[Previous] [Contents] [Next]

Improving Scottish Education

Appendix: Note on evidence sources and the use of terms

Evidence base

HMIE evaluations as expressed in this report arise from consideration and reflection on a range of factors. These include:

• findings from the inspection and review process relating to the publication of reports on individual establishments and services across all sectors over the last three or four years, depending on the sector involved;
• the findings from inspections and reviews of educational establishments contributing to the production of aspect reports across all sectors, and HMIE commentary on those findings as published in such aspect reports;
• information drawn from surveys (for example, of stakeholders’ views gathered before inspections and reviews);
• reflections on the basis of ongoing interactions with a very broad range of key players in the education process (such as Scottish Government officials, directors of education and other local authority personnel, staff from other education agencies, headteachers, college principals, teaching and non-teaching staff, researchers, and staff in higher education institutions including teacher education);
• reflections on the basis of discussions both internal to HMIE and involving others taking part in inspection and review processes such as associate assessors, lay members, student team members and representatives of agencies engaged in joint inspections (such as the Care Commission, or Audit Scotland); and
• HM Inspectors’ wider intelligence in terms of research findings, theory and provision in relevant sectors and in specific contexts.

*Inspection and review details as follows:

Further details

Further details on many aspects included in this report are available in a range of HMIE reports and publications, all of which are available on the HMIE website (www.hmie.gov.uk). Publications over the period 2005-2008 are listed in the Reference and Bibliography Appendix associated with this report on the website.

Good practice

Examples of good and sector-leading practice can be found in the Good Practice and The Journey to Excellence areas of the HMIE website. See link above.

Use of terms

Terms describing people

• ‘parent/s’ should be understood as including foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends. It should also be understood as referring to one or two (or more) adults in the parent role
• ‘learner’ is used generically to refer to school pupils, young people and adults in college, or young people or adults in the community learning and development (CLD) context. The word ‘participant’ is also used in the CLD context, where the word ‘learner’ may not be so appropriate
• ‘young people’ is used to refer across any sector to that group of individuals aged around 12 to 18
• ‘pupil’ is used exclusively in the context of schools
• ‘children’ is used in pre-school and primary school contexts and in parent-children relational contexts
• ‘teacher’ or ‘teaching staff’ are used across all sectors to refer to those adults in teaching situations, particularly those who have a teaching qualification
• ’support staff’ is used to refer to other adults in the teaching situation who support the teaching process. They may have a professional qualification. The term includes nursery nurses, nursery or classroom assistants, auxiliaries for children, pupils and young people with additional support needs, technicians, resource auxiliaries and others
• ‘staff’ is used to cover both the above groups
• ‘headteacher’ is used for school contexts and for nursery schools in the pre-school sector
• ‘centre manager’ is used in the pre-school sector to refer to the person in overall charge in voluntary or private centres as relevant
• ‘head’ is used generically to refer to the most senior manager across a range of educational establishments and services
• ‘principal’ refers to the academic leader and chief executive officer of a college
• ‘senior staff’ or ‘senior managers’ refers to promoted staff and may include the head, headteacher, principal or centre manager
• ‘inspectors’ relates to personnel engaged in inspections or reviews and includes HM Inspectors, associate assessors and other members of inspection or review teams.

Qualitative and quantitative terms

The evaluative words: ‘excellent’, ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’, ‘weak’ and ‘unsatisfactory’ are as associated with the six-point evaluation scale introduced in August 2005 and as outlined in:

• The Child at the Centre (second edition);
• How good is our school? (third edition);
• How good is our community learning and development? (second edition);
• How well are children and young people protected and their needs met?;
• Quality Management in Education (second edition); and
• Quality Management in Local Authority Educational Psychology Services 1.

The levels on the six-point scale are described as follows:

* From April 2008, the term ‘satisfactory’ replaced the term ‘adequate’. The term ‘adequate’ is not used this report.

The four-point scale was used for pre-school inspections until April 2007 and for college reviews until June 2008. The levels are described as follows:

The following standard terms of quantity are used in all HMIE reports:

Other quantitative terms which may be used in this report are to be understood as in common English usage.

Abbreviations used in this report

[Previous] [Contents] [Next]