1.1 Background
The development of Integrated Community Schools (ICS) in Scotland is a key element within the overall national strategy to raise young people's achievements and improve social inclusion in Scotland. It is based on a clear recognition of the important relationship between educational achievement, attainment, health and socio-economic factors, and the consequent need for the more integrated delivery of associated services. The ICS initiative aims to expand and integrate the range of educational, health, social work and other services offered to children and young people and families, including those offered by the voluntary sector. Through ensuring coherent assessment, and the planning and delivery of children's services, integrated team work can very effectively complement the discrete services provided by each partner agency to meet the wide spectrum of children's needs.
The initiative was launched in 1998 and was initially known as the New Community Schools (NCS) initiative. It was piloted over three phases from 1999 to 2003. A key objective of the pilots was to encourage local authorities and their schools to develop common objectives and more integrated ways of delivering services with other partner agencies that were also providing services to children and families. There was also a strong emphasis on local initiatives and innovative working. The pilot phases of the initiative involved 400 schools within 62 projects. This included individual schools as well as school clusters. A national evaluation of the NCS pilot programme was carried out by the University of London and published in August 2003. At the end of the pilot phase the Scottish Executive re-affirmed its commitment to the initiative and a strategy for rolling out the ICS approach across Scotland began in 2002. The Executive has set a target for all publicly-funded schools in Scotland to become Integrated Community Schools by 2007.
In some authorities there had been initiatives, such as the formation of learning communities, which paralleled the development of ICS. Whilst this review focused mainly on NCS/ICS it has the potential to inform all of these related developments.
1.2 Rationale for the review
In 2002, the Minister for Education and Young People asked HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) to lead a multi-disciplinary team that included the Social Work Services Inspectorate (SWSI), Health Improvement Strategy Division (SEHD) and members of HMIE to evaluate the progress of the NCS initiative. In 2003 and early 2004, this multi-agency team evaluated the progress made by eight cluster projects in different local authority areas in Scotland. The projects covered a range of management and organisational models and rural and urban locations, and the clusters represented all three stages of the pilot programme. The size and composition of the clusters varied from urban clusters involving a large secondary school with a number of associated primary schools, to a cluster reflecting the needs of an island community. This demonstrated the extent to which projects had evolved differently to address local needs. In one case there was no involvement of a secondary school but rather the initiative consisted of a cluster made up of child and family centres, nursery schools and primary schools. There were also examples of free-standing ICS primary schools and of authorities which had adopted an authority-wide approach to the implementation of ICS initiatives. Further related evidence was gathered from HMIE inspection reports on schools and education authorities, statistical information, out-of-school care and learning initiatives, health improvement plans and children's services plans.
The review focused on both strategic and operational levels to evaluate the management, delivery and impact of each initiative. ICS partner organisations mainly included education, social work and health, and sometimes police and voluntary organisations. Members of the review team met staff at all levels in each partner organisation, children and young people, parents, voluntary organisations, further education staff and members of the community. They also observed a wide range of formal and informal activities which took place during or beyond the school day.
Following each review, the cluster was given detailed evaluative feedback on its provision. No reports of individual reviews were published but the evidence from the reviews, along with evidence from other sources such as relevant school inspections, has been collated to provide this national report.
This report aims to identify issues and good practice in the continuing development of ICS projects across Scotland. These projects have provided an indication of how aspects of children's services can be delivered through integrated working among partner agencies.