection. The Director, Schools
Services, with his senior management team, is showing and encouraging a clear
commitment to leading continued improvement of experiences and outcomes for
learners. Elected members and headteachers, in particular, now have a clear and
agreed vision of the key priorities and how these are being developed and delivered.
In the course of this follow-through inspection, senior managers were open and clear
about areas that required further attention. This displayed a clear determination to
ensure improvement through self-evaluation. Senior managers recognise that the
development and implementation of the authority’s quality improvement processes
within the new area models are crucial to the future and sustained success of
provision for learners in Dumfries and Galloway. They also recognise the need to
ensure that future progress in ensuring improvements in outcomes for learners can
be tracked and monitored so that evidence of the difference the authority is making
for learners is clear and available to all.
Dumfries and Galloway Council and HMIE have agreed a number of areas where
they intend to work together to help ensure further and continued development and
progress. These are:
• developing the strategic leadership of CLD;
• how effectively CLD and School Services work together to support and develop
the learning of young people;
• supporting the development of the new area teams within Schools Services and
evaluating progress as this new structure is implemented;
• continuing to prioritise improvement in outcomes in achievement for
secondary-aged learners; and
• developing and implementing a clear and cohesive authority direction for
Curriculum for Excellence.
Senior managers of Dumfries and Galloway Council and HM District Inspector for
Dumfries and Galloway will prioritise these areas in their joint-work over the next
two years.
6
The authority has taken effective action to implement the recommendations of the
original report of May 2007. Through a number of important developments, it is now
demonstrating a clearer capacity for continuous improvement. Attention to the action
points raised in the original report is resulting in improvements to the service. As
result of the progress being made by the education authority, HMIE will make no
further visits in connection with the inspection of January 2007. However, we will
seek a report from Dumfries and Galloway Council on progress on the development
of the strategic leadership of CLD within one year of the publication of this report.
The District Inspector will continue to monitor the development of secondary
attainment in liaison with the Director, Schools Services.
Alastair Delaney
HM Assistant Chief Inspector
Directorate 5
6 October 2009
7
How can you contact us?
To find out more about inspections or get an electronic copy of this report go to
www.hmie.gov.uk. Please contact the Business Management and Communications
Team (BMCT) if you wish to enquire about our arrangements for translated or other
appropriate versions.
If you wish to comment about any of our inspections, contact us at
HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively you should write in the first instance
to BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business
Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
Our complaints procedure is available from our website www.hmie.gov.uk or
alternatively you can write to our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by
telephoning 01506 600259.
If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our complaints
procedure, you can raise your complaint with the Scottish Public Services
Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is fully independent and has powers to investigate
complaints about Government departments and agencies. You should write to
SPSO, Freepost EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR. You can also telephone 0800 377
7330, fax 0800 377 7331 or e-mail: ask@spso.org.uk. More information about the
Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website at www.spso.org.uk.
Want to join us?
In addition to HMI, inspection teams often include people who are not HMI but are
involved directly in education. They are called Associate Assessors. Most
inspection teams also include a member of the public called a Lay Member. More
information about how you can become an Associate Assessor or Lay Member is
available at www.hmie.gov.uk.
Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education