Glasgow City Council
May 2002
Contents
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Page
Introduction
i
1.
The aims, nature and scope of the inspection
1
2.
The Education Service: operational context
1
3.
Strategic management of the service
11
4.
Consultation and communication
17
5.
Operational management
23
6.
Resource and financial management
26
7.
Performance monitoring and continuous
improvement
32
8.
How well does the authority perform overall?
47
9.
Main points for action
48
Appendices
Performance information
Inspection coverage
Quality indicators
51
55
58
Introduction
The education functions of each local authority in
Scotland will be inspected between 2000 and
2005. Section 9 of the Standards in Scotland’s
Schools Etc. Act 2000 charges HM Inspectorate of
Education, 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) 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 Executive and public sector bodies in
Scotland are held to account for the proper,
efficient and effective use of public funds.
The external auditor member of the inspection
team carries out a performance management and
planning (PMP) audit of the education functions
of the authority. The inspection team also
includes an Associate Assessor who is a senior
member of staff currently serving in another
Scottish local authority.
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Inspection of the education functions of
Glasgow City Council
1. The aims, nature and scope of the inspection
The education functions of Glasgow City Council were
inspected during the period December 2001 to February
2002 as part of a five-year national inspection programme
of all local authorities in Scotland.
The inspection team interviewed elected members and
officers of the Council. The inspection team also
attended meetings, visited schools and other
establishments in the authority and met with staff,
chairpersons of School Boards and other key stakeholders
of the Education Service. A summary of inspection
activities is given in Appendix 2.
On behalf of HM Inspectors, an independent company
issued and analysed responses to questionnaires to
headteachers of all educational establishments within the
authority and to the chairpersons of the School
Boards/Parents’ Associations and to partnership
pre-school establishments.
2. The Education Service: operational context
Social and economic context
Glasgow City Council was formed in 1996 at the time of
the establishment of unitary authorities. With a
population of around 612,000 Glasgow City is the largest
local authority in Scotland. Glasgow’s population has
fallen steadily from a peak of 1,100,000 in the 1950s and
1
is projected to fall to 592,000 by 2016, partly due to
outward migration. A continued fall in the number of
children of school age is forecast for the foreseeable
future. This feature of declining population presents the
Council with significant challenges in managing school
capacities, particularly in the primary sector.
The composition of the city’s population, includes
substantial communities of Pakistani, Indian, Chinese,
African and Caribbean origin. Around nine percent of
the school population come from ethnic minorities. The
city has contracted with National Asylum Seekers
Support (NASS) to house asylum seekers’ families. Over
1,300 children from these families have enrolled in
Glasgow schools.
The unemployment rate in October 2001 was 6.4%,
above the Scottish average of 4.2%. Sixty-three percent
of working age people in Glasgow are working, well
below the Scottish average of 73%. However,
unemployment has decreased by ten percent over the last
ten years, much faster than the fall for Scotland as a
whole. The growth in jobs has come largely from the
service sector, particularly finance, utilities and telephone
call centres, although Glasgow remains the UK’s third
largest manufacturing centre. Unemployment is spread
unevenly across the city and long-term unemployment
persists at around 30% of the total.
While Glasgow’s economic performance has improved
over the last few years, areas of significant deprivation
remain throughout the city. Glasgow is the most
deprived local authority area in Scotland. Some 60% of
its population live in the ten percent most deprived postal
code sectors nationally. Fifty-two of the 90 worst areas
of deprivation in Scotland lie within the city’s
boundaries. The city has the highest proportion of
children in local authority care in Scotland, 17%
compared to the national average of 9.4%. Thirty-one
percent of households with children are headed by a lone
2
parent. The uptake of free meal entitlement (FME) in
October 2001 was 41%, the highest in Scotland,
compared to the national average of 16%. In some areas
of the city FME is more than three times the national
average. A Public Health Institute (PHI) survey of all
Scottish parliamentary constituencies reported in March
2001 that the five poorest constituencies were in
Glasgow, that the five unhealthiest were in Glasgow and
that the lowest percentage of Scottish Qualification
Authority (SQA) awards at Higher Grade were in
Glasgow. The links between deprivation, social
exclusion and educational achievement present
challenges for Glasgow Education Services, which are
collectively by far the most demanding in Scotland.
Political and organisational context
Glasgow City Council has 74 Labour, two Scottish
National Party, one Conservative, one Scottish Liberal
Democrat and one Scottish Socialist Party councillors.
Over the last few years the Council has streamlined its
organisational and management structures. The number
of departments has been reduced from 21 to 11, and
service committees from 17 to ten. Education Services
have remained much the same in the Council’s overall
management structure, although Community Education
Services have been transferred to Cultural and Leisure
Services. The main Council committee is the Policy and
Resources (PR) Committee which co-ordinates Council
services. The Education Services Committee is the main
policy-making and decision-making body for education.
Major policy items are also considered at the PR
Committee. The Education Services Committee operates
with six sub-committees: Appeals; Convenors;
Endowments; Pre-five and Special Educational Needs;
Standards and Quality; and the Education and Social
work (Children’s Services) joint sub-committee.
The Council has the clear aim to enable Glasgow to
flourish as a multi-cultural, international city where
3
people choose to live, learn, work and play and are
valued equally. The Council aims to deliver the major
services necessary to improve the quality of life for
Glasgow citizens and all with a stake in the future of the
city. To make this happen, the Council has identified
five inter-related key objectives to guide its actions.
They are as follows:
•
Improve the effectiveness and value for money of all
Council services, securing new investment and Best
Value in a way that addresses the needs and
expectations of service users and citizens.
•
Sustain the physical, social, economic, cultural and
environmental development and regeneration of
Glasgow through:
more quality jobs;
better educational attainment;
safe communities and a healthy environment;
equal opportunities for all;
major private and public investment;
housing, education, leisure, cultural and fiscal
measures to attract and retain the population; and
local neighbourhood development and improvement.
4
•
Tackle the poverty, social exclusion and poor health
experienced by Glasgow citizens and provide
accessible and relevant services to the city’s diverse
communities through the development of Glasgow as
a caring city.
•
Develop Glasgow’s metropolitan role, quality of life,
heritage and services (shopping, cultural, sport and
transport) for the benefit of those who live, work,
learn and play in the city as a major contribution to
Scotland’s overall economic, social and cultural
standing.
•
Provide accessible and accountable services, ensuring
the views of service users, citizens and voluntary
groups are central to the Council’s service
improvement programmes and its partnership with
other public bodies.
The officer structure of the Council consists of the Chief
Executive and 11 service groups each led by a Director,
including the Director of Education Services. The
Council Corporate Management Team, which includes
the Service Directors and the Chief Executive provides
strategic direction and manages overall performance.
The Director of Education is supported by three Depute
Directors with responsibilities for schools and finance;
personnel, continued professional development and
quality assurance; and specialist services, Best Value and
performance management. There are four Senior
Education Officers with responsibilities for Special
Educational Needs (SEN); pre-five services; 5-14
education; and post-14 education and ICT. Each also has
pastoral responsibility for a quarter of the schools in the
city. In turn each of the Deputes and Senior Education
Officers are supported by administrative and professional
staff, including some who are seconded from schools.
Educational provision and performance
In January 2002 the Education Authority was responsible
for around 80,000 pupils. There are 29 secondary
schools and 203 primary schools. Pre-school education is
provided in 72 authority nursery schools, 22 nursery
classes in primary schools and 30 children’s centres/
family centres. Places are also commissioned from
96 pre-school partnerships with private providers. There
are 32 schools and 14 units for pupils with special
educational needs.
Ninety percent of secondary schools and 73% of primary
schools have School Boards.
5
The Council provides a pre-school place for all three-and
four-year-old children whose parents wish a place. The
Accounts Commission Statutory Performance Indicators
(SPIs) for 2000-2001 show that 88% of four-year-old and
88% of three-year-old children took up a pre-school
place, compared to the national averages of 96% and
87%.
The SPIs indicate that 31% of secondary schools had
occupancy levels of below 60% compared to a national
average of 16%. Seventeen percent of secondary schools
had occupancy rates of 101% or more compared to the
national figure of 15%. A recent rationalisation
programme for secondary schools has had a significant
impact on the reduction of surplus places. The most
recent figures indicate that 24.1% of secondary schools
now have occupancy levels of below 60%. In 1999/2000
running costs per pupil were around the national average.
Given the projected continued decline in primary school
numbers the Council faces a major problem of
under-occupancy in primary schools. In 2000/2001 57%
of primary schools, substantially more than the national
figure of 32%, had an occupancy rate of 60% or less.
Glasgow was one of four Councils in Scotland where at
least half of the primary schools were less than 61%
occupied. Partly as a result, in 1999/2000 running costs
per pupil were well above the national average and the
sixth highest in Scotland. In 2000/2001 the average
number of pupils per primary class was equal to the
national average. Similarly, the percentage of P1 to P3
classes with 30 pupils or less was in line with the national
average.
