Improving Scottish education 2005-2008
On 16 January 2009, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) published a report (Improving Scottish education 2005-2008) which reviews the provision of education in Scotland across most sectors over the last three years.
The report analyses all education sectors for which HMIE has inspection and review responsibilities: pre-school, primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, and community learning and development. It also looks at the impact of local authorities on education provision and reviews the state of multi-agency child protection arrangements across the country.
HMIE last carried out a similar review in 2006 when the first report was published. Then, it was stated that ‘the future will require a population with the confidence and skills to meet the challenges posed by fast and far‑reaching change’. The current report looks at how well Scotland’s education system has met this aspiration.
It records a number of strengths:
- Early education continues to be strong overall.
- Primary and secondary schools are offering a broad curriculum, generally in line with existing national guidelines.
- While maintaining a focus on established expectations in knowledge and skills, more schools are
- The strengths in the education system reflect the professional commitment and competence of teachers, lecturers and support staff.
- Scotland’s colleges are providing relevant and accessible programmes which enable learners to develop an increasing range of essential and vocational skills that meet the needs of individuals and employers.
However, the report also highlights a number of continuing challenges which include:
- The need to ensure a consistently high standard of general education as an expectation for all young people.
- As part of that general education, developing both intellectual depth and personal attributes in young people and addressing with greater determination the need to raise standards across the board, particularly in literacy, numeracy and science.
- Providing better support for the substantial numbers of children and young people from vulnerable groups and disadvantaged circumstances who do not sufficiently develop their personal capacities or achieve qualifications.
- The need to maximise the impact of partnership working across services to ensure the needs of every individual child are met in an integrated way.
Improving Scottish education (PDF)
