The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Education report finds room for improvement
schools: Chief education inspector identifies five areas where Scotland can do better – but says there are ‘many strengths’ across all sectors
Five areas for further improvement have been identified in a major report covering the whole spectrum of education in Scotland.
Chief Education Inspector Bill Maxwell has published a review of his findings after analysing all sectors – from early years provision to adult learning – from January 2012 until June last year.
Dr Maxwell found “many strengths” across all sectors of education and examples of “outstanding and innovative practice”.
But inspectors also concluded some key aspects of education provision and practice need to be improved.
They called for greater consistency between different schools, finding children’s attainment and achievement are too variable across different primary schools.
At secondary school level, the “quality of learning and teaching was commonly found to be too variable within schools”.
Inspectors state Scottish education has gone through a period of “very significant reform”, impacting on every part of the system during the period covered by the report.
At the same time, there have been “substantial constraints” on public finances, presenting challenges for the education sector, the report notes.
Strengths identified within Scotland’s education system include a “strong commitment” of leaders and staff to improving outcomes for children and young people.
Inspectors also detected a continual improvement in the quality of learning experiences for pupils, meaning youngsters are increasingly well motivated and engaged.
Education provision was also found to be “highly inclusive” and more young people are having a wider range of their achievements accredited through youth award schemes.
Launching the report at Larbert High School, Dr Maxwell said: “Overall, our inspectors have been impressed by the strong commitment of leaders and staff to improving outcomes for children and young people.
“High-quality leadership will be essential to ensuring that sufficient progress is made, across all sectors, in order to continue to secure improvements in education practice and achieve our national ambition of ensuring all learners can reach their potential, regardless of their background.
“We believe that addressing these five priority areas for improvement effectively will make a decisive contribution to achieving the twin aims of excellence and equity for Scottish learners which is at the heart of the National Improvement Framework.”