The Scottish schools inspectorate that is created in the coming years must be “absolutely independent” and able to speak “truth to power”, MSPs have been told.
In an evidence session featuring several key figures in Scottish education, they also heard that for the past decade, the inspection regime has not provided a national picture of how schools are doing, as it did in the past.
These issues were discussed in a second session of the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee to take evidence on the Education (Scotland) Bill; the first session today, featuring different expert witnesses, had included a call for investment in the “ageing digital infrastructure” of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
The second session included a heavy focus on the future of school inspection, where experts, including Aberdeenshire Council education and children’s services director Laurence Findlay, made some pointed remarks.
Chief inspector ‘must be completely independent’
Mr Findlay, who was appearing on behalf of the education directors’ body ADES, said that a new chief inspector of education - the role is being advertised with a closing date of 6 October - “must be completely independent and impartial”.
It was “interesting to note”, he added, that in recent years there had been a number of “fantastic reports” on the state of Scottish education.
In past times, however, he stressed that Scotland’s education inspectorate had performed such a role with its Improving Scottish Education series of reports. (In June, Tes Scotland looked at why Education Scotland had stopped sharing national inspection overviews, with the last such report published in 2020.)
Today, Mr Findlay said that the profession used to “rely hugely” on the Improving Scottish Education reports. The fact that others were now having to assess the “state of the nation”, he said, “would suggest that the inspectorate has not been doing that job adequately or appropriately over the past decade or so”.
Mr Findlay said: “We used to have really good curricular reports into the state of different curricular areas, and what effective learning and teaching was looking like in different subject areas. We haven’t seen any of that for a long time, so something has been going wrong.”
He added that “the new chief inspector and inspectorate must be absolutely independent to allow them to tell it as it is...to speak truth to power when it comes to the state of Scottish education and what needs to change”.
‘Whirlwind of top-down accountability’
Anne Keenan, an assistant secretary at the EIS teaching union, told the committee that in Scotland, inspection involved a “whirlwind of top-down accountability” that was “creating additional workload”.
She added: “We would much rather see a complete review of the inspection process, something that’s co-created with the profession and is much more akin to the Finland [self-evaluation] model.”
The recent publication of the education bill was a landmark moment in the process of removing inspection from Education Scotland - which is also responsible for curriculum development - and creating a standalone inspectorate.
However, School Leaders Scotland general secretary Graham Hutton was concerned that the bill focused only on certain elements of education reform, specifically the future of the SQA and the inspection arm of Education Scotland.
It did not mention other aspects of Education Scotland, for example, or the proposed Centre for Teaching Excellence.
“I think there are too many jigsaw pieces and I don’t know how they all fit in,” he said.
Earlier in the day, interim Education Scotland chief executive Gillian Hamilton said that a common criticism of the body was that it tried to be “all things to all people”; now, there was “clarity” about its role, with “the majority of the functions” of the successor organisation confirmed.
Its primary purpose, she said, would be “to lead the curriculum, including the curriculum-improvement cycle”. It would also support high-quality learning and teaching, as well as professional learning, “through a national framework”.
However, Education Scotland would need to “bolster” its expertise and was looking to recruit a pool of “associates” - teachers and school leaders who work with the body for up to 15 days a year. For example, Ms Hamilton said Education Scotland was keen to support the early years, but for now its team in that area comprised just three people.
‘Amazing’ impact of school self-evaluation
Stuart Hunter, president of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, setting out his hopes for inspection in the future, talked up existing approaches based on schools’ self-evaluation, which “takes place across a lot of local authorities”.
“When it’s done properly,” he added, “it’s amazing how everyone buys into it” without the need for “a massive inspection that’s usually disruptive and stressful”.
In an exclusive interview with Tes Scotland in April, interim chief inspector Janie McManus said the inspectorate had to get better at sharing its findings, “in order that we can really support the education system”.
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