In 2000/2001 the Council allocated £338,323,000 to the
revenue budget for education. In 2001/2002 the figure
increased to £374,708,000. These figures included direct
grants under the Excellence Fund core and special
programmes, including funding to finance the McCrone
6
Agreement on teachers’ salaries and conditions of
service.
The following commentary draws on key performance
information about the schools in the Council provided
in Appendix 1. No data is provided in relation to
similar Councils in Scotland as none are sufficiently
close to Glasgow City in a broad range of
socio-economic indicators to enable comparisons to be
statistically valid.
Staying on rate and school leavers’ destinations
The percentage of pupils staying on after the compulsory
school leaving age had declined in recent years and was
well below the national average.
Over the last three years the percentage of school leavers
entering full-time higher education was consistently well
below the national average. However, the figure
increased notably in 2000/2001 by three percentage
points compared to 1999/2000. Over the same period the
number of leavers entering full-time further education
was consistently above the national average and among
the top third of authorities in Scotland. The number of
pupils entering employment was in line with national
averages and the percentage unemployed had reduced.
Attendance and absence
Between 1997/1998 and 2000/2001, the percentage of
total absences in primary schools was around two percent
above the national average, and had declined at a similar
rate to the national decline. The Council almost met its
target for improving attendance in primary schools.
At secondary school level, the percentage of total
absences between 1997/1998 and 2000/2001 declined
from seven percent to five percent above the national
average. The Council had significantly reduced the
extent to which absence was above the national average
7
by eight half days per pupil, but had not met its ambitious
target for improving attendance.
In 2000/2001 the number of exclusions per 1,000 pupils
was 96 compared to the national figure of 51. However,
the number of pupils excluded was markedly reduced by
13% on the previous year, compared to a national
reduction of less than half a percent.
5-14 performance
Over the period 1998/2001, the number of primary pupils
attaining or exceeding expected levels of attainment for
their stage in reading, writing and mathematics had been
below the national average, but had increased notably.
The Council had exceeded the targets set for attainment
in reading and writing and had met that set for
mathematics. Overall, attainment had improved
markedly to within two to three percent of national
averages.
The performance of S2 pupils in national tests between
1998 and 2001 was well below national averages, but was
steadily improving. Targets for reading and writing had
been exceeded and that for mathematics almost met. The
extent of improvement had exceeded that at national level
by three percentage points in reading, five percentage
points in writing and two percentage points in
mathematics.
SQA examination performance
Over the period 1999 to 2001, Glasgow’s performance
was well below national averages in the percentage of
pupils achieving five or more awards in Scottish
Qualification Authority (SQA) National Qualifications
(NQs) Level 3 or better, Level 4 or better and Level 5 or
better, by the end of S4 (Appendix 1 Pg 51). However,
from a low base, there had been an increase in
performance, more marked at Level 4 or better. The rate
of improvement was above that achieved nationally. The
8
Council had exceeded the targets set for Standard Grade,
Credit/General/ Foundation Levels (1-6) and
Credit/General Levels (1-4). Performance had also
improved to within one percent of achieving the targets
set for English, mathematics and Credit Level (1-2).
Other than for performance at Credit Level (1-2), the rate
of improvement was greater than that achieved nationally
and, as a result, overall attainment in Glasgow had moved
closer to the national average.
Over the same period, the percentage of pupils achieving
three or more NQ awards at Level 6 or better, five or
more awards at Level 6 or better, and one or more awards
at Level 7 or better, by the end of S5, remained well
below the national averages. The Council had almost met
the targets set at Higher Grade. On all measures at
Levels 6 and 7, improvement was generally in line with
that achieved nationally, resulting in the gap between the
Council’s performance and national averages remaining
broadly the same.
School inspection evidence
In the period from the start of school session 1998/1999
to December 2001, HMIE published reports, which gave
evaluations against a full set of performance indicators in
58 Glasgow schools. Reports were published on
42 primary schools, nine secondary schools and
seven special schools.
Most of the primary schools inspected were judged to
provide a good overall quality of education. In
four schools the overall quality was very good. In seven
there were important weaknesses in several key aspects.
The quality of the teaching process was good in almost
all schools and pupils’ learning was good in most. The
overall quality of attainment in English language and
mathematics was good in only around half of the schools
inspected. In four schools, attainment in mathematics
was very good.
9
Ethos, communications with parents, the structure of the
curriculum, arrangements for the development and review
of staff and schools’ management of devolved finances
were consistently strong features in primary schools.
Almost three-quarters of primary schools inspected had
very good partnership with parents and the School Board.
Almost all had very good or good levels of staffing and
resources. Learning support was judged to be very good
in around one third of schools, but was only fair in a
quarter.
Around two-thirds of the primary schools inspected had
important weaknesses in their arrangements for
assessment. In one third teaching was not well matched
to pupils’ needs and experiences. There were also
weaknesses in teachers’ planning in one third of schools
and in the quality of courses in a quarter. Schools’
approaches to evaluating their own work were fair in half
of schools, and there were weaknesses in development
planning in almost one third. While leadership was very
effective in 18 of the schools inspected, there were
important weaknesses in the leadership of six schools.
Seven of the secondary schools were judged to provide a
good overall standard of education and good learning and
teaching. The other two schools were good in many
respects but had important weakness in either learning
and teaching or management and quality assurance. The
overall quality of attainment was good at some stages in
five schools and fair at all stages in four. Attainment at
S1/S2 was fair in all nine schools.
There were consistent strengths in secondary schools in
the quality of pastoral care, curricular and vocational
guidance and schools’ management of devolved finances.
Leadership was very effective in over half the schools
inspected. All secondary schools had very good or good
communications and partnerships with parents, were well
provided with staff and resources, and had effective
10
promoted staff and senior teachers. All but one had
important weaknesses in evaluating their work. School
development plans were only fair in six schools. There
were important weaknesses in accommodation in
five schools. Main points for action in inspection reports
most frequently related to the need to improve attainment,
the curriculum, quality assurance procedures and
development planning.
The seven special schools inspected provided for pupils
with a range of different special needs. The overall
quality of education in these schools was good, and in
every case the quality of learning and teaching was good.
However, aspects of care required improvement in
one school, and several features of provision had
important weaknesses in another. Pupils were acquiring
good skills and achieving good standards in areas of the
curriculum in all seven schools. Pupils’ achievements
were very good in certain aspects in one school, but were
fair in some respects in three.
Consistently strong features in special schools included
ethos, partnership with parents, links with other schools
and agencies and the placement of pupils with special
needs. Pastoral care was very good, and the quality of
personal and social development was very good or good
in most of the schools. In four schools, procedures for
self-evaluation were only fair. Accommodation had
important weaknesses in three.
3. Strategic management of the service
Vision, values and aims
Performance in this area was very good. The Council’s
Education Services had a very clear and appropriate
vision and set of values. These were widely shared
within the department and were strongly represented in
11
the work of headquarters staff and educational
establishments.
The vision and associated aims and priorities of
Education Services were highly relevant to the needs of
Glasgow. They related very well to the Council’s key
objectives, which placed a strong emphasis on developing
and regenerating the city through providing effective,
accessible services for all its citizens. Education Services
had established a central role in contributing to the
corporate objectives, and aimed to maximise the learning
potential of all young people in a spirit of partnership and
consultation. The priorities of the department clearly
reflected national priorities. They focussed sharply on
the overriding aim of raising standards of educational
achievement and on promoting social inclusion. They
also recognised the importance of lifelong learning,
developing core skills and providing education for work,
enterprise and creativity.
The aims and values of Education Services had been
communicated effectively. They had a notable impact on
the priorities and plans for development in educational
establishments, particularly in primary and secondary
schools. Education Service officers and staff in
establishments displayed very good awareness of the
department’s aims. Almost all heads of establishment
who responded to the pre-inspection survey (for which
the response rate was 74%), indicated that the Education
Service Plan made clear the Council’s aims and priorities
for education. There was a high level of agreement with
the vision and a strong and widespread commitment to
achieving the aims.
In pursuit of its aims and to contribute successfully to the
Council’s corporate objectives, Education Services had
developed very effective working relationships with other
service departments. Departmental Directors met
regularly as members of the Corporate Management
Team, worked together on strategic issues and adopted a
12
positive approach to shared problems. The Children’s
Services Joint Strategy Group was an example of
effective co-operation between Education and Social
Work Services. Other productive partnerships included
those with Direct and Care Services in relation to healthy
eating, with Cultural and Leisure Services on a range of
projects such as the sport for youth scheme, and with
Building Services in providing pre-vocational training for
secondary school pupils. Education Service officers had
also established effective partnerships with a wide range
of other agencies including the health service, police and
local businesses.
Leadership and management
Overall, the effectiveness of leadership and management
of Education Services was good. There was very
effective teamwork among the senior management team
and their leadership was generally well regarded in
Glasgow schools.
The Director provided very good leadership, particularly
in promoting the values of Education Services. He
articulated the vision for education very well and
reinforced this in all his communication with schools. He
had given a very clear lead in the development of social
inclusion and raising attainment and this was well
understood by staff throughout Education Services and
schools. The Director had a good understanding of local
and national political contexts and of how Education
Services should operate effectively within them. Good
relationships were maintained with elected members.
