ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
HMIE is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Ministers under the terms of the
Scotland Act 1998. We operate independently and impartially whilst remaining
directly accountable to Scottish Ministers for the standards of our work. Agency
status safeguards the independence of our inspection, review and reporting within
the overall context of Scottish Ministers’ strategic objectives for the Scottish
education system.
Our core objective
Our core objective is to promote and contribute to sustainable improvements in
standards, quality and achievements for all learners in a Scottish education system
which is inclusive.
Working in partnership, we seek to ensure that:
• children, young people and adults in Scotland become successful learners,
confident individuals, active citizens and effective contributors in the workplace
and community; and
• providers of educational and children’s services in Scotland enable children and
young people to be safe, nurtured, achieving, healthy, active, included, respected
and responsible.
Our core values
Our core values are: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. We aim to put
them into practice through activities which are independent, fair, open and user
focused.
We work towards the achievement of our core objective, often in partnership with
other inspectorates by:
• always putting learners’ needs and desired outcomes for them at the forefront,
and accounting rigorously and clearly to them, their families, Ministers and the
people of Scotland on the quality of education, well-being and care they
experience;
• providing independent, rigorous, authoritative and relevant evaluations, advice
and reports, based on first-hand knowledge of the experiences and achievements
of learners and the provision made for them;
• celebrating and promoting good practice and providing well-balanced challenge
and support to the establishments and services we inspect and review, responding
proportionately to their needs;
• working with establishments, services, their partners and other organisations, to
increase their capacity to improve through rigorous self-evaluation and
well-targeted support;
• providing clear, authoritative, professional advice for Ministers, the Executive and
others which is firmly rooted in high-quality analysis of the evidence we gather
through inspection; and
• increasing the capacity of HMIE to evaluate provision to meet the wider needs of
children and young people through extending its base of expertise and staff
development.
ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
An Agency of the Scottish Executive
Laid before the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Ministers June 2006
SE/2006/90
ISBN 0 7053 1080 9
Produced for HMIE by Astron B44302 6/06
Published by HMIE June 2006
£15.00
© Crown copyright 2006
Contents
Page
Our core objectives and values
2
Section 1
Report by HM Senior Chief Inspector
4
Section 2
Performance against targets 2005-06
Strategic priority 1
Strategic priority 2
Strategic priority 3
Strategic priority 4
10
Section 3
Impact of our work on Scottish education
What difference does our work make? How do we know?
How good are our inspections and reviews?
Pre-school
Primary and secondary
Special schools
Colleges
Community learning and development (CLD)
Education authorities
How good are our follow-through procedures?
How good are our approaches to quality assurance?
How good are our conferences and training events?
How good is our website?
How good are we at using associate assesors to build capacity for
improvement in the system?
How good are our aspect reports?
24
Section 4
Looking ahead to 2006-07
Strategic priority 1
Strategic priority 2
Strategic priority 3
Strategic priority 4
34
Section 5
Staffing and structure
HM Senior Chief Inspector (HMSCI)
How we are structured
Our Management Board
Inspectors
Corporate services staff
Assistant inspectors
Associate assessors
Lay members
Seconded staff
Staff by gender and grade
46
Section 6
Investing in ourselves
General health
Continuing professional development
Information and communications technology (ICT)
52
Section 7
Enquiries, Freedom of Information,
compliments and complaints
General enquiries
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
Compliments
Complaints
56
Section 8
Appendix
HMIE publications April 2005 – March 2006
Acronyms
Contacting us
60
3
ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Report by HM Senior Chief Inspector
Introduction
The past year has been one of change and challenge.
Our Business Plan for 2005-06 covered all sectors of
education and areas relating to integrated inspections
of services for children. As in previous years, we
pursued a demanding range of targets and I am
pleased to be able to confirm that almost all of the
main inspection and review targets have been met.
This Annual Report provides a detailed overview of
our work over the last year and looks forward to
2006-07. It provides information about HMIE
personnel and their roles in supporting the work of
the organisation. Section 3 outlines the impact of
our work and our success in the key objective of
improving Scottish education. In the remainder of
this section, I highlight some notable areas of our
work in 2005-06 and look ahead to some key future
developments.
4
1
Inspecting and reporting
From April 2003 to March 2006 we completed our
joint commitment with the Care Commission to carry
out within a three-year period an integrated
inspection of all pre-school centres which were known
to provide education for three to five year olds. From
April 2006, a programme of follow-through inspections
of pre-school centres will begin. In addition, we shall
develop a new, proportionate model of inspection for
pre-school centres for introduction in April 2007.
This year we have inspected 264 primary schools and
55 secondary schools, including independent schools.
These figures are likely to be exceptional and are
significantly higher than the average over the previous
three years. We also inspected 29 day and residential
special schools, including secure units. In collaboration
with the Registrar for Independent Schools, we have
developed new procedures for registration inspections
in line with new legislation which came into effect on
31 December 2005.
We continue to receive positive feedback about our
“proportionate” approach to school inspections. This
approach focuses on pupils’ learning experiences and
achievements, and schools’ capacity for continuous
improvement. It targets time to support followthrough activities in schools which need to improve
the most. In partnership with local education
authorities, we have engaged with schools where we
found underperformance and planned inspection
activity in response to the circumstances in the
school. I am pleased that evaluations of the impact of
our follow-through programme have shown that our
inspectors have helped to bring about change for the
better in many schools.
We continued to carry out inspections of school care
accommodation services and residential special
schools in collaboration with the Care Commission
and secure units in collaboration with the Social Work
Inspection Agency. We also successfully completed a
number of inspections of educational facilities in prisons
in conjunction with HM Inspectorate of Prisons.
We continued our work in the college sector by
publishing reports on the colleges reviewed during
2004-05, carrying through the review activity scheduled
for 2005-06, and contributing to quality improvement
and enhancement through our Service Level Agreement
with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
The first cycles of inspection of the education
functions of local authorities (INEA) and of
community learning and development (CLD) ended
in 2005. We have subsequently introduced
proportionate approaches to the inspection of
education authorities and piloted inspections in two
authorities. In order to streamline activities further,
aspects of CLD have been included in the new INEA
inspections. Ministers have also asked HMIE to evaluate
the impact of psychological services on the education
and development of children and young people. This
has been built into the next cycle of INEA inspections.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Promoting improvement in key aspects of
education
We have continued to promote improvement through
reporting on key aspects of Scottish education. We
published a range of reports in 2005-06, a few of
which are highlighted below. We have also continued
to promote improvement through good practice
conferences and by publishing materials on our website.
In October 2005, we published a report on the
progress being made towards implementing the
recommendations in the Scottish Executive’s Hungry
for Success initiative. In the coming year, we shall
continue to monitor developments in primary and
special schools and begin to monitor the progress
made in secondary schools.
Of particular concern is the performance of lowerachieving pupils, a subject which was tackled in our
report Missing Out, published in January 2006. We
shall continue to follow-up on this theme. We have
also begun work to monitor the progress of the
implementation of the Education (Additional Support
for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.
In teacher education, we published the influential
report Student Teacher Placements within Initial Teacher
Education. This report identified issues and gave
pointers for the way forward in an area placed under
strain by the greatly increased numbers of students
coming through into the teaching profession to meet
current Scottish Executive commitments.
