Quality Assurance

Overview

Three types of evaluation are applied to the work of schools:

Internal school self-evaluation
Evaluation by the local authority (or Board of Governors for Independent Schools)
Inspection by Her Majesty's (HM) Inspectors within Education Scotland

Colleges, higher education institutions, and local authorities are also expected to be self evaluative and are subject to forms of external evaluation.

Evaluation and improvement action across the whole of pre-school, school and post-school education (except higher education) is based on a series of publications by HM Inspectors within Education Scotland.

Background

Education Scotland

Education Scotland was established as an education improvement agency on 1 July 2011 through the amalgamation of a number of agencies including:

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) – which promoted improvements in quality of experience, achievements and standards for all learners in the Scottish education system
And, Learning and Teaching Scotland – which handled curriculum development and teacher support

The new agency is led by Chief Executive Officer Gayle Gorman. The term 'Her Majesty's (HM) Inspectors' is used thoughout this chapter for consistency.

The 'Scottish Approach'

Over the last two decades there has been increasing international recognition of the success of 'the Scottish approach' to accountability and improvement. Education Scotland receives frequent requests to contribute to thinking about quality improvement in countries across the world. HM Inspectors are frequently invited to participate in a variety of events and activities abroad.

They also receive significant numbers of international visitors who are interested in their work and in particular, their approaches to evaluation (see the relevant section of the Education Scotland website for more information). The Scottish approach can be compared to approaches to quality assurance in other European countries via the Eurydice report Assuring Quality in Education: Policies and Approaches to School Evaluation in Europe (2015). This gives a comprehensive picture of how 32 European countries evaluate the quality of their schools.

Aspects of Scotland’s approach highlighted in the comparative report include:

A shift from generational cycles of inspection (each school inspected every 6-7 years), to a sampling system where 240 schools are inspected each year. In the latter model, these schools are taken as a representative sample of all Scottish schools
A strong reliance on internal evaluation where all schools use the external evaluation framework and have to report on the standards and quality of all aspects of their work

Quality assurance contexts

Quality assurance in schools

How Good Is Our School? (HM Inspectors, Education Scotland, 2015 (1998) 4th Ed.) was published to help schools evaluate their work. The Child at the Centre (HM Inspectors, Education Scotland, 1999) provides similar support for pre-school centres. These documents propose questions to address in the self-evaluation process and offer a set of Quality Indicators against which the school or pre-school centre can judge its work.

The most recent version of the Quality Indicators was developed by HM Inspectors in partnership with practitioners. The Indicators embody good practice and establish a common language of quality; which is used by schools, education authorities, and inspectors. A subset of them is employed by HM Inspectors within Education Scotland in inspecting schools and pre-school centres.

In recent years, Scotland has become identified internationally with a particular approach to accountability and improvement. This is built on an explicit combination of internal and external evaluation. The premise of the 'Scottish approach' is that schools must take responsibility for the quality of the education which they provide and be committed to continuous improvement. Its centrepiece is the set of Quality Indicators set out in How Good Is Our School?.

Quality assurance in colleges

HM Inspectors initiated the process of systematic internal and external quality assurance in colleges with its 1998 publication Quality Matters. In 1999 responsibility for quality assurance in colleges passed to the then Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) - now the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

On behalf of SFC, HM Inspectors published in 2000 a quality assurance framework - Standards and Quality in Further Education: Quality Framework for Scottish FE Colleges – and then a revised version in 2004. Following the report of SFC’s Joint Quality Review Group and consultation across the college sector, HM Inspectors published revised External Quality Arrangements for Scotland’s Colleges in September 2008 (updated in 2016).

Quality assurance in CLD

HM Inspectors published the first self-evaluation framework for community learning and development (CLD) - How Good Is Our Community Learning and Development?, in May 2002. This publication introduced self-evaluation processes into the sector. Further, it informed the first comprehensive cycle of inspections of community learning and development in all local authorities. The latest framework is called How Good is the Learning and Development in Our Community?(Education Scotland, 2016).

Quality assurance in services for children

From 2004 HM Inspectors in HMIE took the lead in developing inspections of services for children. They began with child protection, and published in 2005 the first self-evaluation framework for child protection services (How Well Are Children and Young People Protected and Their Needs Met?).

This was followed in 2007 by the publication of a generic framework for self-evaluation of children’s services: A Guide to Evaluating Services for Children and Young People using quality indicators. Prior to the second cycle of child protection inspections from February 2009 a revised self-evaluation framework How Well Do We Protect Children and Meet Their Needs? was published. In November 2009 How Well Do We Protect Scotland’s Children?, a summative report on the findings of child protection inspections 2005-2009 was published.

HMIE’s functions in relation to inspection of child protection and the integration of children’s services passed to a new body, Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS, 'The Care Inspectorate'), on 1st April 2011. This body is responsible for scrutiny of social care and social work.

Administrative and Legislative Framework

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, HM Inspectors have the right to inspect all schools, including independent (private) ones.

The Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act 2000 requires local authorities to "endeavour to secure improvement in the quality of the school education which is provided in the schools managed by them".

The Act set out a framework for establishing national priorities in education, a system of local authority and school planning. This was to meet related national and local objectives and a requirement to report publicly on progress in meeting these objectives. As part of these arrangements the Act requires schools to produce an annual Standards and Quality report.

The 2000 Act also gave HM Inspectors power to inspect the education functions of all local authorities over a five-year period.

Education Scotland engages with colleges on an annual basis and undertakes reviews over a four year period, through annual service level agreements with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). HM Inspectors are also empowered under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to inspect the further education provision of local authorities. This is interpreted as including community learning and development.

Under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 or the Regulation of Care Act 2001, HM Inspectors collaborated with the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (Care Commission) in the regulation and inspection of care services which incorporate an educational element.

The Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 repealed the Regulation of Care Act 2001 and replaced its provisions with a general duty of cooperation among scrutiny bodies. Since Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland took over the functions of the Care Commission, HM Inspectors have continued collaborative working, now with SCSWIS.

Services covered by such joint working include those providing day care of children, school care accommodation and secure accommodation. They also include pre-school settings:

Local authority nursery schools
Nursery classes within primary schools
Nursery classes within independent schools
Private and voluntary nurseries and playgroups which receive funds, in partnership with local authorities, to provide pre-school education for three to five year old children

For older children services covered include residential special schools and secure units, school hostels and residential care in independent boarding schools.

Under the School Education (Ministerial Powers and Independent Schools) (Scotland) Act 2004 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2005), HM Inspectors has been asked to advise Ministers, through the Registrar of Independent Schools, on the suitability of establishments seeking registration to function as a school.

In doing so, HM Inspectors advises the Registrar on the appropriateness of the application submitted by the school and conducts a pre-registration visit before the school can operate. HM Inspectors carry out a post-registration inspection approximately nine months after the school has been granted permission to operate to ensure it is fulfilling the conditions of registration.

Under the Joint Inspection of Children’s Services and Social Work Services (Scotland) Act 2006, HMIE led on child protection inspections and on development of joint inspections of services to protect children.

The establishment of SCSWIS by the Public Sector Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 changed the basis for HMIE’s involvement in this area. SCSWIS became responsible for the inspection of child protection and those staff in HMIE conducting child protection inspections transferred into the new body.

Under the terms of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998, HM Inspectors have powers to inspect education provided by higher education institutions for teachers and persons preparing to be teachers.