HMIE response to School
Inspection Framework Review
Public consultation on proposals for the HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE)
school inspection framework starting in Autumn 2011
Foreword by Dr Bill Maxwell, HM Senior Chief Inspector
This report has been prepared to show how we are
planning to respond to the findings of our recent public consultation on
changes to the School Inspection Framework. I was pleased by the high level
of response we received to the consultation, reflecting the very high level of
interest in school inspection that exists in many quarters. It serves as a
strong reminder to us that inspection really does matter to our service users.
I would like formally to thank George Street Research for their effective
management of the consultation process on our behalf. I am also pleased to
note that the inspection framework for schools is the first of our frameworks to
put into action the generic principles of inspection and review which have
been summarised in the related document on our website:
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/AboutUs/InspectionResources/.
Finally, let me thank all of those who have contributed to the public
consultation and give particular thanks to members of the Project Board,
Project Team and our External Reference Group that oversaw the work. They
helped ensure that the changes described in this document will produce a
school inspection framework that produces the maximum benefit for all of our
stakeholders. I am committed to ensuring that we fully realise those benefits
as we implement these changes and that we continue to keep the framework
under review, ensuring that it remains ‘fit for purpose’ in the future.
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Our response
HMIE’s formal consultation on the new school inspection framework in Scotland ran
from 24 September to 17 December 2010. The purpose of this consultation was to
gather the views of as many of our stakeholders as possible about our proposals for
school 1 inspections and how to improve them. We wanted to hear your comments
and views to help ensure that we meet your expectations and needs as far as we
can. We also had our own evidence base which included feedback gathered from
staff in schools following an inspection and engagement both internally and
externally with a range of stakeholders about the school inspection framework.
The consultation was carried out on our behalf by independent consultants, George
Street Research. Respondents were invited to contribute their views electronically,
in written form or by telephone. A total of 1830 responses were received, where
respondents gave their views on all, or a selection of the consultation questions.
Representatives of George Street Research also sent questionnaires to a sample of
children and young people across the country. A total of 832 responses were
received through that route. George Street Research interviewed a range of
stakeholders, including parents 2 , children and young people, teachers and local
authority education staff. Our response to the consultation reflects the findings of the
consultation. It is structured under the six formal consultation headings.
Better use of information on schools and centres to make sure we inspect
where it really matters
Respondents to the questionnaire were generally satisfied with the proposals to alter
the basis on which we choose a set of schools to be inspected each year. We have
decided therefore to proceed on the basis set out in this proposal. We will reduce
the number of schools inspected in any year by about one-third. We will ensure that
the sample covers all local authorities and all types of community in Scotland and will
provide us with enough evidence to have a national overview of the quality of
education in Scotland. The sample will also allow us to fulfil our commitment to
provide evidence for three national indicators within Scottish Government’s National
Performance Framework 3 .
We will build on the close work and procedures we currently operate with each local
authority and the independent sector to identify the schools which will be inspected
as part of the national sample. We will work in partnership with local authorities to
establish clear criteria for the selection of schools in the national sample.
1
The term ‘schools’ is used throughout to refer to pre-school centres, nursery
schools, primary schools and those with nursery classes, special schools, secondary
schools and all through schools.
2
Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers,
residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.
3
The Scottish Government, 2007,
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/purposestratobjs.
2
We will ask each school to provide a brief self-evaluation paper and recent data from
user surveys or other relevant information for the Managing Inspector in advance of
the inspection. This simplifies the model and will enable us to conduct an inspection
that is more bespoke and responsive to the school’s context and one that allows for
better focused professional dialogue between the school and inspection team at the
start of the inspection. The self-evaluation paper will be used to help plan activities
and respond to the school’s own self-evaluation. The headteacher or senior
managers will no longer be required to prepare for a presentation but instead, will
discuss the self-evaluation paper with the inspection team.
Subject to the outcome of trials, we will use online questionnaires with staff and
young people during the session 2011/12. We will continue with paper copies for
parents. As of August 2012 (or a date agreed with local authorities), we will stop
issuing all pre-inspection questionnaires. Instead, we will use data provided by
schools or local authorities as part of the information they gather for their own
self-evaluation processes. This sends a clear signal from HMIE that the primary
responsibility for gathering and responding to the views of users rests with schools
and local authorities. It also gives time, for those schools where gathering views in
this way is not established practice, to prepare for the change.