6
Evaluations across education sectors featured
prominently in our work. Early in the year, we
published the report Changing Lives: Adult Literacy and
Numeracy in Scotland on the progress of the Scottish
Executive’s adult literacy and numeracy initiative. We
followed this with a cross-sectoral good practice
conference. Our report on school-college partnerships
Working Together: Cross-Sectoral Provision of Vocational
Education for Scotland’s School Pupils provided an
evaluation of provision at the outset of the
implementation of the Scottish Executive’s schoolcollege partnership strategy. As part of support for the
Skills for Work initiative, we began a programme of
monitoring visits to centres delivering the new
courses, primarily to school pupils within colleges, but
also within a number of other partnership settings.
We continued to support the Scottish Executive’s
Determined to Succeed initiative through good practice
seminars, a new theme on our website, and visits to
schools and other centres to explore good practice.
Improving Scottish Education report
Our most significant single piece of work this year has
been the publication of Improving Scottish Education in
February 2006. This landmark report covers the range
of education sectors: pre-school; primary; secondary;
special school; college; and community learning and
development. It brings together and summarises our
evaluations for the three years up to summer 2005.
The report identifies many strengths in Scottish
education alongside areas of weakness which must be
addressed robustly. It proposes that Scottish
education must “move up a gear” if it is to meet the
1
needs of our young people and adult learners in the
future. Our launch event at Hampden, attended by
over 200 senior educationalists and policy makers from
across Scotland, began the dissemination of the
report’s findings and consideration of how to take
forward the key issues. In the coming year, and
beyond, we shall follow-up the findings in our
inspections and work with all agencies involved in
education to build on current strength and bring
about the kind of step change the future demands.
The Improving Scottish Education agenda
In 2006-07 and beyond, we shall be giving particular
attention to the following areas in our inspection
activities.
The Scottish Executive’s policy document Ambitious,
Excellent Schools asked us to establish a new excellence
standard for school inspections. In September 2005,
we introduced a new six-point evaluation scale in
school inspections which allows us to recognise levels
of service that are outstanding. How good is our
school? The Journey to Excellence, published in March,
identifies ten dimensions of excellence in schools and
provides practical support for those schools which are
now ready to make the step change from good to
great. It is closely linked to How good is our school?,
the third edition, and will be followed up by a booklet
on planning for improvement and an ambitious
digital resource on journeys to excellence.
•
Achievement
Inspections of services for children
•
Curriculum, Learning and Teaching
•
Inclusion
•
Underperformance
•
Leadership and Innovation
•
Accountability
We have continued the development of
multidisciplinary inspections of services for children,
beginning with child protection. New legislation is
now in place which allowed the programme of child
protection inspections to start in January 2006. We
have recruited and trained 80 associate assessors to
work with us on this programme. We have published
How well are children and young people protected and
their needs met?, a guide to self-evaluation for services
to protect children and young people. We have
continued our collaborative work with other national
inspectorates and review bodies to establish a
common framework for inspection and to integrate
plans for inspections. There remains much to be
done, but I am pleased that we remain on course for
having an integrated approach to inspecting
children’s services in place from 2008.
Supporting self-evaluation and promoting
excellence
In March, we published A Framework for Evaluating the
Quality of Services and Organisations. We have used
the framework to develop new quality indicators for
child protection, education functions of local
authorities and community learning and
development. How good is our school?, the third
edition, will be published later this year and will be
based on the new framework.
7
ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Human resources and staffing
The balance of HMIE staffing continues to change,
reflecting the directions in which the organisation is
moving and the age profile of its workforce. In
preparation for integrated inspections of services for
children, we have recruited new staff from a range of
backgrounds, including health, social work, police
and youth justice. To enable us to undertake our
demanding programme, we continue to develop and
extend the professionalism of our corporate services
staff. Staff involved in the administration of inspections,
the business management unit, the finance team, the
information systems unit, the integrated inspections
unit, the management planning team and our team
of statisticians all provide high-quality support to
inspectors carrying out work in the field and make a
range of other essential contributions to delivery of
our strategic priorities. Over the next five years, a
third of inspectors, including a number of assistant
chief inspectors and chief inspectors, are due to retire.
The extensive work carried out as part of our human
resources strategy allows us to continue to recruit
people of the highest quality and develop our staff to
their fullest potential. Succession planning is of crucial
importance. It is to the great credit of all our staff that
we have succeeded in meeting our targets this year,
8
despite difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified
inspectors. Should these difficulties continue, it will be
an even greater challenge to meet our targets for
2006-07.
Through the recently established Equality and
Diversity Group, we are responding positively in all
aspects of our work to the new duties placed on
public authorities relating to race, gender and
disability issues. An overarching policy on equality and
diversity will be developed within three years.
Accommodation
We are now entering the third year of our relocation
exercise. The most significant development in 2005-06
was the replacement of our temporarily expanded
presence in Dundee by a new purpose-built office
with further increased capacity. This new office,
together with our continuing presence in Inverness
and Aberdeen, and other offices in the central belt,
ensures that HMIE has a presence in or close to most
of the main Scottish population centres and close to
the bulk of the provision that it serves. An increasing
number of our conferences, meetings and training
events now take place at our main office in Livingston.
1
Governance and best value
We have been assisted greatly in our work over the
year by the two non-executive members of our
Management Board, Rowena Arshad and Andrew
Cubie. I am pleased that we shall be strengthening
further this element of challenge in the coming year
by increasing the number of external members to
four.
The Best Value Group within HMIE is responsible for
coordinating the internal quality of our work. In the
last year, the group has commissioned surveys of the
views of stakeholders and of all HMIE staff, including
our associate assessors and lay members, as part of
monitoring our work and its impact. I am pleased that
both surveys have shown continuing high levels of
satisfaction in most areas covered. We are now
addressing the issues identified.
HMIE is committed to improving Scottish education
and promoting excellence across all sectors. We shall
continue to work towards these goals in 2006-07.
Graham Donaldson
HM Senior Chief Inspector
June 2006
Our inspections give assurance, promote improvement
and help to drive up standards. We have been
working hard to streamline our activities and to work
with other scrutiny bodies to ensure proportionality
without losing impact. There will be further important
progress along the road in the year to come.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Section 2: Performance against targets 2005-06
Strategic Priority 1
What we planned to do
Through inspection and reporting, promote public
accountability for the delivery of high quality
education to all learners in Scotland.
1.1 We will undertake a programme of
inspections/reviews of:
• 800 early education centres in collaboration
with the Care Commission
• 250 primary schools including provision for
pupils with additional support needs where
sited in the school
• 53 secondary schools including provision for
pupils with additional support needs where
sited in the school
• 25 centres which include day special,
residential special, secure, outreach services
and hospital services
• 15 integrated inspections of school care
accommodation services with the Care
Commission
• a number of prison education facilities to be
agreed with HM Inspectorate of Prisons
Key
*
exceeded
met
partially met
not met
revised
10
• follow-through inspections in line with the
commitment to parents and other
stakeholders given in the report of the original
inspection
• two pilot inspections and two proportionate
inspections on the new model of inspections
of education authorities
• four inspections of community learning and
development services on the current model,
three inspections piloting the new model and
two inspections on the new programme
• voluntary sector organisations as required by
the Scottish Executive.
2
What we did
*
*
*
*
*
We inspected 877 early education centres in collaboration with the
Care Commission.
We inspected 264 primary schools, of which 30 had provision for
additional support needs.
We inspected 55 secondary schools, of which 29 had provision for
additional support needs.
We inspected 29 centres, of which eight were residential special
schools including secure accommodation in collaboration with the
Care Commission.
We undertook 20 inspections of school care accommodation services in
collaboration with the Care Commission.
We inspected five prison education facilities.
We undertook a total of 84 follow-through school inspections.
We carried out the pilot inspections. The proportionate inspections
were deferred as a consequence of staffing issues.