The Director played a full part in the corporate work of
the Council and worked well at a strategic level with
other services. In particular, he had focussed efforts on
improving strategies on health and anti-racism, as these
were central to the development of the social inclusion
strategy. He also developed good links with business and
industry, which supported the corporate, and Education
Service’s priorities. His listening and responsive
13
management style was widely acknowledged within
Education Services and schools. He still required to
clarify aspects of policy and ensure greater consistency in
the work of the Senior Management Team.
The Director was supported well by three Depute
Directors who gave a good overall lead in the areas for
which they were responsible. The Director recognised
the strengths of each of the Depute’s and their remits had
been developed to make good use of those skills and
abilities. The Depute Directors were involved in both
supporting and challenging schools but to varying
extents. Almost all headteachers agreed that the senior
Directorate showed a high level of commitment to
improving quality. As part of the corporate planned
revision of the senior management structures, the remits
of senior staff should be reviewed in line with service
priorities and objectives.
The senior Directorate were supported in their work by a
team of four Senior Education Officers (SEOs). The
SEOs were part of the Directorate team and played a key
role in taking forward the work of Education Services.
They brought a wide range of skills and abilities to the
team and carried out their remits well. The SEOs played
an important part in putting into operation the strategic
planning that took place at Directorate level. They had
appropriate remits but were often too heavily involved in
day-to-day operational matters that were more
appropriately the remits of link advisors in the Education
Improvement Service (EdIS).
Headteachers appreciated the stability there had been in
the Directorate team since the inception of the Council in
1996. SEO’s kept themselves informed about issues and
concerns that arose at school level through their pastoral
role. However, the extent to which they and other
members of the directorate team had contact with
individual schools varied. Secondary school
headteachers appreciated the high level of contact they
14
had with the Directorate. This was less marked in
primary schools, special schools and pre-school
establishments. All senior staff were reviewed annually
and had personal targets which they were working
towards. There was now a need to develop further the
quality assurance role of senior officers in focussing on
school improvement and raising attainment, particularly
in secondary schools.
Elected members played a key role in identifying and
developing policy direction in line with the Council’s
vision for education. The Education Committee and, in
particular, the Standards and Quality Sub-committee had
active roles in scrutinising proposals for quality
development and levels of performance. The Senior
Directorate should assist the Standards and Quality
Sub-committee in developing further their scrutiny role.
There was a high level of scrutiny of the strategic
direction of Education Services at corporate level. This
was particularly the case where the work of Education
Services was linked to cross-service corporate initiatives
such as economic regeneration and health.
Policy development
Education Services had good procedures for policy
development. An informative set of circulars and other
documents covered a range of policy areas. Education
Services’ officers and senior staff in schools had a good
understanding of main policy issues. For some aspects,
however, there was no single statement of policy, and
guidance was incorporated over a number of separate
items such as committee papers and letters from the
Directorate. In other cases, sets of papers, which
incorporated key policy documents also included items,
which served other purposes such as providing
information on progress with initiatives or summarising
national reports.
15
For a number of areas, Education Services had developed
helpful guidance and support materials to assist schools
in implementing policy. Staff in schools had been
consulted and appreciated this support. They also
generally welcomed the flexibility they were given to
develop and extend authority policies to take account of
local needs and circumstances. The authority needed to
clarify the details of how some policies should be applied
and the scope for flexibility.
The policy on quality assurance and school improvement
was described in a collated set of documents. It placed
considerable emphasis on self-evaluation and outlined
arrangements for school procedures for quality assurance,
including the production of development plans and
reports on Standards and Quality. It set out arrangements
for monitoring by Education Services, including the
programme of school reviews and the provision and use
of statistical information on attainment. Despite this
extensive documentation, staff in some schools were not
clear about aspects of the process.
Processes for policy development were sound. Policies
devised by Education Services reflected the core values
of the Council and took full account of strategic decisions
of Council committees. There were effective examples of
joint working on policy development with other Council
services such as the pre-5 joint working group. Senior
managers made good use of the findings of Best Value
Reviews as part of the policy making process. Education
Services involved staff from establishments in the
production of policies through working groups and
committees. However, arrangements for the composition
of groups were not always transparent and schools were
sometimes unsure about the remits and membership of
these groups.
Education Services used a range of strategies to monitor
the implementation and effectiveness of policies. Senior
managers reviewed progress at their regular meetings. In
16
some cases officers appointed as co-ordinators for
specific initiatives also conducted evaluations. More
generally, feedback on the impact of policies was
obtained through meetings of headteachers and through
advisors' visits to schools. A new approach to project
management was being developed which would
increasingly include more systematic arrangements for
the evaluation of policy initiatives.
While Education Services had a number of strengths in
devising, implementing and reviewing policies, steps
should be taken to improve policy development further.
Policy in some key areas, including quality assurance,
should be clarified through provision of clearer, more
succinct statements. Further advice on how to implement
certain policies in establishments should also be
provided. More transparent procedures for policy
development should be introduced, and plans
implemented to refine arrangements for evaluating their
effectiveness.
4. Consultation and communication
Overall, performance in both consultation and
communication was good. Education Services, taking
their lead from the Council's corporate policy, had
achieved some success in developing a broad range of
strategies to consult and communicate with employees,
students, parents, other agencies and the wider
community.
The aim of consulting effectively with establishments and
with other stakeholders was a key part of the approach of
senior officers. An ambitious consultation, undertaken
on behalf of Education Services by an independent
agency, had allowed staff at all levels to have a say in the
future plans for education in the city. Other key on-going
consultation strategies included the following:
17
•
regular and various meetings of headteachers, some
of which had strengthened in their consultative nature
in the last year;
•
meetings of focus groups of staff at different levels
and use of the Citizens’ Panel;
•
annual review visits to schools which encouraged
staff to express their views;
•
systematic consultations as part of Best Value
reviews;
•
meetings between senior officers and representatives
of teaching unions on the Joint Consultative Group
(JCG); and
•
an initial meeting with a representative group of
non-teaching staff.
Despite these strategies, a notable minority of staff
indicated that consultation was not always seen as
effective. There were clear differences among sectors.
Most secondary headteachers who responded to the
pre-inspection survey felt that the authority consulted
effectively. This was in contrast to headteachers in the
pre-school, primary and special education sectors, where
about half were of that view. The authority was aware of
these differences in perception and had adopted some
approaches, including greater use of focus groups and
more direct consultation through the pilot learning
communities, to improve consultative links with different
sectors.
Consultation with other key stakeholders had been
developed extensively in recent years and had a number
of very good features. Education Services had benefited
from a major consultation with the general public which
the Council had undertaken and which had included a
section seeking the views of parents from ethnic minority
18
groups. Positive steps had been taken to consult with a
group of black parents, parents living in areas of
deprivation, a ‘Rapid Response Group’ of parents willing
to express views at short notice, asylum seeker parents
and a Gaelic Advisory Board. Despite the difficulties in
ensuring that such groups were truly representative,
Education Services’ efforts to reach out to groups of
parents whose voices might otherwise not normally be
heard were commendable.
Consultation with parents through School Boards was
undertaken by a variety of means, including termly
meetings of School Board Chairpersons and meetings and
training events organised through Education Services’
Co-ordinator for Parents and School Boards. Their views
on the effectiveness of consultation were mixed. Around
half of the limited number of School Boards (32%)
responding to the pre-inspection survey felt that they had
good opportunities to influence the authority’s aims and
plans. Education Services had run a similar survey in the
recent past and, as a result, had taken some action to
improve consultation with parents. Education Services
should continue in efforts to ensure that School Boards
and the broader parent population which they represent
have opportunities to make their views known.
Commendably, Education Services and the Council, had
taken positive steps to ensure that the voices of young
people were heard. A number of School Boards had
co-opted pupils as members. A city-wide Student
Council, comprising two pupil representatives from each
secondary school, had been formed. The Student
Council’s views on a range of issues to do with
education, and also with life in the city, were
systematically sought and effective links with other
agencies, such as the police, encouraged. In addition, the
Council Spokesperson for Young People and an advisor
from Education Services met systematically with groups
of pupils to hear their views. The Director of Education
19
took an active interest in these contacts and gave
considerable amounts of time to them.
There had been very extensive consultation over the
secondary school Public Private Partnership (PPP),
known as Project 2002. However, there had been some
differences in perception over the effectiveness of this
consultation. Some staff and parents felt that
consultation on the detailed design and opening of new
and refurbished buildings had been limited. Education
Services, on the other hand, felt that there had been
appropriate levels of consultation within the parameters
set by the commercial context of the initiative.
Considering the scale and complexity of the PPP
initiative Education Services had allocated considerable
time and resources to consultation, but parents and staff
had not always been made sufficiently aware of
contractual limitations to its scope. Education Services
showed clear intent to pay heed to the issues raised when
similar decisions require to be made for the primary
sector in due course.
Education Services now required to streamline and focus
its consultation strategies, while retaining their clearly
consultative overall intent. They should also clarify, in
each consultation exercise, what stakeholders can expect
to influence and what level of feedback will be made
available.