Continue to inspect what really matters
Our proposals in this area were generally positively received. We have listened to
the concerns about our proposed focus on literacy, numeracy and health and
wellbeing being too narrow. We will no longer routinely inspect four subject
departments in secondary schools and focus on learning and teaching more widely
across the school to gather information about a broad general education. This will
allow us to engage with a wider range of staff, and see a greater range of practice
than is currently the case. Expertise amongst the inspection team will be used to
allow more in-depth consideration, as appropriate, of any priority issues as they
emerge or groups of children and young people in the inspection.
We will continue to encourage schools to see inspection as part of a wider
improvement process which includes follow-through activities. We will continue to
make our inspections more proportionate and responsive to the context of the
individual school. For example, we will streamline inspections in small schools to
reflect their size, minimising disruption to staff and supporting improvement without
interrupting learning and teaching. During an inspection, we will continue to support
improvement through ongoing professional dialogue but we will stop inspecting and
leave the school as soon as we have sufficient evidence to agree evaluations with
the school and write an accurate report for stakeholders.
The new school inspection framework changes how we see inspection: as part of a
continuous process of improvement rather than a single one-off event. We will
revise follow-through activities so that they are aligned with these changes and build
on the agreed focus on improvement. Follow-through activities, if any, will continue
to be a proportionate response to the initial part of the inspection but we will provide
increased options for follow-through activity. These may involve specialist staff
returning to look more closely at good practice or to provide advice and support to
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promote improvement. We will discuss with the school, the District Inspector and
education authority of the relevant support for any identified department(s) or
school(s) which is(are) a cause for concern. This may involve further evaluative
activity by HMIE and feedback to parents.
We will gather evidence on the nature and quality of teachers’ continuing
professional development, particularly its impact on the quality of learning, teaching
and outcomes for learners. This aligns with the findings of the Teaching Scotland’s
Future, report of a review of teacher education in Scotland 4 and our own Curriculum
for Excellence support work carried out in partnership with local authorities, Learning
and Teaching Scotland and Scottish Qualifications Authority in the Autumn of 2010.
We will plan additional thematic evaluation projects, separately from the routine
school inspection programme. These will be used to gather evidence and provide
evaluation on specific subjects, curriculum areas and themes. We will liaise with
stakeholders about the focus of these projects. This will provide us with a national
overview of key policies and their impact on the quality of education in these specific
subject and curriculum areas.
Greater emphasis on getting everyone involved
Most respondents agreed with our proposals, although a number felt that parents
were already sufficiently well engaged in the inspection process. We will invite the
Chair of the Parent Council, parents and pupils to meet with the Lay Member of the
inspection team during the first day of the inspection. This will increase the
opportunity for the views of users to contribute to the planning of the inspection. We
will increase the opportunities for parents to meet the Lay Member of the inspection
team during the inspection week.
We will share our evidence base with school staff and the Chair of the Parent
Council using password protection arrangements and will provide advice on how this
should be done. The evidence base will be available from the headteacher and
Chair of the Parent Council as the representative of the parent body to allow them to
support improvement. We will ask the headteacher or senior staff to make
arrangements to provide feedback to learners at the end of the inspection.
We will ensure that all Parent Councils are made aware that as representatives of
the parent body they can make representations to HMIE on matters of interest or
concern. Most issues should be capable of resolution at a local level and
representations to HMIE are expected to be the exception, rather than the norm.
However, we will take account of representations received and may use them to
inform the programme of future school inspections, where it is reasonable and
practical to do so. In all cases, we will reply to the Parent Council.
Increasing staff involvement in inspection
4
The Scottish Government, January 2011
http://www.reviewofteachereducationinscotland.org.uk/teachingscotlandsfuture/index
.asp.