We agreed to defer one inspection at the request of the education
authority.
We inspected four voluntary organisations.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic Priority 1 (continued)
What we planned to do
Through inspection and reporting, promote public
accountability for the delivery of high quality
education to all learners in Scotland.
1.2 We will carry out a programme of reviews of
FE colleges to be agreed with SFEFC.
1.3 We will issue:
• 95% of draft reports to schools within 12
working weeks of inspection
• 90% of draft reports to services responsible for
community learning and development within
16 working weeks of notification of the
inspection
• draft reports on education authorities issued in
line with guidelines
• draft reports to all FE colleges within
timescales to be agreed with SFEFC.
1.4 We will publish:
• 92% of school inspection reports within 16
working weeks of the inspection
Key
*
exceeded
partially met
• 90% of community learning and development
service inspection reports within 24 working
weeks from notification and move to reduce
this to 16 weeks
not met
• all reports of inspections of education authorities
within 16 weeks of the final inspection visit
met
revised
12
• 90% of reports of follow-through inspections
of schools, written by HM Inspectors, within
12 working weeks of the final inspection
• all FE review reports on or before the dates
stated in the published service level agreement
with SFEFC.
2
What we did
As agreed with SFEFC, we reviewed six colleges in the first year of the
revised review model and also carried out one follow-up review.
*
We issued all draft reports within 12 working weeks of the inspection.
We rescheduled one draft report in agreement with the education
authority to allow for more discussion with that authority before
publication.
We issued all draft reports within agreed timescales.
We issued all draft reports within agreed timescales.
*
We published 98% of reports within 16 working weeks of the inspection.
Achieved.
One report was delayed owing to staffing issues.
Achieved.
Achieved.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic Priority 2
What we planned to do
Work with other organisations to build capacity to
provide education and services for children of the
highest quality for all users.
2.1 We will publish reports in our Improving
series, including a report on mathematics and a
report on Gaelic education.
2.2 We will disseminate good practice on key
sectors and aspects of education through
conferences, seminars, further development of
our website and other media.
2.3 We will identify examples of best practice
within schools in relation to wider aspects of
achievement, and develop approaches for
evaluating the quality of schools’ approaches in
this area.
Key
*
14
exceeded
2.4 We will carry out field work and prepare for
publication on appropriate dates aspect reports
including:
met
• Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland
(carried forward from 2004-05)
partially met
• Gaelic Education (carried forward from
2004-05)
not met
• cross-sectoral provision of vocational education
for school pupils
revised
• student teacher placements as part of initial
teacher education
2
What we did
We published an Improving Achievement in Mathematics in Primary and Secondary
Schools report in October 2005 and an Improving Achievement in Gaelic report in
June 2005.
We visited schools to identify factors which have resulted in significant
improvement following recent inspections.
We ran good practice conferences in maths, music, drama, citizenship,
ICT/computing, enterprise in education and religious and moral education.
We opened new themes on the Good Practice Area of our website and published
examples of good practice in enterprise in education, drama and a number of
aspects of further education.
We have carried out fieldwork in schools on the way that they promote and
recognise broader achievement. We shall report on good practice in this area in
2006-2007.
We published Improving Scottish Education in February 2006.
We had delayed publication of Changing Lives: Adult Literacy and Numeracy in
Scotland until June 2005 to enable a joint approach with other national bodies.
As noted above.
We published Working Together: Cross-Sectoral Provision of Vocational Education for
Scotland’s Schools Pupils in September 2005.
We published Student Teacher Placements within Initial Teacher Education in October
2005.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic Priority 2 (continued)
What we planned to do
Work with other organisations to build capacity to
provide education and services for children of the
highest quality for all users.
2.5 We will prepare for publication on appropriate
dates further guides in our self-evaluation series,
including guides focused on:
• improving learning and teaching through
evaluating classroom practice
• integrated community schooling
• religious observance
• parental involvement
• school-college partnerships working
Key
*
exceeded
2.6 We will undertake a programme of
inspection of child protection services through
a multidisciplinary inspection programme.
Working with other inspectorates and agencies,
we will continue to develop a common approach
to inspecting services for children.
met
partially met
not met
revised
16
2.7 We will review the performance indicators in
The Child at the Centre and the quality indicators
in How good is our school? within the contexts of
services for children, integrated community schools
and the quality models used in other sectors.
2
What we did
This will be published later in 2006-07.
We revised this target to gathering best practice exemplars to publish
on our website.
We revised this target to enable us to work with Learning and Teaching
Scotland to produce a joint, rather than HMIE, guide.
We have prepared the guide for publication.
The guide to self-evaluation of school-college partnership was published
in August 2005.
We also prepared for publication a guide on using quality indicators to
prepare for Investors in People.
We have continued to work with other inspectorates and agencies in the
development of a common approach to inspecting services for children.
This has included a review of the pilot inspections, the publication of a
self-evaluation guide, a series of pre-inspection visits to build capacity
amongst stakeholders and the publication of a consultation document on
the evaluation of services for children which was launched in April 2006.
The child protection inspection programme was delayed pending new
legislation which was approved by the Scottish Parliament in January 2006.
We have reviewed the performance indicators and will consult on them
with a view to publication in the Autumn of 2006. We have taken
account of the introduction of a common framework for evaluating
other services.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic Priority 2 (continued)
What we planned to do
Work with other organisations to build capacity to
provide education and services for children of the
highest quality for all users.
2.8 We will identify the key features of excellent
schools to help inform schools and pre-school
centres on improvement.
2.9 We will provide support and challenge to
schools participating in the Schools of Ambition
programme.
2.10 We will publish a report on the first cycle of
inspections of 32 education authorities and
disseminate its findings to share good practice
and promote overall improvement.
Key
*
exceeded
met
partially met
not met
revised
18
2.11 We will publish reports on the first cycle of
inspection of community learning and
development in all 32 authorities and
disseminate the findings to share good practice
and promote improvement.
2.12 We will complete the development of a
revised quality framework for self-evaluation and
inspection of education authorities and community
learning and development in order to bring
about improvements for those served and to
integrate these inspections as much as possible.
These will be piloted before being introduced.
2
What we did
The first two parts of How good is our school? The Journey to Excellence
were published in March 2006. They identify and expand in detail the
characteristics of an excellent school and pre-school centre in the form
of ten dimensions.
We carried out visits to all schools potentially in the programme and
provided advice to the Scottish Executive.
We revised this target as a result of staff illness. The report will now be
published in 2006-07.
We revised this target to enable the report to be published with the
report referred to in 2.10.
We introduced a new model of inspection of education authorities in
March 2006. We provided training for our own staff and stakeholders.
We provided support materials and training, incorporating
arrangements for psychological services inspections, to enable
education authorities to undertake self-evaluation. We also launched a
revised CLD quality framework in March 2006.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic Priority 3
What we planned to do
Support informed policy development by providing
high quality, independent, professional advice
drawn from inspection and review evidence and
knowledge of the system.
3.1 We will provide high quality advice within
agreed timescales to:
• Scottish Ministers
• relevant departments of the Scottish Executive
• working groups and other fora including the
Curriculum Review Programme Board
• key national bodies.