Communication was good overall and had some very
good aspects. Through a broad range of approaches,
Education Services had succeeded in communicating well
the key messages about education in the city and its
vision and strategies for the future.
In addition to the regular meetings of headteachers and
other staff, a range of varied forms of written
communication kept establishments well informed.
These included:
20
•
a weekly delivery of papers, with a summary sheet
indicating contents and dates for returns;
•
a well-received newsletter, which included articles on
developments, success stories and summaries of key
national documents;
•
succinct leaflets, entitled Interface, which
summarised key local and national policies and
developments;
•
a series of leaflets, called the Improvement File,
which contained information about progress on local
priorities and responses to national initiatives; and
•
Agenda, a six-weekly account of the decisions made
by the Education Committee and sub-committees.
Some further clarifications of the status of some
communications, particularly relating to policy
documentation, a stricter control of the overall volume of
papers and a better categorisation of their relative
importance would improve this area further.
Two Council magazines, one for Council staff and one
for city householders, regularly contained informative
articles about current activities and performance, often
with a focus on individual schools and pupils. Education
Services also provided good general information for new
Councillors and new headteachers. Regular seminars on
key issues were held for headquarters staff. Most School
Boards who responded to the pre-inspection survey felt
that they had good opportunities to hear about initiatives.
Well-sustained efforts were made to support
communication with parents whose first language was not
English.
A number of groups of stakeholders felt that
communication with them was patchy and could be
improved. Whilst most secondary headteachers felt that
21
they received prompt responses to their enquiries, only
around half of headteachers in the pre-school, primary
and special education sectors were of that view. Other
groups of stakeholders, including representatives of
teaching unions, felt that communication was not always
effective, whether from the authority or through
headteachers. The authority was generally aware of these
perceptions and was taking steps to address them. A
Consultation and Communications working group had
been established to identify further improvements. As
part of their overall communications strategy, the
authority’s developing web-site and intranet had
considerable potential.
The response to the requirement to report publicly on
performance of Education Services was good. A
well-designed and attractively presented Standards and
Quality Report 2000 contained an account of pupils’
performance in different areas, together with key
strengths and points for action. Attainment information
was also publicised in the Glasgow magazine for
households. While the Standards and Quality
sub-committee had been given a summary of HMIE
reports on schools, consideration of reports on individual
schools and analyses of evaluations on groups of schools
were not yet sufficiently established.
Overall, the authority’s procedures for dealing with
enquiries and complaints from parents and the wider
public were very good. A standardised leaflet
summarising procedures was available to all parents and
had been translated into a number of different languages.
Telephone contacts were systematically logged.
Feedback on the process was sought from those who had
voiced complaints. A monthly analysis was scrutinised
by the Director and action taken on individual issues and
on procedures where relevant. An annual report on
complaints was planned for the future.
22
5. Operational management
Service planning
The quality of service planning was very good. The 2001
to 2004 Service Plan provided a comprehensive overview
of the Council’s aims and priorities for education. The
Education Service Plan followed a format which was
common across other Council departments. This ensured
that the plan identified clear links between each priority
and the Council’s key objectives. The Council’s focus on
education as a means for regeneration in the city was
clearly reflected in the priorities in the Service Plan. It
also included a strong focus on national priorities,
particularly in relation to improving educational
standards, raising achievement and promoting social
inclusion. The content and scope of the plan reflected
very well the size and diversity of Glasgow City and its
wide range of needs.
The Education Service’s programme of Best Value
Reviews and its Performance Management and Planning
(PMP) Audit had been well integrated into the service
planning process. Outcomes of reviews were
incorporated into the Service Plan and were reflected in
detailed action plans with clear targets and timescales.
Planning was closely linked to the Council’s budget cycle
which helped to prioritise funding for projects and to
incorporate bids for additional funding.
The Service Plan was communicated very effectively to
schools. Headteachers were fully involved in the
planning process. Staff, at all levels, were aware of the
priorities in the Service Plan and that these should be
reflected in their own school or service development
plans.
The Service Plan was reviewed on a three year cycle,
with detailed updates provided on an annual basis. This
process gave very clear and detailed information on
23
progress in implementing the plan to elected members
and key stakeholders.
The Service Plan provided a clear framework within
which school development planning could take place.
Schools had guidance on the process of development
planning and they identified clear links to Education
Services’ priorities when drawing up their development
plans. The implementation and impact of school plans
was followed up by Education Services’ officers through
the school review process and in the monitoring of
progress against key targets.
Joint planning with other Council Services had developed
considerably and was generally good. There was
effective planning and working with other services and
partners such as Social Work and Health through the
Children’s Services Plan and with the Department of
Cultural and Leisure Services on initiatives in the arts and
sport.
Action plans were produced to meet targets in key areas.
However, plans were published in a variety of formats
and in a range of documents. A more consistent approach
to action planning would identify more clearly for users
and stakeholders various tasks to be completed and
further improve the monitoring and evaluation of
progress at all levels of the service.
The senior management team took steps to monitor
effectively the implementation of the Service Plan. They
had identified the need for a clear timetable for reviewing
progress against the set objectives, but this should now be
implemented and developed.
Deployment and effectiveness of
centrally-employed staff
The deployment of central staff was good. Education
Services had given a very high priority to support for the
24
curriculum and for staff development. An increased
focus was now being placed on quality assurance and
quality improvement in schools. A Best Value Review of
the Education Support Service (ESS) had been carried out
and the roles of staff in the service redefined within a
restructured Educational Development and Improvement
Service (EdIS). The review had identified the need to
refocus the work of the ESS so that their activities related
more clearly to national and local priorities, and
monitoring and evaluating performance. As a result, an
Action Plan was being implemented, but the new
arrangements were still at a relatively early stage of
development.
EdIS was well led by a service manager who reported to
two of the Depute Directors on various aspects of the
service’s work. This reporting system was clear and
operated well. The service manager had responsibility
for managing a team of advisors, officers and seconded
staff and for overseeing projects in the EdIS development
plan. Meetings were scheduled so that the Directorate
team and EdIS staff could meet regularly to link strategic
and operational management.
The advisory team within EdIS covered a wide range of
remits and provided support in three main areas:
curriculum development; social inclusion; and
management. Each member of the EdIS team had
responsibility in one of these areas and all were expected
to support continuous professional development and
quality assurance. The quality assurance role needed
further development to ensure consistently high standards
of monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of
schools. In particular there was a need to increase the
time spent on quality assurance rather than curriculum
development.
Centrally employed administrative staff worked well with
schools. Schools received good support from both
finance and personnel departments.
25
6. Resource and financial management
Resource management
The management of resources was good overall. Since
its inception, the Council had faced challenging problems
in working to achieve optimum levels of school
occupancy and the effective maintenance and
improvement of school buildings. The Council had now
addressed these problems with considerable success in its
secondary schools. There remained a number of issues to
be addressed in pre-five, primary and special schools.
In October 1997 the Policy and Resources Committee
required officers to explore making a bid for resources
under a Public and Private Partnership (PPP) agreement
for the provision of secondary education. This resulted in
Project 2002, a wide ranging scheme involving the
closure of ten secondary schools and the provision of
29 refurbished or newly built secondary schools and
one primary school, together with related ICT. This PPP
project, now almost complete, was the largest of its kind
in the UK education sector and was a radical approach by
the authority to providing a stimulating and supportive
learning environment for all secondary pupils. The
project was clearly linked to the Council’s aims for
regeneration of the city and raising attainment. The
Council’s approach to capital provision has resulted in
very substantial improvements in secondary education
provision across the city.
While the Council is to be commended for its innovative
review of secondary schools and enhanced provision,
action to address the continuing problem of over capacity
in primary schools has, as yet been more limited. Much
of the existing stock of pre-school, primary school and
special school buildings is dated and requires
considerable and continuing maintenance work.
26
However, elected members were beginning to address
this key value for money issue. Following a Best Value
review of primary education, an action plan was prepared
to reform pre-12 education through provision of rebuilt or
refurbished primary, pre-school and special educational
needs provision on single local sites. A pilot programme
of six projects, costing £22 million, was currently out for
consultation with interested parties. The capital cost of
this programme will be met by the Council. The Council
will now require to give considerable further thought to
how quickly the extension of these pilot projects will
address the current difficulty of over capacity and
variable standards of accommodation.
Those schools involved in the PPP scheme benefited
from a separately managed property maintenance and
repair service. Other schools used the Council’s Building
Services. Aspects of the Council’s service required
improvement. There was a lack of transparency in
charging arrangements. While charges were made
according to the rates set in the maintenance contract, the
rate charged for any one element of the contract did not
always reflect the actual cost input to the job. Towards
the end of each financial year, Building Services gave a
discount to its clients. This was currently held centrally
and not returned to Education Services or individual
schools.
A number of headteachers expressed concerns about the
general quality of the service they received from Building
Services. These concerns had been considered by
Building Services and, as a result, they were in the
process of setting up a discrete repairs team to deal solely
with education establishments. The effect of this should
be monitored closely by the Council together with the
impact of changes in the charging regime.
