Quality Management in Education (QMIE), published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) in 2000, set out a framework for self-evaluation of the performance of education authorities in Scotland. It also provided the basis for the first cycle of external scrutiny by HMIE, namely the Inspection of the Education Functions of Local Authorities (INEA). All 32 Scottish education authorities have now been subject to external scrutiny through the first cycle of INEA inspections.
After a period of consultation involving education authority representatives, partner organisations and other key stakeholders, a revised evaluative framework has been designed as a support pack for authorities. Quality Management in Education 2 (QMIE2), has been developed in partnership with key agencies and is designed to assist local authorities, together with their main stakeholders, to develop and implement a rigorous and systematic approach to the self-evaluation of their education functions. The emphasis within the publication is very clearly on the importance of the self-evaluation process and the role it plays in driving continuous improvement. Both self-evaluation and inspection processes will be guided by the revised framework. The second cycle of the statutory Inspections of the Education Functions of Local Authorities (INEA2) commenced in June 2005 with pilot inspections of two authorities. Inspection will take a more proportionate approach. The scoping of inspections will be intelligence led and risk based. Existing sources of evidence such as HMIE reports on schools and community learning and development (CLD) provision, and reports by other agencies, such as Audit Scotland and the Care Commission, will inform the depth and breadth of inspections.
We have come a long way since the inception of QMIE and INEA. The cyclical process of self-evaluation is becoming increasingly well embedded across the Scottish educational landscape, as a means of improving performance and raising attainment and achievement for all learners. Indeed, there is now a clear expectation by HMIE that self-evaluation will have been developed and established across all schools, establishments, services and authorities.
A number of self-evaluation and external scrutiny models have been developed in recent years, including those which pertain to schools, community learning and development and child protection. HMIE is acutely aware of the need for these to fit together in a coherent way.
This document represents a unified framework which, through self-evaluation and external scrutiny, evaluates performance against a common set of six high-level questions. These questions will form the basis for all INEA2 inspections and, importantly, similar questions will form the basis for other inspections which relate to services for children and young people. They are:
In recent years, many initiatives have been undertaken to improve the quality of the services we provide for children, young people, their families and adult learners. For Scotland’s Children brought into sharp focus the need to put children and families at the centre of the public service network and, crucially, to provide better integration of services at the point of delivery. These principles must therefore apply also to the complementary processes of self-evaluation and external scrutiny. It is against this backdrop that the HMIE Services for Children Unit embarked upon a consultation exercise in October 2005 on A Common Approach to Inspecting Services for Children and Young People, which proposes that a coherent, intelligence-led system for inspection of services for children and young people should be in place by 2008.
The development of this QMIE2 support pack and of the associated INEA2 arrangements has been guided by the need for a coherent approach to self-evaluation and inspection. It is also recognised that an increasing number of education authorities and, specifically, former Directors of Education who now have responsibility for a much wider range of services, including Social Services, Community Learning and Development, Sport, Leisure, Arts, Culture, Libraries, Museums and Housing Services, further underlining the need for an integrated approach to monitoring and evaluation.
One further and very important difference in the approach to self-evaluation through QMIE2, is the much clearer focus on impact and outcomes. Self-evaluation should lead to the maintenance of high standards, to further improvement in performance, to targeted action on areas needing to be improved and to continuous improvement in the pursuit of excellence. It is only by rigorous examination of impact, and of outcomes for children, young people, their families, adult learners and communities that the effectiveness of the education functions of councils can be thoroughly and comprehensively evaluated.
I commend this support pack to all authorities and their key partners in their pursuit of continuous improvement through the process of self-evaluation.
Graham Donaldson
HM Senior Chief Inspector