Key
*
exceeded
met
partially met
not met
revised
20
2
What we did
Examples include:
• advice to the Registrar for Independent Schools on registration of
new independent schools
• provision of professional advice to the Scottish Executive on matters
including:
• progress made in implementing the Teachers’ Agreement
• school closures
• Schools of Ambition applications
• Parental Involvement Bill
• children at risk of missing out on educational opportunities
• Ambitious, Excellent Schools
• teacher education
• enterprise in education
• Joint Inspection of Children’s Services and Social Work Services
(Scotalnd) Act 2006
• school-college partnership including Skills for Work courses
• the Review of Scotland’s Colleges
• A Curriculum for Excellence
• provision of a report to the Scottish Executive on the implementation
of National Priorities for Education
• advice to Scottish Ministers as to whether education authorities have
met their statutory duties in opening and reviewing terms of records
of needs
• advice to Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Scottish Council
for Independent Schools based on good practice seen in inspections.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic Priority 4
What we planned to do
Develop and manage HMIE as a best value
organisation.
4.1 We will carry out surveys of the views of key
users on the quality of services we provide and
take action to improve things where we can.
4.2 We will continue to operate using the
principles of the European Foundation for
Quality Management, Charter Mark, Investors in
People and the Plain English Campaign to audit
best value within HMIE.
4.3 We will prepare an action plan for meeting
the recommendations of our Charter Mark
assessment and report on progress to the
Charter Mark assessor by February 2006.
Key
*
exceeded
met
4.4 We will pursue the Scotland’s Health at Work
(SHAW) silver award across all our sites, drawing
on the Scottish Executive’s wider approach with a
view to assessment in Spring 2007.
partially met
4.5 We will introduce a new category of
not met
revised
22
excellence into our scale for evaluating
educational provision, moving from our current
four-point scale to a new six-point scale.
2
What we did
We carried out surveys of key stakeholders about the impact of inspections
and identified actions for improvement based on findings. We also took
positive steps to address issues arising from our internal staff survey
including reviewing and amending our strategy for the continuing
professional development of staff.
Achieved.
We prepared an action plan and fully met the recommendations of our
Charter Mark assessment. We were also commended by the assessor for
our work.
We are on schedule to achieve this.
We have introduced a new category of excellence into our scale for
evaluating educational provision in most sectors, and published advice
on our website How good is our school? – recognising excellence.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Section 3: Impact of our work on Scottish education
Our core objective is to promote improvements in
standards, quality and achievement for all learners in
Scottish education. The critical test of our success in
meeting this objective is our ability to demonstrate that our
work has maximum impact on the system, with minimum
intrusion. If inspection is working properly, it must add
value.
24
3
What difference does our work make?
How do we know?
We are committed to self-evaluation and seek to
gather views on the impact of our work in a number
of ways.
This section gives examples of how we have evaluated
the effectiveness of some key areas of our work and
outlines the findings. We shall be addressing the
issues identified. Action to be taken is embedded in
our targets for 2006-07 (see Section 4 of this report).
How good are our inspections and
reviews?
Pre-school
Our recently completed three-year programme of
integrated inspections of pre-school centres
conducted with the Care Commission, has been
subject to an evaluative analysis by an independent
firm of research consultants. Parents/carers’
perceptions of the inspection process were very
positive. The awareness of the inspection taking place
was high (91%) and the inspection itself was seen as
important (93%). Providers gave positive feedback
relating to their experience of being inspected. It was
clear that they saw the inspection as important.
Significantly, almost 90% rated the quality of the
feedback as good or very good and a similar
proportion found the inspectors and officers efficient
and helpful. Local authorities and other key
organisations associated with providers considered the
inspection process as being important and well run.
They saw it as having helped to improve the quality
of provision and increase the status of the early years’
sector. They commented that, for the first time,
centres are being evaluated in relation to provision
that they make for the whole child. Inspections were
seen to be encouraging services to work towards
consistency. The independence of the inspections was
commonly believed to help local authorities push
forward improvements in services operated by partner
providers.
We shall be taking action to address key areas for
improvement identified by stakeholders, including the
need to:
• develop a more proportionate approach to
inspections to provide more support to pre-school
centres which need to improve;
• inspect nursery classes as part of the whole school
inspection; and
• develop a shorter reporting format.
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The following charts illustrate some of the responses we received from heads of pre-school centres in our postinspection questionnaires.
Head of centre’s rating of the helpfulness of written communication
prior to the inspection
April 2003 – March 2006
Helpful
Neither helpful nor unhelpful
94%
6%
Head of centre’s rating of the coordination of the inspection activities
April 2003 – March 2006
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
93%
7%
Head of centre’s rating of the helpfulness of the inspection
April 2003 – March 2006
Very good
Good
51%
26
Neither good nor poor
Poor
34%
Very poor
10%
3% 2%
3
Primary and Secondary
As part of regular primary and secondary inspection procedures, we use post-inspection
questionnaires to gather views from headteachers, school staff and parents/carers.
The following charts illustrate the very positive responses to our primary and secondary school inspections which
we have received from all of these groups over the period 2003-06.
Headteachers’ rating of inspections in terms of helpfulness to the school
August 2003 – March 2006
Very good
Good
Fair
Unsatisfactory
70%
20%
5% 5%
Teaching staff rating of inspections in terms of helpfulness to the school
August 2003 – March 2006
Very good
Good
Fair
43%
Unsatisfactory
40%
11%
6%
Parents/carers’ views on whether they found the report helpful
August 2003 – March 2006
Yes
No
99%
1%
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HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
In addition, we analysed the comments made by
headteachers and other staff on their evaluations of
our inspections. Schools regarded the inspection
process as helpful. They were very positive about the
written and oral briefings about inspection. They
particularly appreciated the reassurance they received
from the initial telephone contact by the Managing
Inspector. They valued the professional and
constructive way in which inspectors identified
strengths and areas for development. They rated the
quality of feedback highly in identifying clear priorities
for improvement and providing constructive, helpful
advice. There was frequent comment on the way in
which inspectors were friendly and approachable and
made staff feel at ease while carrying out inspections
in a thorough and rigorous manner. A key objective of
one of our corporate training days in 2006-07 will be
to support all inspectors in consolidating these
strengths within their practice.
We recently commissioned George Street Research to
carry out a survey to establish the views of
stakeholders on the impact of the proportionate
model for primary and secondary school inspections.
The survey sought views from headteachers, school
staff, parents, members of school boards and pupils
from P7 to S6.
The overall findings of the survey were very positive.
Respondents expressed strongly the view that the
inspection process was a key instrument in ensuring
continuous improvement at school level. The survey
showed that inspection was:
• regarded as an important and necessary part of the
education system; and
• held in high regard because it was carried out by an
external and independent body.
Respondents also considered published reports to be
an essential part of the inspection process. They
valued oral feedback sessions, particularly where HM
Inspectors provided constructive criticisms and
suggested solutions.
We shall be taking action to address key areas for
improvement identified by stakeholders, including the
need to:
• give more emphasis to pupils’ broader
achievements;
• take greater account of the views of pupils in the
course of inspections;
• be more consistent in how we communicate and
share information during inspections; and
• review how our reports are written and presented.
28
3
Colleges
College staff welcomed the focus within the review
process on learning and teaching process, learner
progress and outcomes and leadership and quality
management. They were positive about the increased
focus on engaging with learners as part of evaluating
their college experience. Staff rated feedback by
reviewers very highly, including summary written
feedback provided at the end of the review week
itself. HMIE responded to feedback during the year by
increasing the number of lesson observations
undertaken in each subject to ensure more
comprehensive coverage, and by aiming to provide
wider coverage of subjects that had not been
reviewed in previous years. HMIE also noted staff
views on aspects such as the level of demand in
preparing documentation, and the impact of large
review teams on small colleges, as part of planning
ahead for reviews in future years. A fuller account of
staff views and action taken by HMIE in response to
them is available in Analysis of HMIE Reviews of Quality
and Standards in Further Education 2004-2005.1
The diagrams below summarise feedback from
college staff on two key aspects of the review
process.
