The Child at the Centre

This new edition of The Child at the Centre provides all sectors in pre-school education and the early stages of primary schooling with the tools to support self-evaluation and improvement. It links very closely with the new edition of How good is our school?.

The indicators within The Child at the Centre reflect the developing context for early education. They focus specifically on the impact early education has on improving the educational experiences and lives of our youngest children in Scotland. This edition highlights the importance of children's successes and achievements, particularly the broad outcomes for learners within Curriculum for Excellence and the vision statement for Scotland's children.

Since the first publication of The Child at the Centre, self-evaluation has become increasingly embedded across Scottish education and has contributed well to improving achievement for all children.

I commented in Improving Scottish Education on the great strides taken by educational establishments in becoming aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, placing Scotland at the forefront of quality improvement internationally. I commend this second edition of The Child at the Centre to you in taking forward our collective commitment to continuous improvement and excellence in early education.

Graham Donaldson
HM Senior Chief Inspector of Education

Full report PDF version

Full report HTML version

Film interview with HMSCI Graham Donaldson.

• Windows Media Player (approx 7 MB)