What approaches do we use?
In 2003-04, we continued to work closely with the Quality Scotland Foundation in processing our own self-evaluations under the main criteria of the European Business Excellence Model. The reorganisation of our management structure, introduction of the new assistant chief inspector tier, reorganisation of corporate and administrative services, and strengthening of the district inspector and lead inspector roles has considerably enhanced our capacity for improved leadership at all levels.
We have ensured that all staff in the organisation have been able to contribute to the construction of our new Corporate Plan using techniques such as the Balanced Scorecard. We have also consulted our stakeholders about their view of what the plan should include. At the same time, we have developed a new Agency Framework Document to delineate the boundaries and set the context within which we will work over the coming years.
One of our new posts at assistant chief inspector level is focused on corporate services, financial management and the efficient and effective use of resources. As part of the development of more effective use of corporate services, a new staffing and support structure has been developed in agreement with staff and their representatives. This new structure should ensure greater efficiency and more effective teamwork in the delivery of our objectives.
We have kept under constant review our core processes relating to inspection/reviewing and reporting, creating and adding value through working with and advising others, identifying and sharing best practice and running a best value organisation. Significant changes have been made in many aspects as described earlier in this report and in our objectives for 2004-05. We will ensure that all such developments and improvements are accompanied by reviews of their success after a suitable bedding-in time.
Increasingly we work with other providers, inspectorates and agencies. This has culminated recently in HMIE being given the lead role in the inspection of services for children, with an initial focus on the inspection of child protection services.
Having received the Charter Mark award for excellence in public service in 2001, we will be applying for renewal of our Charter Mark in the autumn, building on our approaches to internal self-evaluation and improvement.
We published our HMIE Race Equality Scheme in January 2003. Since then, we have been working actively to address the action points that it contains. We aim to ensure that we operate as a model of good practice in the way that we manage our own organisation internally, whilst also playing a very active role in spreading good practice in promoting race equality across the education system as a whole.
We routinely gather the views of headteachers and staff from inspected schools at the conclusion of the process, together with those of the inspection team. Similar information is gathered for all other HMIE inspections and reviews.
We have also continued our systematic series of meetings with representatives of key user groups including:
We have also developed a close working partnership with all 32 Education Authorities in undertaking development and training for new school follow-through procedures.
Views which we have gathered from our stakeholders over a period of time continue to show a positive picture.
Headteachers, principals of FE colleges and others have continued to commend:
Parents commended the clarity, coverage and level of detail in HMIE inspection reports.
Stakeholders also made a number of suggestions for improvements in our procedures. In response, we have:
To provide us with confidence that our briefing documents are of the highest standards of clarity, we applied to the Plain English Campaign and have gained the Crystal Mark for the clarity of our complaints procedure.
We have recently updated our complaints procedures in consultation with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and some of our stakeholders to ensure that the procedures are clear and easy to follow. As part of our ongoing monitoring process, we have also implemented a procedure designed to seek feedback from those contacting us with a concern or complaint.
During the course of inspections, HM Inspectors work hard to address any concerns raised at the time. They continue to be very successful in doing so, despite the stresses that naturally occur as a result of the inspection process. When things cannot be resolved at the time, or our users wish to complain about some aspect of our service, they use our complaints procedure. Over the course of the year, of the 27 expressions of concern we have received about inspections, only three have progressed to formal complaints. Two of these have been resolved satisfactorily and the other is ongoing. All complaints were resolved before reaching the stage of having independent examination of the conduct of the complaint and none were forwarded to the Scottish Ombudsman.
We have our own audit committee, which is chaired by an external Board member and which normally meets three times a year. The committee supports Graham Donaldson as Accountable Officer in his responsibilities for issues of risk, control and governance and associated assurance. In addition to our own self-evaluation activities, in 2003 we were the subject of an internal audit carried out by the Scottish Executive. The outcome of the audit was very positive. Suggestions for improvement, such as ensuring that we track more issues clearly in the quality assurance process for published reports, have been helpful and we are tackling these as part of our wider approaches to improvement.
We used two major surveys of our own people in the agency to ascertain their views on the organisation. The first was the Scottish Executive annual staff survey and the second an internally-devised communications survey. In general, the results showed that we had a committed workforce, but one which was consistently stretched to achieve its ambitious objectives. Our staff made suggestions to help improve aspects of our work. We have tackled many of them through our reorganisation, revision of key processes and new policy for human resources.
We aim to provide an inspection and review service of the highest standard. We ensure that the people who work in or for the organisation are trained for the job. We ensure that they can operate within the standards expected of HMIE and in accordance with our Charter, including its complaints procedure. The new HMIE human resources strategy reaffirms and strengthens our commitment to high quality training and development for our staff and others who work with us. Considerable progress has been made with a comprehensive review of our procedures for continuing professional development, including consistent approaches to the recruitment, induction and development of inspectors, corporate services staff, associate assessors and lay members. Our purpose is to ensure that everyone is well trained to undertake all aspects of their work.
Over the last year a considerable number of training and development events have taken place. National conferences, involving all staff in HMIE and invited guests from the Scottish Executive Education Department, took place in May 2003 and January 2004. The conferences provided opportunities for our staff to plan future developments in HMIE and hear presentations from guest speakers on a range of important current issues in education such as inclusion, integrated children's services and lifelong learning. Each of the five directorates has provided training for inspectors and associate assessors on inspection procedures and wider issues related to their respective areas of responsibility. Training events provided by Directorates 2 and 3 have focused on the new inspection models for primary and secondary schools. Induction events have been organised for new associate assessors for early years, further education and community learning and development inspections and for education authority personnel who will work with HMIE in following through the outcomes of school inspections.
We have inducted a number of new lay members and provided recall training for existing lay members who work in schools. We have collaborated with the Care Commission to provide training and development for inspectors and Care Commission officers related to integrated inspections. We are committed to ensuring that HM Inspectors are fully up to date with current developments in education. Training events organised by external agencies play an important role in this respect. For example, a number of inspectors attended external training related to 'A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century'. Inspectors and corporate services staff have also undertaken a wide range of activities related to their personal professional development.
We have established a Future Learning Forum to enable key staff to debate the broad directions being taken in terms of future learning. The Forum draws on UK and international research and on current practice. We maintain purposeful contact and discussion with the Scottish Executive Education Department, Learning and Teaching Scotland, the Scottish Qualifications Authority and other external agencies to ensure that our approach and thinking articulates with national thinking and developments.
We have also undertaken national and regional training seminars for over 250 education authority officers to take forward the revised HMIE follow-through procedures in schools.