College staff rating of the suitability of methods, deployment of the
reviewers and procedures employed 2005-2006
Very good
Good
Fair
41%
Unsatisfactory
52%
6% 1%
College staff rating of the review in terms of helpfulness to the college, 2005-2006
Very good
Good
55%
1
Fair
39%
6%
www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/Analysis%20of%20HMIE%20Reviews%of%20QSinFE.pdf
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HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Community learning and development (CLD)
Throughout 2005-06, we conducted an extensive
consultation process with the CLD sector in the
development of a revised self-evaluation framework.
This consultation highlighted two main areas for
improvement:
• the need to improve aspects of inspection processes
and published reports; and
• the need to build further the capacity of the sector
in relation to self-evaluation.
Following consideration at a national conference in
May 2005 and development work from an external
reference group, two pilot inspections were carried
out towards the end of 2005. These were evaluated
with senior staff of the authorities and with focus
groups of young people and adult learners from one
of the authorities involved. The young people
provided very useful advice on improving the
questionnaires to be used in inspections. The
authorities strongly endorsed proposals to introduce
link CLD inspectors to support the wider work of
district inspectors.
Education authorities
The outcomes and procedures for the inspection of
education authorities (INEA) are reviewed annually by
an external panel. As the first five-year cycle ended in
2005, the panel reviewed the whole programme and
considered what further improvements might be
made in introducing a new cycle of inspection in
30
2006. The panel concluded that ‘INEA had made a
significant and positive impact and authorities and HMIE
were to be congratulated on delivering a successful
programme through mutual consultation and
partnership’. It also welcomed the role of selfevaluation at the core of INEA2 and the proportionate
and risk-based approach which had been developed.
Post-inspection evaluation questionnaire returns from
education authorities all stated that the inspections
had been helpful. Most authorities were positive
about coordination and efficiency of the inspection
and the quality of feedback. Some concerns were
expressed about the timing of the inspections. A
majority were concerned about the demands on staff
in providing pre-inspection information. This was the
most significant negative factor. A few authorities
were negative about the timing of the inspection and
the range of the authority's work investigated.
We shall be taking action to address key areas for
improvement identified by the panel and by
stakeholders including:
• implementing a more proportionate risk-based
approach to inspections;
• ensuring that links and information sharing with
other inspectorates and agencies are maximised;
and
• introducing a new, more targeted questionnaire for
stakeholders.
3
How good are our follow-though
procedures?
Between December 2004 and January 2006, we
carried out a study into the effectiveness of followthrough inspection procedures in schools and their
contribution to improvement. We visited schools
throughout Scotland and included primary, special
and secondary schools. Our main findings were as
follows.
• The follow-through process is helping schools to
improve and contributing to improved partnership
working between education authorities, HMIE and
schools to bring about improvement.
• In nearly all cases, schools saw the process as
helpful and the majority of staff were appreciative
of the support and advice they had received from
HMIE.
How good are our approaches to quality
assurance?
Quality frameworks such as Child at the Centre, How
good is our school? and Quality Management in
Education and the Quality Framework for Further
Education, which we have produced in consultation
with stakeholders, represent a national statement of
what constitutes very good practice and set out levels
of performance to which educational establishments
should aspire. The recent external survey has shown
high levels of awareness amongst teachers of How
good is our school?
As our work extends to new areas, common
approaches to ensuring quality are being adopted in
an increasing number of fields, including social work
and care. Other inspectorates are beginning to use
Framework for Evaluating the Quality of Services and
Organisations in order to facilitate integrated working.
What has come to be known as “the Scottish
approach” to school evaluation has gained increasing
international recognition. Inspectorates in many other
countries have shown interest in our work and have
made contact with us to find out more about it. We
regularly receive foreign visitors. Inspectors are
frequently invited to make presentations at
conferences abroad. How good is our school? has been
translated into a number of languages, including
German, Spanish and Czech.
How good are our conferences and
training events?
We routinely seek evaluations of our conferences and
training events from those attending. Feedback on
two recent major series of conferences was as follows.
• In 2005, we ran six good practice conferences in
the areas of computing, religious and moral
education, music, drama, education for citizenship
and mathematics. 96% of evaluations stated that
the conferences were relevant to the participants’
professional needs.
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• In March 2006, we ran three conferences on good
practice in enterprise in education and 97% of
evaluations stated that the conferences were
relevant to the participants’ needs.
How good is our website?
• Our website gets an average of about 2000 visits
per day with just over 14000 page views per day.
• On the day of its launch in February 2006, the
Improving Scottish Education (ISE) area of the
website got just over 10000 “hits”, with around
3000 per day over the following week. There have
been over 60000 download requests for the ISE
report.
• In March 2006, the good practice area of the
website got over 600 “hits” and the Improving
Scottish Education just over 1200 “hits” per day.
• There is notably more activity on a school day than
at weekends.
• Over the last year the HMIE website has received
over 145000 download requests for documents
belonging to the How good is our school? series.
32
How good are we at using associate
assessors to build capacity for
improvement in the system?
Our associate assessors (AAs) play a key role in
working with us to deliver our inspection and review
programmes. We run extensive training programmes
for them. Their inspection work enhances their
expertise in evaluation, their wider knowledge of their
specialist area and their awareness of good practice.
A recent survey of HMIE staff, including AAs, showed
that AAs feel that their work with HMIE has helped
them to improve in their own roles. They also
regularly share their experiences with others, thus
contributing to capacity building in the system. We
shall be taking action to address issues raised by AAs
with regard to the need for better communication
and improved feedback on their performance.
How good are our aspect reports?
In 2006-07, we shall carry out a study to evaluate the
impact of reports on key aspects of education
published over the period 2003 to 2005.
3
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
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Section 4: Looking ahead to 2006-07
Strategic priority 1
Through inspection and reporting, promote public
accountability for the delivery of high quality education to
all learners in Scotland.
34
4
1.1
• one follow-through inspection of child
protection.
We shall undertake a programme of inspections
including:
• 450 early education centres, including followthrough inspections, in collaboration with the
Care Commission
• 230 primary schools, including provision for
pupils with additional support needs where
sited in the school
• 50 secondary schools, including provision for
pupils with additional support needs where
sited in the school
• 23 centres, including day special schools;
residential special schools in collaboration
with the Care Commission; secure units in
collaboration with the Social Work Inspection
Agency; outreach services; and hospital services
• eight integrated inspections of school care
accommodation services with the Care
Commission
• a minimum of eight inspections of the
education functions of local authorities in the
second cycle of INEA, seven of which include
the inspection of psychological services
• a minimum of seven inspections of community
learning and development
• a minimum of seven follow-through
inspections of community learning and
development
1.2
We shall undertake a programme of
follow-through inspections in schools in line
with the commitment to parents and other
stakeholders given in the report of the original
inspection.
1.3
In conjunction with a range of other bodies, we
shall also undertake the following programme of
inspections/ reviews:
• inspection of prison education facilities to be
agreed with HM Inspectorate of Prisons
• follow-through inspections of mainstream
school care accommodation services and of
residential special provision and secure units
as required in conjunction with the Care
Commission and the Social Work Inspection
Agency
• registration inspections of independent
schools at the request of the Registrar of
Independent Schools
• registration inspections of residential special
schools in conjunction with the Care
Commission and at the request of the
Registrar of Independent Schools
• reviews of colleges to be agreed with SFC
• reviews of voluntary sector organisations as
required by the Scottish Executive.
