Parents and carers – we need your views! School inspections are changing, and it is really important to make your voices heard at this pivotal moment!

In general, school inspectors go into schools to look at many aspects of school life, with a focus on children’s learning and progress and how schools support this. There is an inspection framework which gives the inspection team a consistent way to look at how a school is doing. The team is led by an experienced educator.

Recent legislation has created a new, independent inspectorate of education, so the Scottish Government is reviewing the regulations that sit alongside the legislation to set out how the inspectorate will operate: how inspections work, what currently works well, and what needs to be improved. Your response to our survey will help us form Connect’s response to the Government’s consultation.

We’ve pulled out the elements we feel are most relevant to parents, but you can also respond directly to the Scottish Government’s full consultation here.

This survey will close Monday 10 November. The survey will take around 12 minutes to complete.

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* 1. Which local authority area do you live in?

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* 2. At what stage/age is your child/young person?

Your understanding of the current inspection process

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* 3. Have you ever been involved in a school inspection?

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* 4. How well do you understand the current school inspection process in general?

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* 5. How well do you understand the following aspects of the school inspection process?

  Very well Well Not well Not well at all Don't know
How often schools are inspected
How schools are selected for inspection
What takes place during an inspection
The grades awarded as a result of inspection
Who is involved in inspection (in the inspection team)
Who is involved in inspection (in the school)
How parents are involved in the inspection process
About school inspections in the future

Currently, members of the public who are not education professionals are usually part of inspection teams - these people are called lay members. They are trained by HM Inspectors and provide a lay person’s views on areas such as the school’s links with parents and the local community. These lay members are volunteers ie are unpaid.

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* 6. To what extent do you agree or disagree that lay members should be part of inspection teams?

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* 7. To what extent do you agree or disagree that children and young people should have increased opportunities to contribute to inspection?

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* 8. Currently, inspectors gather the views of children and young people through questionnaires, focus groups, and direct conversations.

What other ways could ensure children and young people can meaningfully share their views during inspection?

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* 9. To what extent do you agree or disagree that parents and carers should have increased opportunities to share their views during inspection?

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* 10. Currently, inspectors gather the views of parents and carers through questionnaires, focus groups and by meeting the Chair of the Parent Council.

What other ways could ensure parents and carers can meaningfully share their views during inspection?

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* 11. If you have taken part in a school inspection as a member of the Parent Council, do you have any suggestions for improvement or comments on this part of the process?

How often should schools be inspected in the future?

His Majesty’s Inspectors currently carry out around 250 inspections each year, using a national sampling approach. Schools can also be selected for inspection as a result of risk. This means that, on average, a primary, secondary or special school may be inspected once every 10 years, although some schools may wait longer.

Because of the creation of a new, separate schools inspectorate, Scottish Ministers will be required to set a minimum frequency for school inspections by regulation. The Chief Inspector of Education will then be responsible for determining how often inspections happen in practice, provided the minimum is met.

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* 12. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the current sampling model, where around 10% of schools in Scotland are inspected each year, should continue?

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* 13. In your view, how should schools be selected for inspection?

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* 14. In future, how often do you think each school should be inspected?

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* 15. To what extent do you agree or disagree that there should be a way for parents and carers to raise any concerns directly with the inspectorate, to feed into the assessment of risk when selecting for inspections?

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Grading following inspections

Inspectors currently use the following grades to describe how schools are doing in key areas:

<strong>Grading following inspections</strong><br><br>Inspectors currently use the following grades to describe how schools are doing in key areas:

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* 16. To what extent do you agree or disagree that grades help you as a parent understand how well a school is doing or what needs to improve?

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* 17. Do you think school inspections should continue to use grades to summarise how well a school is doing?

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* 18. If grades continue to be used, what should happen to the current six-point scale? Please select the one option that best reflects your view.

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* 19. If school inspections no longer used grades to evaluate and report on key areas, how should inspection reports show the quality of education in a school Please select all options that you prefer.

Before the inspection

Currently, a school is given two-and-a-half weeks’ notice of an inspection. This is to give time for the inspection team to plan the inspection activities alongside the headteacher and so staff can complete pre-inspection paperwork. It also provides time for parents, pupils, staff and partner organisations to complete pre-inspection questionnaires and for the inspectors to gather and analyse these.

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* 20. How much notice do you think should schools receive before an inspection?

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* 21. How important is it to gather views from each of the following groups before an inspection?

  Very important Important Not very important Not at all important Not sure
Parents and carers
Children and young people

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* 22. In what way(s) should inspectors gather views before an inspection from parents and carers, and children and young people?

Inspection framework: what should be inspected?

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* 23. Which of these areas are most important to include in a school inspection framework? Please select as many as you wish.

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* 24. Is there anything missing from the above?

Reporting after inspections

Currently, HM Inspectors publish:
  • a short letter for parents and carers, summarising strengths, areas for development, and inspection grades
  • a separate, detailed report for the school, setting out the full findings
  • collated results from the pre-inspection questionnaires

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* 25. How should inspection findings be presented to different audiences? Please select the option which best reflects your view.

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* 26. What do you think are other effective ways of sharing inspection findings with parents and carers and with children and young people?

Final comments

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* 27. Do you have any final comments you would like to make about how to improve school inspections or school inspections in general?

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