We are an Executive Agency of the Scottish Ministers under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998. We operate independently and impartially whilst remaining directly accountable to Scottish Ministers for the standards of our work. Agency status safeguards the independence of our inspection, review and reporting within the overall context of Scottish Ministers' strategic objectives for the Scottish education system.
Our core objective is to promote improvements in standards, quality and achievement for all learners in Scottish education. We aim to do this by exemplifying the values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality and ensure that our activities are:
We aim to make a major contribution to improvement by delivering a balance of challenge, support and commendation for education providers whilst also promoting accountability for the quality of our services and outcomes to Ministers, parents and the public at large.
In order to achieve our core objective, we aim to:
We work within a three-year corporate plan agreed with Scottish Ministers. Our corporate plan sets out our strategic priorities and performance measures. It provides the framework for our annual Business Plan which informs our day-to-day work and provides us with the basis for judging our performance.
How we promote improvement through inspection
Our annual programme of inspections and reviews in Scotland leads to a series of published reports with the aim of informing:
When we publish reports, we include a set of recommendations designed to help secure improvements in the quality of provision. Where necessary, we support establishments to develop and implement effective improvement plans and we monitor and report on the progress made.
We also draw on our inspection evidence to highlight issues that need to be addressed at a national level and to highlight and spread good practice that we identify.
How we have improved our inspection processes
We have developed and introduced more proportionate models of inspection in primary, secondary and special schools. These are designed to concentrate more of our resources on working with the schools that have the greatest need for our help to ensure that they secure improvements. They build on self-evaluation and the knowledge of the school and education authorities of the strengths and areas for development in each school. Our inspections concentrate on key areas of improvement, examining trends and assessing the school's capacity to improve further. We evaluate how well a school is addressing the needs of all of its pupils, including how well they are performing in National Priorities. The inspections now include more opportunities for us to engage in discussion with staff, both individually and in groups. We report at the end of the inspection week to staff and education authority representatives on the general findings of the inspection.
Responses to the new model have been very encouraging. In line with our normal approach to self-evaluation, during 2004 we plan to commission an extensive survey of users' views of the new inspections. We will consider the findings of this research along with the feedback we receive routinely from post-inspection questionnaires completed by head teachers, staff and parents.
An important part of the new proportionate models of school inspection has been the development of revised follow-through procedures. The new procedures involve close partnership working between HMIE and education authorities and seek to develop a range of approaches to securing school improvement which are directly proportionate to the findings of the original inspection report. In some cases HMIE continues to undertake follow-through visits to schools and report to parents. In other cases this work is done by education authorities and moderated by HMIE. This flexible new approach has made significant progress over the last year.
Our inspections of the education functions of local authorities (INEA) are supported by an annual review which is chaired by the Secretary of the Scottish Executive Education Department. The findings of the review panel, based in part on an extensive survey of stakeholders, were very positive about the value of the overall process. Some further refinements to the INEA process are being taken forward in the coming year and the views of the review panel are being given close consideration in developing a new model of INEA inspection from 2005, when the first inspection cycle ends.