‘Inspection evidence shows that Scottish education does many things well and some things particularly well.’ |
In the Commentary which introduces Improving Scottish Education1, I wrote, ‘Inspection evidence shows that Scottish education does many things well and some things particularly well.’
The fact that I can write such a statement in 2006 bears testimony to the success of the ‘Scottish approach’ in combining internal and external evaluation in order to bring about school improvement. This distinctive approach to improvement, first outlined in the common language of How good is our school?2, and in The Child at the Centre3, has developed over more than fifteen years within a creative partnership which has brought together schools, education authorities, the Scottish Executive, HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) and other partners. The effectiveness of the approach has been widely recognised across the international educational community.
For many good or very good schools, particularly those with a strong critical awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses and a track record of improvement, the challenge now is to move on and aim for excellence.
The aim of How good is our school? The Journey to Excellence is to provide practical support for all those schools and early education centres which are now ready to make that step change: from good to great. This change of perspective from aiming for ‘very good’ to aiming for ‘excellent’ is a sign that the quality culture within Scottish schools has matured, that Scottish education is ready to take self-evaluation to the next level. It means moving the focus from reflection to action.
In order to improve, leaders need to win hearts and minds. However, evangelising rhetoric is not enough. What is needed is clarity of perception, accurate and honest analysis and the will and capacity to drive forward improvements for learners. These qualities, combined with an equally clear recognition of the key drivers for improvement, are the ingredients of ‘intelligent accountabilities’. And schools are accountable to children, to parents, and to all stakeholders of the school’s community.
As education is a service for children, young people and their parents and families, Scottish education has largely avoided being pre-occupied with competition or the kind of choices which benefit one set of ‘customers’ at the expense of others. It has focused on ensuring that all children learn well. It recognises the distinctive and invaluable contributions which each of the key players makes to ensuring that all young people experience success. These players include parents and teachers and all the support staff who make up the school community, the partners with whom they work for the benefit of young people, and the wider community within which the school plays such an important role and from which it gains so much. All these players have a voice. However, it is the voices of children and their parents which need to be listened to first and foremost.
A key driver for improvement in any organisation is leadership. Leaders build excellence into their day-to-day work. They set and meet improvement goals, and they plan, monitor and evaluate improvements. They quality assure the improvements they have made and they ensure that the reputation of the school is one of ‘high quality’. They create value by working with partners and stakeholders. They are not faint-hearted. |
Leaders of excellent schools and early education centres do exactly the same. Inspectors see that in schools and they report on it. The leaders of excellent schools ensure coherence across all aspects of the work of the school and, importantly, they ensure consistency of quality across learners’ experiences. They focus on purposes and on improving the processes which are central to the success of the school — success in learning. They avoid failure through prompt and effective interventions. They quantify outcomes and develop and apply measures of success for these. Leaders of excellent schools align all the school’s processes to focus on improving learning and relationships. They listen to and value people.
All these qualities are aspects of excellence. Excellent schools demonstrate them to an extent which is outstanding, which marks them beyond the norm. In this publication, we have called these aspects ‘dimensions’ and have identified some of the key features of each. We have selected the dimensions from those which appear repeatedly in international research and in our inspections of schools and early education centres. Each of the dimensions is linked with one or more quality indicators. These indicators will be published in Part 4 of the series, in How good are we now?. They replace the quality indicators in the 2002 version of How good is our school?. For each dimension The Journey to Excellence ‘unpicks’ and identifies practical actions which HMIE knows make a difference.
Inspection and reporting can help both HMIs and colleagues in the establishments they inspect to focus on what needs to be done and how to bring about a step change in the quality and consistency of learning. Action will always focus on meeting the needs of the children and young people served by the school. Action will also involve organising and managing effective continuous professional development for staff. Crucial to the process of aiming for excellence is the education authority. The most successful authorities involve school leaders as senior officers of the authority in decision-making, planning and delivery, thus eliminating any potential barriers to progress in relationships between schools and authorities. This involvement is a key responsibility of all headteachers. It brings with it accountability not only for the children within their ‘own’ establishments but for all young people in all the schools within the local area.
‘How good is our school? the Journey to Excellence builds on the secure knowledge that Scottish schools themselves are ambitious for the children and young people of Scotland’ |
How good is our school? The Journey to Excellence has deep roots in the development of the quality culture in Scottish education. It brings together the principles of self-evaluation, school development planning, measuring and managing performance and school effectiveness and improvement. But it does more than that. It takes these principles to the next level by presenting a coherent view of what works, and how schools can achieve excellence in all that they do. It is ambitious but builds on the secure knowledge that Scottish schools themselves are ambitious for the children and young people of Scotland. |
Graham Donaldson, HMSCI