With the exception of the significant problems in relation
to occupancy and the conditions of some buildings, a
good range of measures had been taken to ensure the
27
economic, efficient and effective use of resources to
support the delivery of education. These included:
•
Best Value Reviews;
•
dilapidation surveys and schedules of accommodation
of all establishments; and
•
ICT strategies for primary and secondary sectors.
The authority had allocated resources above levels
estimated by the Scottish Executive to support education.
In 2001/02, budgeted expenditure was some £9m above
estimated levels. The Council had a clear rationale for
the allocation of resources which closely matched
national guidance and took account of local priorities and
the availability of specific grants such as the Excellence
Fund. Education Services were very active and
successful in accessing additional funding through a
broad range of agencies and partners. Through the
three-year service planning process clear links were made
between budget-setting and strategic planning.
In line with Council policy, Education Services had
engaged in a series of Best Value Reviews. These
covered the main service areas and included the
secondary, primary and special education sectors.
Commendably, the Council had moved to a system of
large strategic reviews. While the secondary review was
not initially a Best Value Review, it followed the same
principles. The review processes followed corporate
guidance and included consultation, the evaluation of
current practices and benchmarking. Given the difficulty
in finding appropriate local benchmarks, very good
efforts were made to benchmark with education
authorities beyond Scotland. Action plans were followed
up by Education Services’ Best Value Co-ordinator who
reported regularly on progress to the management team.
There was slippage in a number of reviews, although
28
Education Services was currently addressing these
problems.
ICT provision within schools was generally good.
Secondary schools were supplied with a fully managed
service, with the contractor responsible for ensuring that
the equipment, software and networks worked effectively
and efficiently. All primary schools had been surveyed to
determine the provision required and a private
consortium had been awarded the contract to manage the
ICT service. Despite considerable teething problems,
good progress was now being made. Education Services
officers had worked hard to resolve initial difficulties
with infrastructure and software. Substantial staff
development was helping to provide teachers with the
skills necessary to make effective use of ICT. Most of
the training was of good quality. Education Services
should continue to work closely with establishments and
providers to resolve remaining difficulties and to ensure
that the potential of this significant investment is fully
realised.
Education Services had not set specific targets or
measures for improved resource usage apart from the
requirement to remain within budget. However, in
relation to privately provided services, targets had been
set for addressing maintenance and other issues. In
addition, the Council energy management service
monitored and provided advice on energy usage.
Overall, the Council had some effective resource
management strategies in place and had achieved
considerable success with PPP in the secondary sector.
Further work now requires to be done to make resource
management more consistent between the sectors.
Financial management
The quality of financial management was very good.
29
Education Services had a good working relationship with
Financial Services, which had responsibility for corporate
finance. Comprehensive and clear monthly budget
monitoring reports were provided, variances investigated
and corrective action taken as appropriate. Final
monitoring reports, adjusted where necessary, were
submitted jointly by the Directors of Education and
Finance to the Education Services Committee. Reports
submitted to elected members were clear and easily
understood. The high level of reporting, based on
detailed reviews prior to committee meetings, provided
very effective opportunities for financial monitoring.
Specific responsibility for budget and financial matters
rested with a Depute Director who was assisted on a
day-to-day basis by a principal officer and a budget team.
All financial matters were discussed regularly with
budget holders and at meetings of the senior management
team. In addition, named individuals within the Budget
Unit were assigned to individual budget holders to ensure
that there was a comprehensive overview of each area of
expenditure.
In response to a recent Accounts Commission Special
Report on financial controls in the Education Department
in another Scottish local authority1, both Financial and
Education Services had independently undertaken
reviews of their processes and procedures for financial
monitoring. These reviews were being finalised at the
time of the inspection, but indicated that the Council’s
procedures were sufficiently robust.
Over 80% of the education budget was devolved to
schools through the scheme of Devolved School
Management (DSM) which included all primary,
secondary and special schools. The scheme was
effective, generally well regarded by headteachers and
1
A report by the Controller of Audit to The Accounts Commission, Scottish Borders
Council, October 2001
30
had been introduced in varying degrees in the pre-school
sector. Headteachers had access to information on their
school’s committed expenditure at all times. In addition,
regular monitoring reports provided clear and
understandable information to enable them to monitor
their current expenditure effectively.
Each cluster of schools had an Administration and
Finance Assistant (AFA) who, together with related
clerical staff, was responsible for providing support to
headteachers. Six clusters of schools, which were
involved in the pilot phase of the Learning Communities
initiative, also benefited from the additional post of
Bursar. A learning community comprised a secondary
school, associated primary schools and a number of pre-5
establishments. The establishment of Bursars
demonstrated the commitment of Education Services to
extend devolved management of resources further.
However, their job remit needed to be reviewed and
standardised. Administration and Finance Officers
(AFOs) based within the Budget Unit at Education
headquarters were responsible for maintaining contact
and providing advice and guidance to the AFAs when
required.
A new DSM/Financial Procedures manual was
introduced during 2001. This gave clear and
comprehensive guidance on each element of the devolved
school budget and the related virement level available to
headteachers. The DSM manual also included a copy of
the authority’s financial regulations. These were
comprehensive and had been subject to review in May
2001. The DSM arrangements did not permit any carry
forward of balances not spent at the end of the financial
year. As a result, the scope for headteachers to use their
financial resources more flexibly was constrained. Clear
parameters for more flexible carry forward of surpluses
and deficits should be identified.
31
Good training on the DSM scheme was provided for
newly appointed headteachers and AFAs. An effective
monthly bulletin for AFAs and other clerical staff had
been introduced recently to assist communication and
highlight good practice.
Overall, the arrangements for financial management had
considerable strengths. Procedures were clear, well
understood and demonstrated a strong commitment to
devolved financial management of schools.
7. Performance monitoring and continuous improvement
Measuring, monitoring and evaluating
performance
Overall, the quality of performance in this area was fair.
Education Services were continuing to refine mechanisms
for measuring, monitoring and evaluating its own and
schools’ performance. However, they required to
develop more rigorous and comprehensive approaches.
Almost all secondary headteachers who responded to the
pre-inspection survey were confident that the authority
had a good knowledge of the performance of their
schools. Only a majority of primary headteachers and
less than half the headteachers in pre-school and special
school’s shared this view.
Education Services were developing processes to form a
framework for quality improvement. These included
development planning, school reviews, staff development
and review, headteacher review and Standards and
Quality reports. The restructured EdIS was beginning to
play an increasingly important role in supporting and
implementing this framework.
These mechanisms were complemented by Best Value
Reviews and systems for public reporting. A thorough
self-evaluation exercise, based on indicators in the
32
Quality Management in Education2 (QMIE) framework,
had been conducted successfully and plans for
improvement developed.
To support and demonstrate improvement, Education
Services collated and analysed a range of data. Progress
was being made in providing information on pupils’
performance in relation to 5-14 levels of attainment and
in Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) examinations.
Such information was intended to enable schools to
benchmark their performance and set targets for
improvement. Information on progress towards
achieving targets was gathered annually. A range of
other data on, for example, attendance, exclusions,
literacy and gender issues was also collected and
analysed. A wide range of information was available
through school development plans, school reviews, staff
reviews, HMIE reports and Standards and Quality
reports. Although much information was available, there
was further scope to develop a more coherent approach to
the analysis of school and authority performance, and to
the provision of management information.
Education Services promoted a large number of projects
and initiatives. Many provided support for local
initiatives and gave considerable flexibility to schools to
be innovative in their response to meeting local needs and
circumstances. There was a need to monitor and evaluate
the success of these initiatives more effectively and to
focus attention and resources more clearly on
developments which showed success in improving pupil
achievement. The project management system being
introduced should assist Education Services in
strengthening the evaluation of new initiatives, while
continuing to encourage innovation.
2
Quality Management in Education (HM Inspectors of Schools, 2000) is a framework
of self-evaluation for Local Authority Education Departments.
33
Education Services promoted the use of national
performance indicators in How good is our school?3 and
The Child at the Centre4 for self-evaluation and planning
for improvement. Similarly support was provided to
secondary subject departments to undertake systematic
self-evaluation. Most headteachers were clear that the
authority encouraged them to develop a systematic
approach to monitoring and evaluating their work.
However, the quality and extent of use of performance
indicators for self-evaluation was variable across the
authority. Education Services required to continue to
support rigorous approaches to self-evaluation and extend
good practice more consistently across its schools.
The preparation of development plans was well
established in schools. Nevertheless, despite clear
guidance and support, their quality was variable with
important weaknesses in many schools. As part of the
development planning process all schools produced
annual Standards and Quality reports based on advice
from Education Services. Overall, these reports required
to be more rigorous and consistent.
Although some pilot projects had been set up to track
pupils’ attainment, no system was in place to establish
baseline information to assist schools in measuring their
subsequent progress.
Evidence from the authority’s pre-inspection reports to
HMIE indicated uneven knowledge of provision in
schools. The format of these reports was variable, as was
the extent of evaluative comment. Recent pre-inspection
reports and follow-up progress reports had, however,
improved to include more evaluation and a common
reporting format.
