The shared vision for Scottish education is to deliver excellence and equity for all, with the defining mission of closing the poverty-related attainment gap, ensuring every child has the same opportunity to succeed. This is a long-term commitment and has been supported by a system wide, collaborative endeavour between all partners within Scottish…

This report summarises findings from inspections and other evaluative activities carried out by Education Scotland over the period January 2012 to June 2016. It seeks to draw out some of the key features and trends that we have seen as education providers have sought to develop and improve their services over that period of time. During the period…

This report is one of a suite of reports by Education Scotland commissioned by the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) to evaluate provision in colleges for supporting learner success. Colleges should act on the recommendations contained in these reports. College inspectors will monitor action towards implementation of…

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) with Education Scotland is introducing new arrangements for assuring and improving the quality of provision delivered by Scotland's colleges commencing in AY 2016-17. The arrangements have been developed by Education Scotland and SFC at the end of a four-year cycle of external arrangements for review of colleges.…

The new quality framework, "How good is our college?" is a tool to support and enable colleges to evaluate the quality of provision and services alongside reporting on progress in relation to outcome agreements. It is designed to be used by all college staff. Colleges will evaluate the quality of their provision and services using the 12…

Scotland's colleges have a wide-ranging mission. They strive to meet the needs of a diverse range of stakeholders, including individual learners, local communities, regional and national bodies and the national and international economies. At an individual level, the curriculum offered in Scotland's colleges aims to enable people to develop skills…

Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), published in November 2004, states that all young people should be "successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors to society and at work". These are commonly referred to as the 4 capacities of CfE. CfE also recommends that the curriculum should be designed…

Currently in Scotland, around 66% of learners who enroll on full-time further education (FE) programmes and 71% of learners who enroll on full-time higher education (HE) programmes, complete their programme successfully. A further 11% of learners on full-time FE programmes and 13% of learners on full-time HE programmes complete with partial…

Education Scotland, working with key stakeholders, was charged by the National Implementation Board (NIB) with arranging and conducting an Aspect Review of the National Framework Agreement (NFA) for Partnership in the Early Phase of Teacher Learning and of Masters-level programmes. The NFA is based on key principles which should inform all…

Education Scotland's publication, "External Quality Arrangements for Scotland's Colleges, Updated August 2013," specifies that HM Inspectors will produce a number of subject aspect reports over the four-year period 2012-16. This report reviews college admission policies, procedures, and the criteria used when selecting applicants for a…

In preparing this report, reviewers visited a sample of four colleges, detailed in Appendix 1. They also drew on the findings of published Education Scotland external reviews of colleges, and examined other relevant publications and reports. They consulted and held focus groups with key stakeholders, including the Scottish Qualifications Authority…

The Education Scotland publication, "External Quality Arrangements for Scotland's Colleges, Updated August 2013," specifies that Education Scotland will produce a number of subject-based aspect reports each year. These reports complement, in a subject-specific context, the generic evaluations of learning and teaching in Education…

This report evaluates college programmes which deliver education and training in computer and digital media technology, rather than in computer usage. The report evaluates current practice and identifies important areas for further development amongst practitioners. It provides case studies of effective practice and sets out recommendations for…

Education Scotland's publication, "External Quality Arrangements for Scotland's Colleges, Updated August 2013", specifies that HM Inspectors (HMI) will produce a number of subject aspect reports over the four-year period 2012-16. Colleges should act on the recommendations contained in these reports. College inspectors will monitor action…

This report focuses on the actions taken by colleges to help learners resolve issues which are affecting their ability to turn up for classes, engage fully in learning and undertake assessments successfully. It explains the range of services and the relationships colleges have with other external bodies to provide support for learning. This report…