School Inspections

Question Time — Scottish Executive — Education and Lifelong Learning – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:15 pm on 11 March 2010.

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Photo of Fiona Hyslop Fiona Hyslop Scottish National Party

In line with a commitment made by the previous Administration, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education inspects on a generational cycle. Currently, all primary schools and pre-school centres will be inspected over the seven years from 2008-09 to 2014-15, and every secondary school will be inspected over the six years from 2008-09 to 2013-14. In all sectors, some schools and centres will have additional follow-through inspections, and further inspections might be carried out in response to special circumstances.

Photo of Dave Thompson Dave Thompson Scottish National Party

Current school inspections seem to be based on a tick-box mentality, with a desire on the inspectors' parts to find and highlight only faults. There appears to be little in the way of supportive encouragement to headteachers—indeed, the opposite often seems to be the case. What does the cabinet secretary plan to do to improve that apparently flawed system?

Photo of Michael Russell Michael Russell Scottish National Party

Since coming into this post, I have made it clear that the system of inspection needs to be reformed, to an extent. I am pleased that the new senior chief inspector of education agrees with me. I must pay tribute to his predecessor, Graham Donaldson, who made significant changes in the means of inspection.

HMIE began to revise its inspection models in January 2007. The revised models were based on a set of principles, which were agreed with stakeholders after a pilot period, and were fully adopted in August 2008. I will be happy to meet the member to discuss in more detail those approaches to inspection and to facilitate a discussion between him and the inspectorate. The revised models have significantly reduced the pre-inspection demands and focus on how well a school knows itself and is engaged in planning its future and work for its pupils.

There is always room to take such issues further and involve people more. With the new senior chief inspector, I have focused on issues to do with small school inspections, in relation to which special considerations must be taken into account. We are making progress. The member will be pleased to hear that later this month I will meet a group of senior inspectors, teachers, parents and others for a discussion about how the system is working and how we can take it further.