3
How good is our school? – Self-evaluation using performance indicators (Audit Unit
– HM Inspectors of Schools, SOEID, 1996)
4
The Child at the Centre – Self-evaluation in the Early Years (SEED, 2000)
34
Effective procedures were in place to support schools
during inspections by HMIE. Good support had also
been provided to assist schools in producing and
implementing action plans as a result of inspection
reports.
Education Services operated a clear policy and guidelines
on staff development and review. All senior management
and senior administrative staff had been reviewed.
Although no quality development officers were reviewed
in 2000/2001, the cycle of review had recommenced.
Most headteachers and almost all staff were reviewed in
the previous school session. Senior staff should ensure
all staff benefit from the process of review and that the
results are used to identify and meet staff development
needs and promote improvement.
Education Services reviewed the quality of education
provided by primary and secondary schools through a
programme of quality assurance visits. This process, was
not as fully developed in the pre-school and special
school sectors, although a range of visits to
establishments took place. Link advisors and Directorate
staff undertook annual review visits to schools mainly to
discuss progress with the school development plan and
towards targets for attainment. Headteachers generally
found the visits productive and helpful, but many
commented that the rigour of the process required to be
increased. More rigour and consistency in gathering
evidence was required. A more targeted approach would
have greater impact and extend the role of officers in
challenging schools and raising attainment. Reviews
should be focussed more clearly and specifically on
schools and departments requiring improvement. In
addition to the annual review visit, headteachers in
secondary schools had an annual discussion with senior
Directorate staff on the results of SQA examinations.
Education Services’ staff had identified and followed up
performance in some subject departments where
attainment in SQA examinations was poor.
35
Through these, and other, methods of measuring,
monitoring and evaluating performance in schools, link
officers and senior staff were building up knowledge of
school effectiveness. There was a need to build on this
quality assurance framework to establish a coherent
system for the collection, analysis and reporting of
performance information. Further steps were also needed
to evaluate and measure improvement resulting from
initiatives introduced by the authority and to challenge
schools further in the process of continuous
improvement.
Continuous improvement in performance
The overall impact of the authority in promoting
continuous improvement was good. Almost all
secondary headteachers and most primary and pre-school
headteachers who responded to the pre-inspection survey
were confident that the authority was helping its schools
to improve the quality of education. Only around half the
headteachers in special schools shared this view. A very
wide range of initiatives had been implemented to meet
the challenges faced in Glasgow and to improve pupils’
achievements. The range of initiatives to improve
learning, teaching and attainment in the pre-school and
primary sectors had been very effective and there was
clear evidence that Education Services had added value to
the work of schools. There had been notable
improvements in the quality of the accommodation and
provision of ICT in secondary schools. However, the
impact of initiatives on raising standards of attainment,
was, as yet, less marked.
Support for pre-school education
Overall, provision and support for pre-school education
was very good. The authority, working in partnership
with a range of agencies, had successfully provided
pre-school places for all three-and four-year-old children.
Although around 12% of places were not filled, the
36
Council was encouraging parents to take up their
entitlement. The shortfall in uptake had allowed the
Council to increase the number of full-time places on
offer. As a result of some recent enquiries and an internal
audit, full-time places were now determined by a
transparent system based on categories of need.
The Council’s Childcare Strategy, expressed in their
publication Ensuring a Good Start in Life, clearly aimed
to improve provision for children in as many contexts as
possible. In line with the Government’s Surestart
initiative, a key approach of Education Services was to
successfully foster co-operation with Social Work
Services, the Health Board and other relevant
professionals. The range of effective pre-school
provision to meet varying needs included nursery schools
and classes, Family Learning Centres, Child Care
Partnerships with voluntary agencies and a large number
of partnerships with private providers.
A small team of permanent and seconded officers gave
good support to pre-school centres. Visits to centres were
well regarded, as were recent City-wide meetings of
heads of authority and partnership centres. Good advice
was firmly based on the Child at the Centre and included
well-received practical support materials on various
aspects of the curriculum, the use of ICT and on
monitoring procedures. The authority had not yet
established a means of measuring and reporting on
improvements in children’s developments by the end of
their pre-school experience. However, pre-school
provision was improving the ability of children entering
P1 to listen more closely, to concentrate better and to
develop early literacy and numeracy skills more quickly.
Support for primary schools and 5-14
Primary schools had received very good support in
implementing the 5-14 curriculum through the ‘Glasgow
Scheme’ of curriculum resources and staff development.
37
Very effective support was provided to raise attainment
in literacy and numeracy. Statistical data and evidence
from school inspections confirmed that standards of
attainment had improved in these areas. Between 1998
and 2001 performance in reading, writing and
mathematics had improved greater than the national trend
to within two to three percent of national averages.
In 2000/2001 94% of classes in P1 to P3 had fewer than
30 pupils, broadly in line with the national average. At
these stages, a range of early intervention initiatives
provided very good support for schools in improving
standards of attainment, particularly in literacy and
numeracy. Between 1999 and 2001 there had been an
increase in the number of pupils achieving Level A in P3
in reading by five percentage points, in writing by
15 percentage points and in mathematics by three
percentage points. Over the same period, the increase in
the percentage of pupils in P2 achieving Level A was
seven percent in reading, nine percent in writing and
ten percent in mathematics.
In secondary schools, at S2, there had also been marked
improvements in attainment in reading, writing and
mathematics. The rate of improvement was above the
national averages and ranged from 12 to 18 percentage
points. However, the gap between performance in
Glasgow and national averages was greater at S2 than it
was in primary schools.
The authority’s wide ranging strategy for supporting the
implementation of the 5-14 curriculum included the
following very good, and often innovative features:
38
•
a comprehensive range of curriculum packages and
guidelines;
•
electronic forward planning grids;
•
‘Beacon schools’ to demonstrate good practice;
•
tutors providing coaching in context in individual
schools;
•
post-graduate, certificated courses in mathematics,
modern languages and science;
•
specialist staff in art and design, music, and physical
education;
•
support materials for parents; and
•
advice on different learning styles, including aspects
of gender.
Support for secondary schools
Education Services had supported the introduction of new
NQ courses well. Schools had made good progress in
introducing these courses. Staff had appropriate
opportunities to participate in national and locally
organised training. In a number of subjects Education
Services had supported teachers through developing very
helpful teaching and learning materials. More generally,
courses, materials and information on good practice was
provided by EdIS. Staff in secondary schools were
generally satisfied with the support provided, but there
were variations between subjects.
The authority actively encouraged and supported the
development of more flexible curricular provision.
Particular attention had been given to pupils in S3/S4 for
whom they judged that an eight Standard Grade
programme was not well suited and who might benefit
from a curriculum more related to education for work. A
recent example was the introduction of pre-vocational
programmes in construction and hospitality/culinary
excellence for pupils in 15 secondary schools. These
programmes had been developed and were provided with
partners in further education, industry and other Council
39
services. They were designed to link closely to future
employment opportunities, increase the employability of
those pupils involved and contribute to economic
regeneration of the city. The courses had been well
received, and there was evidence of a positive impact on
the attendance, motivation and achievement of those
involved.
A range of Education Action Plans involved additional
funding and support for nine secondary schools to raise
achievement over a range of indicators and improve
liaison with primary schools. With the help of such
additional support the schools were able to identify
improvements in pupils’ attendance, motivation and
achievements.
Despite this range of initiatives in secondary schools the
impact on pupils’ attainment was variable. Between 1999
and 2001, from a low base, there had been an overall
slight improvement in the number of pupils gaining NQs.
By the end of S4, the number of pupils achieving five or
more awards at Level 4 or better had increased by
four percentage points and those achieving five or more
awards at Level 5 or better had increased by
two percentage points. Both these increases were above
the national figures. Increases in the number of pupils
gaining three or more, and five or more awards at Level 6
or better, by the end of S5, were in line with those
achieved nationally. Although there were signs of some
continuing improvement, given the context of overall low
levels of attainment compared with national norms, the
Council should continue to challenge headteachers and
teachers to pursue further increases in pupils’ attainment.
Particular attention should be given to identifying,
supporting and challenging areas of underperformance
within schools and between schools in similar
circumstances.
Support for pupils
40
The Council had put in place a good range of provision to
support pupils with special educational needs (SEN).
Provision included special schools, units attached to
mainstream primary and secondary schools, and a
network support service for mainstream schools. The
Council had a clear view that pupils’ needs should be met
at as local a level as possible. In order to meet pupils’
needs provision had been developed within each quadrant
of the city.
Recently, the authority had carried out a Best Value
Review of SEN provision. The results of this review had
yet to be made public. The Council had plans to develop
aspects of such provision, and was working towards a
clearer overall framework for SEN across the city.
In general, schools received good assistance in providing
support for pupils with special educational needs.
Teachers were generally positive about the good range of
staff development provided by the Council. However,
staff development courses did not always take full
account of the needs of teachers in special schools.
Special schools had benefited from being included in a
range of curricular and other initiatives including support
for developing early literacy and numeracy. Some
special school staff, however, felt that they had been
included in these initiatives only after they had first been
put in place in mainstream schools. Education Services
had recently provided a useful template and advice on
developing individualised educational programmes
(IEP’s).