• nine inspections of child protection in local
authority areas
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
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1.4
We shall issue:
• 88% of reports of inspections of education
authorities within 16 weeks of the end of the
inspection
• 95% of draft reports to schools within 12
working weeks of the end of the inspection
• all college review reports on or before the
dates stated in the published service level
agreement with SFC
• 88% of draft reports to services responsible
for community learning and development
within 12 working weeks of the end of the
inspection
• 88% of child protection inspection reports
within 16 working weeks of the end of the
inspection.
• 88% of draft reports on education authorities
within 12 working weeks of the inspection
• draft reports to all colleges within timescales
to be agreed with SFC
• 88% of draft child protection inspection
reports to relevant Chief Executives within 12
working weeks of the end of the inspection.
1.5
1.6
We shall publish a report on the first cycle of
inspections of 32 education authorities.
1.7
We shall publish a report on the first cycle of
inspection of community learning and
development.
1.8
We shall work with the Care Commission to
develop and trial a new model of integrated
inspections of pre-school centres for
introduction in 2007-08.
1.9
We shall develop a proportionate inspection
model for school care accommodation services
in independent boarding schools and local
authority school hostels for introduction from
April 2007.
We shall publish:
• 94% of school inspection reports within 16
working weeks of the end of the inspection
• 94% of follow-through inspections of schools
undertaken by HM Inspectors within 16
working weeks of the end of the inspection
• 88% of community learning and
development service inspection reports
within 16 working weeks of the end of the
inspection
36
4
1.10 We shall develop a revised approach to
inspecting and reporting on secondary schools
to include a greater focus on broader
achievement and inclusion.
1.12 We shall revise the guidelines for care and
welfare inspections.
1.11 We shall develop an inspection and self-evaluation
model for the integrated inspection of services
for children in partnership with relevant
inspectorates and regulatory bodies.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic priority 2
Work with other organisations to build capacity to provide
education and services for children of the highest quality
for all users.
38
4
2.1
2.2
2.3
In order to follow through the Improving
Scottish Education report, we shall carry out a
range of activities including conferences,
publications, contributions to events organised
by other bodies and development of the HMIE
website.
We shall publish a report on Improving English
Language.
We shall publish a report on the
implementation of the Teachers’ Agreement.
2.7
We shall prepare or finalise for publication on
appropriate dates further guides to selfevaluation and advice on improvement in the
following areas.
• primary schools’ use of available teaching
time
• raising achievement and aspirations for the
lowest attaining pupils in primary schools
• residential special schools and secure
accommodation, in collaboration with the
Care Commission
• learning and teaching
2.4
We shall publish a report on leadership.
• parental links
• self-evaluation of child protection
2.5
We shall publish a report on provision for
autistic spectrum disorders.
• anti-sectarianism
• inclusiveness in further education
2.6
We shall develop and prepare for publication
the remaining sections of The Journey to
Excellence, including a revised version of
How good is our school? to include pre-school
centres.
• psychological services
• education for pupils who have English as an
additional language
• effective transitions
• Hungry for Success
• services for children and young people.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
2.8
We shall develop a new series of publications,
to be known as “portraits”, to support
provision in subjects, curricular areas and crosscurricular aspects.
2.9
We shall carry out fieldwork, and prepare or
finalise for publication on appropriate dates,
aspect reports on themes including:
2.10 Through conferences, seminars, further
development of our website and other media,
we shall disseminate good practice on key
sectors and aspects of education, including:
• pre-school education
• the role of teachers in pre-school education
• the impact of ICT on learning and teaching
in Scottish education
• provision and support for asylum seekers’
children
• the educational attainment and achievement
of looked after, and looked after and
accommodated, children
• securing the adoption of good practice in
Scottish colleges
• preparation of college learners for citizenship
• planning, designing and delivering the
non-advanced FE curriculum
• summer activity programmes provided for
children and young people
• learning skills and employability (LSE) in
prisons in conjunction with the Scottish
Prison Service, HM Inspectorate of Prisons
and LSE providers.
40
• development of approaches for measuring
achievement
• parental involvement
• skills for work courses
• student teacher placements
• anti-sectarianism
• schools’ contribution to integrated working.
4
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic priority 3
Support informed policy development by providing high
quality, independent, professional advice drawn from
inspection and review evidence and knowledge of the system.
42
4
3.1
We shall provide high-quality advice within
agreed timescales to Scottish Ministers
including the Cabinet Delivery Group for
Children and Young People, and relevant
departments of the Scottish Executive on a
number of key programmes including:
3.4
We shall link with key organisations across the
UK and abroad in order to provide information
and advice based on Scottish approaches to
inspection and self-evaluation.
• Ambitious, Excellent Schools
• A Curriculum for Excellence
• Determined to Succeed
• the strategy for supporting young people not
in education, employment or training (the
NEET group).
3.2
District Inspectors will provide advice to and
concerning education authorities.
3.3
We shall work in close partnership with Learning
and Teaching Scotland, the Scottish Funding
Council, the Scottish Qualifications Authority
and other key organisations to achieve our
respective objectives.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Strategic priority 4
Develop and manage HMIE as a best value organisation.
44
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
We shall agree with Ministers how we take
forward our Corporate Plan to the next stage.
4.6
• address the issues identified in the staff
survey of 2005 and report to staff on the
action taken
As part of the production of an overarching
HMIE policy on Equality and Diversity, we shall
publish strategies on Disabilities Equality, and
Gender and Equality.
• carry out a further staff survey in 2007
• carry out surveys of the views of key users on
the quality of services we provide and take
action to improve things where we can.
We shall publish a:
• revised Communications strategy
4.7
We shall take forward approaches for maintaining
and improving the health of HMIE staff including
pursuing the Scotland’s Health at Work (SHAW)
silver award across all our sites, drawing on the
Scottish Executive’s wider approach with a view
to assessment in Spring 2007.
4.8
We shall publish data on our performance
against environmental targets agreed by our
Management Board.
4.9
We shall evaluate and improve the quality of
HMIE work and demonstrate continuing best
value approaches by gathering and evaluating
evidence about the impact of our work on
Scottish education.
• revised Continuing Professional Development
strategy.
4.4
We shall review our Human Resources strategy.
4.5
We shall continue to operate using the
principles of the European Foundation for
Quality Management, Charter Mark and
Investors in People to audit best value within
HMIE.
We shall:
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Section 5 Staffing and structure
46
5
HM Senior Chief Inspector (HMSCI)
HMSCI Graham Donaldson is accountable to the
Scottish Ministers for the overall quality of HMIE's
work, for the day-to-day management of the agency,
and for planning its future development. He is
responsible for ensuring that a systematic programme
of evaluations is carried out and that the results are
reported. HMSCI is also responsible for providing
professional advice and information to the Scottish
Ministers, Scottish Executive departments and key
national bodies including those responsible for the
funding, management, quality and delivery of
education. He bases his advice on the evidence
obtained from the Inspectorate's extensive inspection
and review programme and the wider knowledge of
education and training systems acquired across the
full range of HMIE activity.
multidisciplinary team including HMIE inspectors and
inspectors from other relevant inspectorates and
agencies. We continue to monitor and evaluate how
we work as an organisation with the intention of
making further changes to improve our effectiveness.
Our Management Board
How we are structured
HMSCI, chief inspectors and the Director of the
Services for Children Unit form the core of our
Senior Management Group which meets regularly
and reports to the Management Board. The Board,
which has responsibility for overseeing the work of
the Inspectorate, comprises senior managers, other
key inspectorate personnel and non-executive
members Rowena Arshad and Andrew Cubie, who
were appointed to provide an independent
perspective on our work. We are in the process of
increasing our non-executive Board membership
from two to four.
