Our engagement work alternative: School inspection framework and models
Through this school inspection framework review, we will aim to develop a new quality framework and enhance approaches to school inspections.
The review will explore various aspects of the school inspection process, including:
- the ‘How Good Is Our School?’ 4th edition framework;
- the activities before, during and following an inspection; and
- how we report our findings.
Hearing the views of stakeholders is at the heart of this review and we are engaging with a wide range of stakeholders in line with our new engagement approach. In addition, we have created a new stakeholder forum to support this work.
These pages are to keep you updated on progress and to share our ongoing approach to engaging stakeholders. We will also share details of how you can share your views.
The Scottish education Inspectorate is one of the oldest in the world, with the first HM Inspector of Schools (HMI) appointed in 1840.
Following the Scotland Act 1998 the Inspectorate was made an executive agency of the Scottish Government in 2001 and HMIe was answerable to the Scottish Ministers for the education inspection system in Scotland.
HMIe then merged with Learning & Teaching Scotland to become Education Scotland.
During 2024, the Education (Scotland) Bill was published. If this legislation is passed by the Scottish Parliament, it will establish the office of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland, with enhanced independence, to undertake the education inspection functions which currently sit within Education Scotland.
Before those changes take place, we are reviewing the school inspection process.
HM Inspectors currently use a set of standards to evaluate and report on quality and improvement in Scottish education. The standards are set out in a series of quality frameworks.
The current framework for schools, ‘How good is our school? (HGIOS) has been used since 1996. The latest edition, HGIOS4, was published in 2015. Since its introduction, it has become a nationally and internationally recognised brand. It underpins effective self-evaluation as the starting point for school improvement.
With all the changes in education, not just nationally but internationally, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic, it is timely to review the framework and how it is used in schools to ensure it's still fit for purpose.
The purpose of our stakeholder forum is to share views to inform our thinking; provide advice and critical challenge to our work; and to create a dedicated space to discuss and address potential issues and solutions as they arise.
The stakeholder forum is chaired by the Head of Inspection lead for the project and meets on a monthly basis. The experiences, suggestions and feedback from stakeholder forum members is invaluable as we work to shape the future of education inspections in Scotland.
The stakeholder forum is not a decision-making body. Decisions will be made by the Inspectorate, informed by a wide range of stakeholder views.
Membership
General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) Scotland
Association of Directors of Education
Scottish Catholic Education Service (SCES)
Non-executive Education Scotland Board Member
Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA)
Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS)
Dates of upcoming meetings
The stakeholder forum first met in December 2024 and meet monthly.
Minutes of meetings
One of the most important parts of our project reviewing how we inspect schools is listening to children and young people and finding out their views. We will do this in different ways and at different times.
Phase one: listening to you to understand
We want to start by listening and understanding what children and young people think about school inspections. This will help us to gather ideas and identify challenges and opportunities.
During January 2025 we met with children and young people from different parts of Scotland. They helped us create workshop materials which will be used to gather children and young people's views more widely.
Phase two: drafting and developing ideas for feedback
During early 2025 we have been meeting with organisations that represent the views of children and young people. We have also talked with groups of children and young people they represent.
We will use the information to develop ideas. We may ask schools and local authorities to ask views of children and young people. This will depend on how things have developed in the first phase of the project.
Phase three: responding to feedback
Once we have views from groups of children and young people, we will create an online questionnaire which anyone can complete. The questionnaire will ask for views on the things we have been told during our previous engagement.
The questionnaire will be available on our website and we will share it with local authorities and children’s organisations.
We will continue to update these pages as our engagement work with children and young people progresses.
If you have any questions please get in touch with us.
We are keen to hear the views of as many people as possible to help shape our thinking. During this first phase of engagement, we are asking for your views on the following big questions:
- What are the principles on which a new schools framework should be developed? Are there any unintended consequences/challenges of the existing framework that need to be addressed? How might we overcome these?
- What are the key features of effective inspection models that we should be considering? To what extent to existing models create unintended consequences, challenges or missed opportunities? How might these be overcome?
You can share your views via a webform to help inform our work.
Alternatively, you can email your views to us.