Educational psychological services provided very good
support to pupils with special educational needs. The
service was organised into four teams each serving an
area of the city and managed by an area principal
psychologist. The teams provided local support to
schools, but also worked together on a city-wide basis to
provide specialist services as required. Teachers in
41
schools were positive about the quality of the service
provided.
The Council was developing its services to children who
were looked after and accommodated by the education
authority. A team of teachers had been recruited to
provide support to individual children and their schools.
A system was being developed, using the city’s
management information system, to monitor the
educational achievements of looked after and
accommodated children, and to report on these to the
Council on an annual basis.
Excellence Fund monies had been used to provide a range
of initiatives, including additional staff, to support pupils
who were at risk from exclusion from schools.
Improvements had been achieved in reducing the total
numbers of pupils excluded from schools. However, the
lack of sufficient alternative placements for all pupils
who required them, meant that some pupils were without
full time provision.
The Council had put in place a range of services to assist
pupils who required specialised support. This included
support for those for whom English was an additional
language (EAL), asylum seekers and Gypsy/Travellers.
Overall, support for pupils for EAL was good. Some
nine percent of pupils were bi-lingual speakers, including
some 1,300 children from asylum-seeking families.
Education Services had confirmed their approach to
supporting bi-lingual speakers through a Best Value
Review, the findings of which were adopted by the
Council. Support included the work of two EAL Units,
one primary and one secondary. Pupils were given
intensive support in these units until they were ready to
attend the school in which they were enrolled on a
full-time basis. Further support was then supplied in
schools as necessary through a peripatetic teacher support
network. Recent improvements had included the
42
appointment of a small number of SEN and pre-school
EAL support teachers. Staff in all schools could call on
the EAL Units for staff development.
Support for children of asylum seekers was modelled on
the existing EAL framework. Language Units had been
established in schools with pupils from asylum seekers
families and they were given full-or part-time support as
necessary. Generally, good staff development
opportunities were made available.
Overall, a good range of support was in place to meet the
varied and wide-ranging needs of pupils across the city.
Education Services were meeting a number of challenges
with success. However, a clearer overall strategic
framework for SEN provision remained to be put in
place.
Support for staff development
Support for staff development included an extensive
catalogue of in-service courses provided by EdIS.
Feedback from advisors, staff networks and staff
development co-ordinators helped identify training needs
and these were aligned to service priorities. A wide
range of development opportunities was provided across
the pre-school, primary and secondary sectors. The
general perception of staff was that training was of good
quality. In a number of areas the support for
development was very good. These included support for
5-14 development through the New Horizons
Programmes in literacy and numeracy, where particularly
good use had been made of seconded training staff to
share good practice in schools. Courses also provided
training on approaches to learning and teaching and
different ways of thinking and learning. Support for
probationers was very effective. A comprehensive
programme of management training for middle and senior
managers was being developed. Effective support was
also targeted at cross-curricular areas such as
43
International Education and Education for Work.
Particular encouragement was given to staff to take a
range of university courses which provided additional
qualifications. A rolling programme of race equality
training had been put in place for all employees working
within schools and the Education Service.
Other features of support
In order to achieve the Council’s objective to tackle
poverty and poor health in the city, Education Services
had introduced a range of initiatives. As well as
introducing a health education programme in all schools,
imaginative programmes to promote the eating of fruit
and the involvement of pupils in swimming had been set
up. A pilot scheme also provided daily free breakfasts for
children in a number of schools. More healthy options
for school meals had been introduced in secondary
schools. Uptake of free school meals had doubled and
significantly more pupils now took school lunches.
High priority had been given to improving school
attendance through supporting a range of initiatives in
individual schools. These included pupil award schemes
and programmes for working with parents. In primary
schools attendance between 1998/1999 and 2000/2001
improved in line with the national trend. In secondary
schools, over the same time, attendance increased
significantly by around two percent when attendance
decreased by one percent in Scotland as a whole. The
absence rate in secondary schools reduced from seven to
four percent above the national average figure.
The Council had a strong commitment to supporting and
promoting Gaelic. Effective arrangements were made for
a broad range of Gaelic-medium provision which
provided continuity and progression from pre-school to
secondary school classes. Classes were also provided for
adult learners.
44
To ensure that the talents of young people were
developed fully, the Council provided national centres of
excellence in three secondary schools. The Dance
School, the Sports School and the International School
were successful in providing opportunities for young
people to develop their skills to the full in these areas of
achievement. As well as making this specialist provision
the Council was committed to encouraging the talents and
achievements of all young people. A range of effective
partnerships had been developed to enable pupils to
participate in sports, music, ICT, international liaison,
science and performing arts initiatives, to raise their
self-esteem and develop a broad range of skills.
Two New Community Schools initiatives operated
successfully. There was evidence of stronger
inter-agency co-operation to meet the educational and
welfare needs of members of their local communities.
In a major initiative aimed at improving educational
attainment and achievement, the authority had established
six pilot learning communities based on clusters of
schools. In each case there was a management team
consisting of the head of each establishment and chaired
by a learning community principal. It was the intention
that learning communities would raise achievement
through schools working more closely together, involving
parents more from an earlier stage and strengthening
quality improvement strategies.
The authority had encouraged learning community
principals to explore innovative ways of bringing about
improvement. There was some evidence that they were
beginning to have a positive impact on the quality of
provision. Examples of benefits included: improved
liaison between primary and secondary schools; greater
co-ordination and curricular consistency across schools;
beneficial collaboration in staff and curriculum
development; sharing of good practice between schools;
and improved clerical and administrative support. In
45
some communities there was also evidence of the
introduction of effective local quality assurance
procedures. Despite these positive indications, further
evidence was required to show that the planned
improvements in attendance and pupils’ attainment were
being achieved.
Education Services operated a scheme to provide
financial and other support to schools working towards
gaining the Investors in People Award. As a result, many
schools had been successful in achieving this award.
The authority deployed a range of mechanisms to
disseminate good practice and celebrate success,
including the following:
•
headteachers and other staff meetings;
•
Link officer and advisors’ contact with schools;
•
Council newspapers and publications;
•
various ‘good practice’ case study documents; and
•
‘Handy hint’ sheets.
Although these steps were helpful there was a need,
recognised by the Education Services, to develop a more
systematic approach to disseminating good practice and
recognising success.
8. How well does the authority perform overall?
Overview
In the face of many unique social and economic
challenges Glasgow City Council Education Services was
striving to improve provision for children and young
people and to add value to the work of schools. A
measure of success was already evident in a number of
areas. Improvement had been achieved in aspects of
46
pupils’ attainment, pre-school provision, the quality of
accommodation in secondary schools, curriculum support
and social inclusion.
The Council had established a very clear and relevant
vision for education and had given high priority to raising
standards of educational achievement and promoting
social inclusion. Service planning was very good and
provided a sound framework for translating aims for
education into plans and, often innovative, projects.
Education Services was effective in maintaining good
communications with schools, elected members and a
broad range of stakeholders. Some aspects of
consultation required to be improved.
The Director of Education and his senior officers had
provided good leadership in ensuring that continuous
improvement was central to the work of Education
Services. They now required to evaluate the
effectiveness of initiatives and their impact on pupils’
achievement more systematically, and, in particular, to
extend the range and rigour of arrangements for quality
assurance.
Although there was clear evidence of increased pupil
attainment in the primary sector, this was considerably
less marked in secondary schools. There was a continued
need to identify areas of underperformance and to
challenge and support headteachers and teachers in
raising levels of pupils’ attainment, to enable the
aspirations of the Council for all young people to be met.
Key strengths
•
The clear vision, values and aims which were highly
relevant to the needs of the Council and clearly
communicated to stakeholders.
•
The high quality of service planning.
47
•
The supportive teamwork of central staff.
•
The significant improvements in accommodation in
secondary schools as a result of the PPP initiative.
•
Rigorous financial control and reporting.
•
A strong commitment to social inclusion and raising
attainment.
•
The range and quality of curriculum support and
some staff development to support improvement in
pre-school and primary schools.
•
The clear priority action to successfully improving
school attendance and reducing exclusions.
9. Main points for action
In addition to addressing the areas for improvement
identified in this report, the local authority should act on
the following recommendations:
48
•
Take further steps to identify, support and challenge
areas of underperformance, particularly in secondary
schools.
•
Extend arrangements for quality assurance across all
sectors. Increase the rigour of school reviews and
target resources where needs are greatest to raise
pupils’ attainment. Monitor and evaluate initiatives
more systematically.
•
Improve policy making by providing clearer more
succinct policy statements and provide further advice
on how to implement policies.
•
Give further consideration to how the issues of
over-capacity and maintenance in primary school
buildings will be addressed.
•
Take further steps to improve the quality, focus and
transparency of consultation and ensure stakeholders
are fully informed of decisions taken.
•
Continue to develop an overall strategic framework
for SEN provision.
•
Extend approaches to identifying and disseminating
good practice to contribute to raising pupils’
attainment.