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There was strong support for increasing the involvement of staff in inspections. We
will invite each school to propose a nominated member or members of staff to
engage in agreed aspects of the inspection such as taking part in class visits and the
early scoping meeting with the inspection team. As appropriate, we will continue to
develop the level of involvement, with due consideration of resources and impact on
learning and teaching. These changes should help ensure that we meet our aim of
working in partnership with schools through professional dialogue and they should
also contribute to developing staff skills in undertaking evaluative activities.
Clearer, more accessible reports
Consultation respondents strongly supported the proposal to provide clearer, more
accessible reports. The majority of respondents wanted a short report highlighting
the main inspection findings. From August 2011, we will publish a web-based
version of our inspection report in the form of a letter to parents. We will provide a
small number of paper copies for schools for those parents unable to access the
information online. From August 2011 to August 2012, we will continue to supply
schools with a paper copy of the letter for parents with the aim of moving to
web-based only versions as soon as is practical. We will provide a clear evaluation
of the quality of the school’s work. We will also include a link to statistical
information and data related to the school on our website. We will discuss with
schools how best to provide a report for learners. Inspection reports will share a
common format but the content of the report will aim to reflect the school, and its
community.
Shorter period of notice
There was strong support for shortening the period of notice. However, there was
variation in views on how long the period of notice should be. Whilst some
respondents felt strongly that we should move to unannounced inspections, this is
problematic from a practical point of view and may, for some staff, raise levels of
anxiety. It would also severely constrain our ability to involve parents effectively in
the inspection process.
We will therefore reduce the period of notice but not eliminate it entirely. As of
August 2011, we will provide pre-schools and primary schools with a two-week
notification. Pending the outcome of the review of the learning community inspection
framework, we will move to a similar notification in secondary schools thereafter,
most likely from August 2012. For the meantime, the period of notification for
secondary schools will remain at three weeks as the advance scheduling of the more
complex set of meetings involved currently requires a lead-in time of that length.
A shorter period of notice for inspection will increase public confidence that
inspectors observe the school as it normally works and help to minimise the anxiety
experienced by staff in the school which can build up over a longer period of notice.
A two-week period of notice allows the school to provide us with a brief
self-evaluation summary paper, based on existing documentation and allows the
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Managing Inspector to contact the school and do some preparatory work before the
inspection week. We will retain the option of a ‘no notice’ inspection in special
circumstances, for example, where there are concerns regarding care and welfare of
children or young people. We will continue to keep these arrangements under
review and to gather feedback from those being inspected.
Next Steps
We will now take the necessary steps to implement the new school inspection
framework which will begin in August 2011. We have a team developing the new
arrangements. The team will work with lead inspectors for relevant sectors such as
pre-school, primary, secondary, special and all-through to prepare guidance for all
the sectors covered by the school inspection framework. We will liaise with other
statutory agencies such as the new Social Care and Social Work Inspection
Scotland (SCSWIS) and key stakeholders through the external reference group and
our established channels to ensure that our arrangements meet the requirements of
all stakeholders as far as possible.
Our schedule for the implementation of the school inspection framework is:
March to May 2011
Continue to develop sector specific
guidance
Continue to pilot sector specific guidance
Finalise overarching school inspection
framework
Publish school inspection framework
Publish sector specific guidance
Initial inspections under new school
inspection framework
March to June 2011
June 2011
June 2011
June 2011
August 2011
You can access the full George Street Research report on our website:
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/generic/School+Inspection+Framework+Review.
Membership of External Reference Group
Greg Dempster
Jim Docherty
John Edward
Leslie Manson
Joanna Murphy
Eileen Prior
Susan Quinn
Colin Sutherland
Jennifer Wallace
Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland
Scottish Secondary Teachers Association
Scottish Council of Independent Schools
Association of Directors of Education in Scotland
National Parent Forum Scotland
Scottish Parent Teacher Council
Educational Institute of Scotland
School Leaders Scotland
Consumer Focus Scotland
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Further information about this publication is available from:
HM Inspectorate of Education
Denholm House
Almondvale Business Park
Almondvale Way
Livingston
EH54 6GA
Tel: 01506 600 200
Fax: 01506 600 337
e-mail: enquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk
© Crown copyright, 2011
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