Our structure has been designed to achieve effective
and inclusive practice and secure best value in all
aspects of our work. We have five functional
directorates, each headed by a chief inspector
supported by two assistant chief inspectors. Each
directorate has corporate responsibilities, sectoral
inspection programmes, cross-cutting areas and
internal and external liaison roles. We also have a
Services for Children Unit which is developing a
common approach to inspecting services for children
and young people. The unit is headed by a director
who is supported by two assistant directors and a
Rowena Arshad OBE is Senior Lecturer and Director
for the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in
Scotland (CERES) based in the University of
Edinburgh. She is also on the boards of the Scottish
Funding Council for Further and Higher Education
and the Scotland Advisory Board of the British
Council. She has recently been invited to Chair the
new Scottish Equalities Unit for the further and higher
education sectors in Scotland. Rowena is also the
Commissioner with responsibility for Scotland for the
Equal Opportunities Commission.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
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Dr Andrew Cubie CBE, FRSE is a consultant (previously
chairman and senior partner) with the long-established
law firm Fyfe Ireland WS. He holds a number of
non-executive and executive directorships in the public
and private sectors. He is a Commissioner of the
Northern Lighthouse Board and Chair of the Court of
Napier University, Quality Scotland, the Royal National
Lifeboat Institution (Scotland), British Council Scotland,
the Joint Advisory Committee of the Scottish Credit
and Qualifications Framework and of Scotland's
Health at Work. He is a trustee of Voluntary Service
Overseas (VSO). He is a former Chairman of CBI
Scotland and was Convenor of the Independent
Committee of Inquiry into Student Finance in
Scotland ('the Cubie Committee') which brought
about the abolition of tuition fees in Scotland.
Inspectors
All of our Inspectors are professionals who have
worked successfully in education or another service
for at least five years, including at least three years in
a post of responsibility. Each has at least one
educational sector or other specialism, including
pre-school, primary, secondary, further education,
additional support needs, teacher education,
educational psychology, community learning and
development, education authority management,
health and social work. Many have backgrounds and
expertise which enable them to work across a range
of sectors.
48
Inspectors who have a background in education are
appointed by Royal Warrant and are designated HM
Inspectors (HMI).
Corporate services staff
Inspectors are supported in their work by teams of
administrative staff including a number of specialists.
Some teams support inspections in particular sectors.
Others deal with HMIE finance, communications,
statistics, information systems, inspection planning
and business management.
With our move to new headquarters in Livingston,
we have had a period of major change in our
corporate services staffing. The many new staff
recruited from the West Lothian area have settled very
effectively into HMIE and have enabled us to maintain
the workflow fully.
Assistant inspectors
Assistant inspectors are contracted to undertake a
number of days’ work in the year. They comprise
retired HM Inspectors or others with up-to-date
knowledge of and a background in Scottish education
and services for children including experience in
inspection and review procedures and quality assurance
work. They can be called upon at short notice to
meet certain peaks of activity or unforeseen demands.
This flexibility makes them a valuable resource for us.
Currently we have 15 assistant inspectors working
with us.
5
Associate assessors
Seconded staff
Inspection and review teams normally include one or
more associate assessors who are practising teachers,
headteachers, college lecturers or managers from
colleges or other educational establishments or
services or from new areas including social work,
health, the police and youth justice. At 31 March this
year we had 414 associate assessors working with the
Inspectorate. They are full members of inspection or
review teams and their involvement enhances the
process of inspection by bringing the perspective of
current practitioners into the team. Some associate
assessors also join the Inspectorate for short periods of
full-time secondment.
We work closely with a number of organisations and
other inspectorates, participating in inward and
outward secondments. Our Services for Children Unit
includes secondees from HM Inspectorate of
Constabulary, Social Work Inspection Agency, Care
Commission and NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.
In addition, during 2005-06 we seconded:
Lay members
Most inspections and review teams include a lay
member whose experience lies outwith education. Lay
members take a particular interest in the ethos of the
school or college, relationships between staff and
learners, and how schools and colleges interact with
their local community and establish partnerships with
parents. Currently there are 173 lay members
participating in inspection and review teams and we
are actively seeking applications from others to join
us. Details of how to apply to become a lay member
can be found on our website www.hmie.gov.uk
• an educational psychologist for a variety of tasks
relating to additional support needs and the
inspection of psychological services;
• three nutritionists to support inspection teams in
a sample of schools to evaluate progress with
improving school meals and nutrition in line with
the recommendations in Hungry for Success; and
• two Care Commission officers to the early
education team.
Two of our chief inspectors are currently on
secondment to the Scottish Executive Education
Department – one as Head of the Curriculum for
Excellence Division and the other as Head of the
Information and Analytical Services Division.
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Staff by gender and grade
The table below shows the gender balance of
Inspectorate staff between 1996 and 2006. It is
followed by a chart showing staff by gender and grade.
Band A and B staff in this chart are corporate services
staff. Almost all Band C staff are HM Inspectors.
HMSCI and chief inspectors are members of the
Senior Civil Service.
HMIE staff by gender, 1996-2006
250
Female
Male
200
150
60
60
67
77
79
88
75
89
93
128
133
88
88
86
97
93
88
75
68
84
79
79
100
50
0
50
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
5
HMIE staff by gender and grade, 1996-2006
90
80
Number of HMIE staff
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Female (C Band & SCS)
Male (C Band & SCS)
Female (A&B Band)
Male (A&B Band)
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Section 6: Investing in ourselves
This section sets out the investment we have made over the
past year to ensure our organisation remains fit for purpose –
investment in our staff, investment in our development and
investment in new and emerging technology.
52
6
General health
Almost all of our offices have successfully achieved the
bronze standard for Scotland’s Health at Work (SHAW)
and the remaining offices will achieve the standard
soon. We have already begun working in earnest
towards the silver level. As part of this we promote
and support use of the small gym facility in our
headquarters building in Livingston and have also
arranged access for our staff to a range of therapies,
sports facilities and health checks.
All of our National Conferences now include a SHAW
aspect. This ranges from an update on our SHAW
progress as an organisation to time within the
conference programme for staff to undertake healthy
and often energetic activities.
Staff have responded enthusiastically to our
commitment to improving general health. A number
of spin-off events, some to raise funds for charity,
have resulted. These have included:
• a healthy cooking/eating event, where staff have
shared their healthy culinary recipes;
We have also arranged driving tuition and assessments
for travelling staff to improve their safety. Many of our
staff travel considerable distances and can face adverse
weather and road conditions.
Continuing professional development
We are strongly committed to an ongoing programme
of continuing professional development to help ensure
our staff remain at the forefront of educational
developments, both nationally and internationally.
We also make the most of the rich source of learning
material that we gather through our inspections
and reviews.
During 2005-06, we updated a range of inspection
models as well as developing new guidelines covering
the inspection of psychological services and child
protection. Our staff developed in-house training
materials to underpin the sharing of these new
models with inspection teams, associate assessors and
lay members. We also introduced new training
arrangements for our administrative staff, investing in
their development and increasing the important
contribution they make to our day-to-day work.
• taking part in the world’s biggest “coffee morning”
in aid of MacMillan Cancer Relief; and
• participation in the Glasgow and Edinburgh 10k runs.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
2005-06 also saw a significant overhaul of our
induction arrangements for new inspectors. We did
this against the backdrop of having over 30% of our
HMI workforce due to retire over the next few years
with a corresponding increase in new colleagues. The
new arrangements are comprehensive and systematic.
