Dr Vicki Nash
Chief Executive
East Dunbartonshire Council
Tom Johnston House
PO Box 4
Civic Way
Kirkintilloch
G66 4TJ
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Dear Dr Nash
FOLLOW-UP TO THE INSPECTION OF THE EDUCATION FUNCTIONS OF:EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL
The report on the education functions of East Dunbartonshire Council was published in
February 2001. HM Inspectors made an interim visit to the Council in March 2002 to evaluate
progress made in responding to the main points for action in the report. A full follow-up inspection
will take place in a year’s time.
Overall, at this interim stage, the Council had made good progress in main points for action one, four
and six. Some progress had been made in each of the other action points. However, further action
still required to be taken regarding the implementation of a quality assurance system and the
improvements in service planning before the two year follow-up visit by HM Inspectors.
I attach an evaluation and brief account of the response made by the education authority to the main
points for action in the report.
I am sending a copy of this letter to the recipients of the original inspection report.
Yours sincerely
Ian Gamble
HM Chief Inspector
Quality, Standards and Audit Division
enc.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Headquarters • Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD • Telephone 0131 244 0650 • Fax 0131 244 7124 • www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie
1
HM Inspectorate of Education
Follow-up to the Inspection of The Education Functions
of East Dunbartonshire Council
Main points for action
1.
Senior officers should work in partnership with key stakeholders to establish a
vision, values and aims for education which link to a corporate vision and goals.
The Council had made good progress towards establishing a vision and values for the
Education Service. Key stakeholders had been involved in developing statements of
vision and values and the Council had consulted widely on them. The involvement of
senior staff from schools in the development of the vision and values statements provided
good opportunities for sharing the key messages and for ensuring that account would be
taken of them in schools. Headteachers now felt a greater sense of ownership of the
Council’s overall direction for education.
Significant efforts had been made to publicise the vision and values statements through
printed materials for display in schools and more recently through a series of local
seminars to which every employee in the Education Service was invited. These seminars,
supported by senior staff in the Community Services Directorate and by elected members,
had been reported as helpful by staff in schools.
The introduction of vision and values statements had been beneficial to the Council in
establishing clearer leadership by the Strategic Director/(Community) and her senior
management team, as had their involvement in communicating the key messages.
More remained to be done in establishing a clear set of aims for the Education Service.
The aims for education were derived from the existing aims in the Community Service
Plan, but they had not yet been revised in line with the vision and values. The Council had
recognised the need to review the aims for the Education Service and planned to do this at
the next review of the Community Service Plan.
The Council now needed to link the vision, values and aims to its procedures for service
planning and to use them as a framework for policy development.
2.
As a matter of high priority, senior officers should work with headteachers to
agree mutual roles and expectations. In particular, roles and expectations in
consultation, communication and in respect of quality assurance and quality
development should be agreed.
The Education Service had taken good steps towards meeting some aspects of this main
point for action. However, much remained to be done in finalising roles and expectations
in quality assurance and quality development.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Headquarters • Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD • Telephone 0131 244 0650 • Fax 0131 244 7124 • www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie
2
Senior officers had involved all headteachers, together with other key stakeholders, in
preparing and implementing the action plan to address the recommendations of the
inspection report. Extensive consultation and communication at all stages were features of
the work of the groups set up to address the main points for action. Senior officers had
valued the input of headteachers and support service managers who, for their part, had
appreciated having increased opportunities to contribute to decision-making processes.
Considerable improvements in consultation and communication were helping to establish a
relationship of trust between the education authority and staff in its schools.
A policy framework had been developed for the Education Service to ensure greater clarity
and consistency in strategic policy formulation. This useful document included a clear
process for policy formulation, implementation and review. Appropriate key areas for
policy development had been identified and several policies had been agreed. A policy for
consultation and communication had been approved by the Education and Cultural
Services Committee in January 2002. It included the roles, rights and responsibilities for
the Directorate, headteachers and other senior staff. The responsibilities of headteachers
and support service managers were confirmed through the expectation that each school or
support service team would submit a statement on the consultation arrangements put in
place for their setting.
A core quality assurance policy had been presented to the Education and Cultural Services
Committee in March 2002. The policy provided a good starting point for setting out
expectations in respect of quality assurance and quality development. It identified
strategies to extend the rigour of visits to schools to review and support aspects of quality
development and improvement. The work of educational development officers was
continuing to take good account of some aspects of quality development through, for
example, promoting audits of provision and monitoring the implementation of current
developments.
Overall, the quality assurance policy still required to define more clearly the roles and
expectations of headteachers and Education Service officers, in quality assurance and
quality improvement. As a matter of priority, the Education Service needed to overcome
the remaining barrier to finalising and implementing this key set of policies.