49
Around two years after the publication of this report
HM Inspectors will re-visit the authority to assess
progress in meeting these recommendations. The local
authority has been asked to prepare and make public an
action plan, within eight weeks of the publication of this
report, indicating how it will address the main points for
action in the report.
Ian Gamble
HM Chief Inspector
Quality, Standards and Audit Division
May 2002
50
Appendix 1
Performance information
No data is provided in relation to similar Councils in
Scotland as none are sufficiently close to Glasgow City
in a broad range of socio-economic indicators to
enable comparisons to be statistically valid.
Statistical indicators
•
% of school pupils staying on to S5 (post Christmas)
Glasgow
National
•
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
59
65
57
65
54
64
Pupil destinations
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
% Entering Full-Time
Higher Education
Glasgow
National
18
31
17
31
20
32
% Entering Full-Time
Further Education
Glasgow
National
20
18
22
19
22
20
% Entering
Employment
Glasgow
National
25
26
27
26
24
24
•
Absence
In relation to the Raising Standards – Setting Targets
initiative, Glasgow City Council set itself the following
target to minimise the average number of half-days
absence per pupil in primary and secondary schools by
2000/01.
Primary
Glasgow
National
Starting Level
(1997/1998)
Current Level
(2000/2001)
Target Level
(2000/2001)
31
21
28
20
27
18
51
Secondary
•
Glasgow
National
60
43
53
36
Exclusions from schools in Glasgow
2000/2001
Total
Exclusions
Exclusions Per
1000 Pupils
Temporary
Exclusions
Permanent
Exclusions
Glasgow
National
7442
38,656
96
51
7336
38,334
106
322
•
As part of the Raising Standards – Setting Targets
initiative, Glasgow City Council set itself the
following targets in reading, writing and mathematics
in primary schools to be achieved by 2001, and has
made the following progress in achieving them. The
figures represent the percentage of pupils attaining
and expected to attain appropriate 5-14 levels by P75.
Target
Reading
Writing
Maths
•
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Reading
Writing
Maths
5
Starting Level
June 1998
Current Level
June 2001
Target Level
June 2001
63
69
49
56
69
73
77
80
67
70
77
79
72
77
59
67
77
81
As part of the Raising Standards – Setting Targets
initiative, Glasgow City Council set itself the
following targets in reading, writing and mathematics
in secondary schools to be achieved by 2001, and has
made the following progress in achieving them. The
figures represent the percentage of pupils attaining
and expected to attain appropriate 5-14 levels by S26.
Target
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
Level A by end of P3.
Level D by end of P7.
6
Level E by end of S2.
52
68
43
Starting Level
June 1998
Current Level
June 2001
Target Level
June 2001
28
41
24
36
28
46
56
39
46
40
39
54
37
48
41
Level B by end of P4.
Level C by end of P6.
National
•
41
51
55
Results in Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)
National Qualifications.
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) levels:
7: CSYS at A-C
6: Higher at A-C
5: Intermediate 2 at A-C; Standard Grade at 1-2
4: Intermediate 1 at A-C; Standard Grade at 3-4
3: Access 3 Cluster; Standard Grade at 5-6
By end of S4
1999
2000
2001
5+ @ level 3 or better
Glasgow
National
84
91
85
91
85
91
5+ @ level 4 or better
Glasgow
National
61
75
64
77
65
77
5+ @ level 5 or better
Glasgow
National
19
32
20
33
21
33
1999
2000
2001
By end of S5
3+ @ level 6 or better
Glasgow
National
11
21
13
23
13
22
5+ @ level 6 or better
Glasgow
National
3
7
4
8
5
9
1999
2000
2001
4
10
4
10
5
11
By end of S6
1+ @ level 7 or better
Glasgow
National
53
•
As part of the Raising Standards – Setting Targets
initiative, Glasgow City Council set itself the
following SQA Standard Grade and Higher Grade
targets for session 2000-2001, and has made the
following progress in achieving them. The figures
represent the percentage of pupils achieving particular
targets.
SG English 1-6
SG Maths 1-6
5+SG 1-6
5+SG 1-4
5+SG 1-2
HG, 3+ (A-C)
HG, 5+ (A-C)
•
Current Level
(1999/2001)
Target Level
(1999/2001)
83
92
82
92
79
89
55
72
16
28
11
20
3
6
87
94
87
94
85
91
63
76
20
33
12
22
4
8
88
94
88
94
84
93
62
77
21
34
14
23
5
8
Value Added from S Grade to H Grade (a positive
number represents more progress than is typical
nationally; a negative number represents less progress
than is typical nationally; an * indicates a significant
result)
Glasgow
54
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Glasgow
National
Starting Level
(1995/97)
1999
6.23*
2000
-1.31
2001
0.93
Appendix 2
Inspection coverage
Establishments visited:
Broomhill Kindergarden
Carlton Childcare Centre
Easthall Nursery School
Govanhill Nursery School
Hamiltonhill Family Learning Centre
Harlequin House Nursery School
Lochview Nursery School
London Road Nursery School
Rowena Nursery School
Alexandra Parade Primary School
Cadder Primary School
Garrowhill Primary School
Garthamlock Primary School
Glasgow Gaelic Primary School
Hyndland Primary School
Ibrox Primary School
Knightswood Primary School
Lamlash Primary School
Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School
St Aloysius’ Primary School
St Ambrose’s Primary School
St Dennis’ Primary School
St Monica’s Primary School
St Timothy’s Primary School
Toryglen Primary School
Broomlea Special School
Caledonia Speech and Language Unit
Darnley Primary School Visual Impaired Unit
Dowanhill Primary School English as an Additional
Language Unit
Duntarvie Pre-school Assessment and Development
Centre
Howford Special School
Ladywell Special School
55
Penilee Secondary SchoolVisually Impaired Unit
St Oswald’s Special School
Kelbourne Special School
All Saints Secondary School
Bellahouston Academy
Cleveden Secondary School
Drumchapel High School
Lochend Community High School
Whitehill Secondary School
Meetings attended:
Education Services Committee Meeting
Education Services Standards and Quality
Sub-Committee Meeting
Senior Management Team Meeting
Meeting of Learning Community Principals
Meeting of Pupils with the Council Spokesperson
for Young People and an advisor from the
Education Services
The Curriculum Structures Group
Interviews or meetings with Council Members and
Officers:
Convenor of Education Services Committee
Vice-Convenor of Education Services Standards
and Quality Sub-Committee
Vice-Convenor of Education Services Pre-5/SEN
Sub-Committee
Conservative, Scottish Liberal Democrat and SNP
Spokespersons on Education
Council Spokesperson for Young People
Leader of the Council
Chief Executive
Director of Social Work Services
Director of Cultural and Leisure Services
Director of Financial Services
Director of Direct and Care Services
Director of Building Services
56
Interviews or meetings with Education Service Staff:
Director of Education
Depute Directors of Education
Senior Education Officers
Manager of the Educational Development and
Improvement Service
Area Principal Psychologists
Education Advisors and Seconded Staff in the
Educational Development and Improvement
Service
Other Officers and Seconded Staff in the Education
Services
Administrative staff in establishments visited
Bursars in two Learning Communities
Interviews with other Stakeholder Groups:
Careers Service Manager
Focus Groups of Headteachers Representing
Pre-School, Primary, Secondary and Special
Education Sectors
Groups of Asylum Seeker Children
Representatives of Teachers’ Unions
Representatives of the Rapid Response Group of
School Board Chair-Persons
School-Board Chair-Persons in Schools Visited
Representatives of the Braendam Link Group
Representatives of the Ethnic Minority Group
Representatives of the SEN Parents Group
Religious Representatives on the Education
Services Committee
57
Appendix 3
Quality indicators
We judged the following to be very good
•
•
•
Vision, values and aims
Service planning
Financial management
We judged the following to be good
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Effectiveness of leadership and management
Policy development
Mechanisms for consultation
Mechanisms for communication
Deployment and effectiveness of centrally deployed
staff
Resource management
Continuous improvement in performance
We judged the following to be fair
•
Measuring, monitoring and evaluating performance
We judged the following to be unsatisfactory
•
58
No aspects were found to be in this category
How can you contact us?
Copies of this report have been sent to the Chief
Executive of the local authority, the Head of the
Education Service, other local authority officers,
Members of the Scottish Parliament, Audit Scotland,
heads of the local authority educational establishments,
chairpersons of the local authority School
Boards/Parents’ Associations and to other relevant
individuals and agencies. Subject to availability, further
copies may be obtained free of charge from the office at
the address below or by telephoning 0131 244 0746.
Copies are also available on our web site:
www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie
Should you wish to comment on, or make a complaint
about, any aspect of the inspection or about this report,
you should write in the first instance to Ian Gamble,
HMCI whose address is given below. If you are unhappy
with the response, you will be told in writing what further
steps you may take.
HM Inspectorate of Education
Quality, Standards and Audit Division
1-B95
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Crown Copyright 2002
HM Inspectorate of Education
This report may be reproduced in whole or in part, except
for commercial purposes or in connection with a
prospectus or advertisement, provided that the source and
date thereof are stated.
59