They make sure that new colleagues get off to the
best possible start and provide a sound foundation for
their deployment.
Another innovation we have established this year has
been our library resource centre in Denholm House.
The centre provides a central point for booking out
informative new educational reading material as well
as an electronic “alerts” system that channels
emerging research to each of our national specialists.
As a further part of understanding the potential impact
of ICT in education, we have invested in electronic
whiteboards and are training our own workforce in
their use. We have also piloted the use of tablet and
3G technology to determine their potential uses.
We took advantage of converging technology during
the year, issuing all of our inspectors with a Blackberry
mobile phone/e-mail handset. This allows our highly
mobile workforce to manage their electronic mail and
diary remotely and to maintain contact with their
home base more effectively. We have also expanded
broadband access to our internal systems so that
inspectors have a responsive service they can rely on
when out of the office.
Other significant investments during the year include:
Information and communications
technology (ICT)
The focus on continuing development and the use of
ICT, demonstrated by one of our national seminars,
links well to what has been a stronger than ever focus
by us throughout the year on new technology. We
aim to ensure our staff are aware of the contribution
that effective use of ICT can make to quality learning
and teaching, and also to deliver the tools that make
the day-to-day work of the Inspectorate more efficient
and effective.
54
• web-based portal technology to support increased
electronic communications and information sharing
with our partners and those we inspect/review;
• detailed design work for a fundamental overhaul of
our website which, when linked to portal
technology will support further improvements in
online transaction capacity. Examples will include
completion of inspection questionnaires and
improved communication with our extended family
of associate assessors;
6
• a business planning system, introducing smarter
monitoring and control of all of our business;
• an establishments database that helps track where
our inspectors have been and plan future activities;
and
• development of a flexible inspection template
(FLINT), a new customised system for capturing and
analysing evidence during inspections.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Section 7: Enquiries, Freedom of Information,
compliments and complaints
56
7
General enquiries
Compliments
During 2005-06 we received a total of 647 general
enquiries.
Charter Mark requires us to publish details of
compliments we receive. Section 3 of this report
contains an analysis of positive comments received
from headteachers, school staff and parents. In addition,
we received a number of formal and informal
compliments during 2005-06. These included positive
feedback about conferences and seminars we ran for
our stakeholders, letters expressing satisfaction about
inspection reports or professionalism of staff during
inspections and correspondence and telephone calls
complimenting staff on their helpfulness with
particular issues.
Of these, 98 were about the work of HMIE, 47 were
requests for information about the work of lay
members and associate assessors, 22 were about how
to become an HMI, 249 were requests for inspection
or other types of reports, five were from overseas
inspectorates, 85 were for contact details, 79 were
passed to other areas within HMIE for a response and
62 were not for HMIE. We met our 48-hour response
target in 595 cases (92%). The remaining 52 cases
(8%) required time for a fuller response.
Complaints
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
We received a total of 28 requests for information
during 2005-06. We disclosed all of the information
requested in 11 of these cases and in most cases we
provided some information. In six cases we did not
hold the requested information. In 11 cases, we did
not release all of the information requested as it was
considered exempt from disclosure under the terms of
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA). One
refusal to provide information was referred to the
Scottish Information Commissioner who has yet to
decide whether further information should be
released. All requests were answered within the
20-working day response target set out in FOISA.
During 2005-06, we received 63 complaints. Of these,
18 did not fall into our area of responsibility. Of the
45 that did, six were about inspections, three were
about inspection team members, one was about
administration activities, five were about draft
inspection reports, 22 were about published reports
and eight were about other concerns.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
We met our 20-working day response target in all but
two of the cases where the delay in responding was
due to circumstances outwith our control. All 45 cases
of complaint were resolved satisfactorily. At the end of
2004-05, we had three cases of complaint
outstanding. One of these was fully resolved during
2005-06. The other two complaints have both been
subject to independent external reviews, but have yet
to be fully resolved. The following table compares the
number and type of complaints received and dealt
with during 2005-06 with those received and dealt
with during 2004-05.
Complaint cases 2004-2006
Number of cases
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
HMIE
inspection
Member of
HMIE
Draft report
HMIE team administration
Published
report
Complaint type
2004-05
58
2005-06
Other
concern
Not for
HMIE
7
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Section 8: Appendix
HMIE publications April 2005-March 2006
The following were published between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006.
Self-evaluation Guides
• A Framework for Evaluating the Quality of Services and Organisations
• A common approach to inspecting services for children and young people (consultation document)
• How good is our school? CD-ROM update
• How good is our school? Libraries Supporting Learners
• How good is our school? Revised edition incorporating the six-point scale and including supplementary
support material for pre-school based on Child at the Centre*
• How good is our school? School-college Partnership
• How good is our school? The Journey to Excellence (parts 1 and 2 of 5)
• How well are children and young people protected and their needs met? (self-evaluation using quality indicators)
Reports on aspects of education
• Improving Scottish Education
• Analysis of HMIE Reviews of Quality and Standards in Further Education – Academic Year 2004/05*
• Changing Lives: Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland
• Developing Writing through reading, talking and listening
• HMIE Report to SEED on the Delivery of the National Priorities*
• Improving Achievement in Gaelic
• Improving Achievement in Mathematics in Primary and Secondary Schools
• Investigating Drama
• Student Teacher Placements within Initial Teacher Education
• Missing Out
• Monitoring the Implementation of Hungry for Success: A Whole School Approach to School Meals in Scotland
60
8
• Student Representation in Scottish Further Education Colleges*
• Talking for Scotland
• The Integration of Information and Communications Technology in Scottish Schools*
• Working Together: Cross-Sectoral Provision of Vocational Education for Scotland's School Pupils
HMIE Organisational Reports
• HMIE Annual Accounts 2004-2005
• HMIE Annual Report 2004-05
• HMIE Publication Scheme
• HMIE Race Equality Scheme 2005-2008
* (electronic format only – on HMIE website – www.HMIE.gov.uk)
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ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
HM INSPECTORATE OF EDUCATION
Acronyms
CBE
Commander of the British Empire
CBI
Confederation of British Industry
CERES
Centre for Education for Racial Equality in
Scotland
CLD
Community Learning and Development
FRSE
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
FE
Further Education
FOI
Freedom of information
FOISA
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
HMI
Her Majesty’s Inspector
HMIE
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education
HMSCI
Her Majesty’s Senior Chief Inspector
ICT
Information and Communications Technology
INEA
Inspection of the Education Functions of
Education Authorities
LSE
Learning Skills and Employability
NEET
Not in education, employment or training
NHS
National Health Service
OBE
Order of the British Empire
SFC
Scottish Funding Council
SFEFC
Scottish Further Education Funding Council
SHAW
Scotland’s Health at Work
UK
United Kingdom
VSO
Voluntary Service Overseas
Contacting us
Our email address is enquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk. You can also phone our enquiry line on 01506 600200. If you
contact us with an enquiry, please be clear about what you need to know so that we deal with your question
effectively. If you would like a further copy of this report or other publication, please download it from our
website whenever possible. This reduces our publication costs, saves both of us the cost of postage, and enables
you to access the document more quickly.
62
£15.00
www.hmie.gov.uk
ISBN 0-7053-1080-9
9 780705 310802
Further copies are available from
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Edinburgh EH1 1YS
Telephone 0131 622 8283
Fax 0131 557 8149
Email orders
business.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk
Communications Unit,
HM Inspectorate of Education,
Denholm House
Almondvale Business Park
Almondvale Way
Livingston EH54 6GA