3.
The authority should review the deployment of staff and resources to quality
assurance and quality development so that local and national priorities can be
addressed effectively and sustained.
The Council had made positive progress with some aspects of this main point for action
but there were a number of aspects which still required to be addressed.
The core quality assurance policy set out a very useful framework for taking forward
quality assurance and quality development. It promoted clearly the Council’s ethos of
continuous improvement through self-evaluation and consistent and rigorous approaches
to supporting and challenging schools and education support services. The policy set out
the cycle and nature of quality visits to schools, and identified the importance of the
collection and use of evidence. It included also the policy on development planning, the
production of standards and quality reports, and the intention to review the policy and
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Headquarters • Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD • Telephone 0131 244 0650 • Fax 0131 244 7124 • www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie
3
procedures for staff development and review. At the time of the interim follow-up
inspection the Council had not yet finalised policy and procedures for monitoring learning
and teaching and for staff development and review. Procedures for the professional review
of headteachers were planned.
The Council had developed and was implementing a 3-14 curriculum strategy for the next
three years. The strategy presented a clear programme for improving learning and
teaching and raising standards of attainment and achievement. Members of the
Educational Development Team had inherited lead responsibilities for taking forward
developments within the strategy. There was a need for their remits to be reviewed within
the overall review of the deployment of the Educational Development team. The service
also needed to establish a clear programme to support continuing professional
development for staff in schools.
The Strategic Director/(Community) had still to finalise the deployment of staff within the
Educational Development Team to support the implementation of its quality assurance
policy, particularly to provide support and challenge to schools. Progress in this aspect
required to be increased. The Council had begun to address the deployment of its
Educational Development Team with the recent appointment of an Education Officer and
the production of a draft report proposing options for models of deployment.
Clear procedures were still required for supporting and challenging schools in the
processes of audit, planning and implementation of priorities. As an interim measure the
Education Service had commenced a programme of quality visits using teams which
included seconded officers, a consultant and an Education Officer. These quality visits
were acknowledged by head teachers and officers as being helpful. However, more
needed to be done to ensure continuity and consistency of knowledge and information on
individual school performance.
The Education Service should now give high priority to finalising its quality assurance
policy and procedures. In particular, increased attention should be given to establishing a
team of officers who will be deployed effectively to support the implementation of the
quality assurance policy and the quality development priorities. Particular attention should
be given to clarifying roles, responsibilities and expectations in the support and challenge
required by schools.
4.
Open and transparent procedures for consultation and communication with
stakeholders over strategies, plans, and allocation of resources and budgets,
along with means of public performance reporting, should be developed.
The Education Service had made considerable progress overall with this main point for
action. In particular, there had been very good progress in developing and implementing a
clear policy for communication and consultation.
Systematic and comprehensive approaches to consultation were now strong features of the
Education Service approach to new developments. The agreed policy for consultation and
communication had a clear rationale and aims, set out responsibilities and included
suggested mechanisms for effective implementation. Very good work was being done to
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Headquarters • Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD • Telephone 0131 244 0650 • Fax 0131 244 7124 • www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie
4
extend the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to support and
facilitate communication. The extensive consultation and communication related to the
tasks of the working groups set up to address the education authority’s action plan had
helped to establish the principles on which the final policy was based. The working group
that had developed this policy had also identified appropriate arrangements to monitor and
evaluate its implementation.
Consultation had involved school and support services staff, School Boards and parents,
elected members, trade unions and other departments within the Council. A notable
example of good practice was the now well-established School Board Forum, which was
linked to the Council’s committee structure.
There had been considerable improvements in communication between senior officers and
headteachers. Headteachers generally appreciated the increased clarity of information on
financial procedures and allocation of resources. Further information was needed on
aspects of the capital budget. Consultation with headteachers on service planning had
been more limited. However, meetings were planned to consult headteachers on the
forthcoming Service Plan.
The Education Service was making steady progress in developing its approaches to public
performance reporting. Elected members felt well informed and were of the view that the
level of debate at meetings of the Education and Cultural Services Committee had
improved. All schools were producing their own standards and quality reports. Senior
managers in schools had taken part in training days on standard and quality reporting and
there were plans for further improvement in this area. The Education Service intended to
prepare its first overall standards and quality report by the autumn of 2002. The Education
Service should take steps to ensure that standards of attainment are reported to all parents.
5.
Systematic Service Planning for the Education Service, linked to local and
national priorities, with clear objectives and success criteria, and including
strategic use of Best Value reviews should be introduced and implemented.
