Improving Scottish education - A report by HMIE on inspection and review 2002-2005: page 23

Improving Scottish education - A report by HMIE on inspection and review 2002-2005

HMIE views as expressed in the report Improving Scottish Education, arise from consideration and reflection on a range of factors. These include:

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

Pre-school

Inspections of pre-school centres undertaken between April 2003 and April 2005 — a total of 1,602 centres (including private and voluntary).
Responses from questionnaires returned by parents of children at the centres inspected.

Primary

Inspections of primary schools undertaken between August 2002 and April 2005 — a total of 618 publicly funded primary schools (around a quarter of the total number in Scotland) and 13 independent primary schools.¹
Responses from questionnaires returned by pupils from P4 to P7, parents and carers, teaching and support staff from the schools inspected.

Secondary

Inspections of secondary schools undertaken between August 2002 and April 2005 — a total of 122 publicly funded secondary schools (around a quarter of the total number in Scotland), and 14 independent schools.
Responses from questionnaires returned by pupils, parents and carers, teaching and support staff from the schools inspected.

Special

Inspections of special schools undertaken between August 2002 and April 2005 — a total of 35 day special schools (including 10 for pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties) and 36 residential special schools (including independent sector school provision) and 6 secure accommodation services.
Responses from questionnaires returned by pupils, parents and carers, teaching and support staff from the schools inspected.

Reviews of Colleges

Between October 2000 and June 2004 a subject and college review of every further education college in Scotland.

Community Learning and Development

Inspections of community learning and development in local areas within 32 local authorities undertaken between September 2002 and June 2005. Comparable data were able to be aggregated for 30 of these inspections to provide a picture for Scotland as a whole.

such as

Improving Achievement in English Language, 2003.
Residential care and education: improving practice in residential special schools in Scotland (Care Commission and HMIE 2005).
Improving Achievement in Science, 2005.
Improving Achievement in Gaelic, 2005.
Improving Achievement in Mathematics, 2005.
A Climate for Learning: A Review of the Implementation of the ‘Better Behaviour — Better Learning’ Report, 2005.
Student Learning in Scottish Further Education Colleges, 2004.
Towards Community Learning Plans, 2002.
Citizenship in Youth Work, 2003.
Changing Lives: Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland, 2005.
Missing Out, 2006.

Further reports are listed in the full bibliography attached to the report and are available from the main HMIE publications website.

Footnote

1 Note this is a total of 631 schools, not 633 as indicated in the print version of the report (Appendix, p104).