Overall, much remained to be done to implement this point for action. Community
Services had developed a Service Plan for 2001-2004, which comprised a collation of
up-dated plans for each service, including education, the action plan produced in response
to the HMIE inspection report, and a plan for Educational Development. These plans
provided statements of priorities and objectives set for education within the Council.
However, there remained significant weaknesses in the quality of the Service Plan.
Different sections were produced in various formats. A clear and coherent overview was
required of the key priorities and targets for the Education Service. The aims for education
required to be stated more explicitly to provide a basis for identification of priorities and
for quality assurance. A clear audit section was needed to indicate the basis on which
priorities and targets had been identified. Objectives, time frames, resources and success
criteria required more detailed consideration.
Recently, a separate Improvement Plan had been produced in line with the timescales set
out by the Scottish Executive. It set outcomes, objectives and performance measures
related to the national priorities for education. Baseline measurements required to be
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Headquarters • Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD • Telephone 0131 244 0650 • Fax 0131 244 7124 • www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie
5
established for some of these performance measures. The links between the Improvement
Plan and the Service Plan needed to be clarified.
Best Value Reviews had been carried out in relation to community transport and to speech
and language therapy provision. The action plans relating to each of these had yet to have
a direct impact on service plans and their implementation.
The Council was currently revising the Corporate Development Plan and introducing
amended guidance and a new cycle for service planning. This changing context within the
Strategic Directorate/(Community) had caused some difficulties with this point for action.
The revised corporate planning guidelines and timescales for planning for improvement
now provided a framework within which further progress can be made to improve the
quality of service planning.
6.
In continuing to improve resource and financial management, the authority
should ensure: that strategic planning and budgetary processes are linked; that
three-year planning is developed to enable longer-term decisions to be taken; that
the capital plan is revised in line with strategic objectives and options for
alternative sources of finance to improve accommodation standards are explored;
that a comprehensive financial monitoring report is developed that can be used by
the Educational Management Team to examine spending to date, slippages,
variances and actions to be taken; and that the basis for cross-charges is clearly
explained and agreed by all parties.
The Council had made substantial progress in implementing the recommendations for
resource and financial management.
Three-year budgeting and service planning had been introduced. However, further
development needed to be undertaken to link strategic planning and budgetary processes.
The Education Service Plan for 2001/04 needed to provide further financial information to
ensure that objectives were fully costed and that there were clearer links between the
Service Plan and other planning documents.
A capital plan had been compiled by the Capital Development Group based on capital bids
submitted by services, including the Education Service. The Capital Monitoring Group
was responsible for monitoring the implementation of the plan. A good framework had
been put in place to ensure that agreed projects linked with the Council’s corporate
objectives and had the highest priorities. However, the capital plan itself did not make
clear the rationale for the agreed priorities.
The authority had made very good progress in exploring the possibility of a Private Public
Partnership (PPP) approach to financing capital expenditure for school buildings. A Best
Value review of different models had been carried out. In February 2002, the Council
approved a joint venture approach. The Council had plans to prepare an outline business
case for submission to the Scottish Executive in September 2002.
Revenue monitoring reports were discussed regularly by the Senior Management Team
and considered by the Education and Cultural Services Committee. These reports showed
clearly spending, slippages, variances and year-end anticipated variances. Helpful
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Headquarters • Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD • Telephone 0131 244 0650 • Fax 0131 244 7124 • www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie
6
summary reports were also submitted to the Policy and Resources Committee. These
reports ensured that any major concerns would be highlighted for elected members. The
Council’s financial regulations had been revised and a review of devolved school
management had begun recently.
Initial progress had been made in developing service level agreements for support services
including human resources, property repairs, finance/ICT and legal services. Agreements
provided details of the services, target timescales for delivery and associated costs. A
performance-monitoring framework had been outlined within each agreement. When
implemented this would provide information on the quality of service provision for
discussion with recipient services such as education. Plans were in place to provide
training for headteachers on the content and operation of the agreements to support
implementation of the process in April 2002. A facilities management review was also in
progress to streamline the operation of the various building support services such as
cleaning, catering and maintenance. The operation of service level agreements was at a
very early stage of implementation and should be reviewed over time to ensure increased
transparency in cost and quality of the central services provided.
Overall, at this interim stage, the Council had made good progress in main points for
action one, four and six. Some progress had been made in each of the other action points.
However, further action still required to be taken regarding the implementation of a
quality assurance system and the improvements in service planning before the two year
follow-up visit by HM Inspectors.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
Headquarters • Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD • Telephone 0131 244 0650 • Fax 0131 244 7124 • www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie