This report is based on evidence gathered during visits undertaken in November and December 2021. HM Inspectors (HMI) visited four stand-alone early learning and childcare (ELC) settings; 15 primary schools including 13 with nursery classes and one with Gaelic Medium Education; 13 secondary schools; three special schools; three community learning…

It's been 20 years since the last 'National Debate' on education led to the launch of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence with the four capacities in 2004. The curriculum was conceived to 'fully prepare today's children for adult life in the 21st century' (Scottish Executive, 2004, p. 3). These four capacities articulated the aspirational purpose…

The Education Reform -- Joint Agreement published in June 2018 sets out agreed principles and enablers and measures that will support and encourage the empowerment of schools in Scotland. These include the commitment that Education Scotland would carry out three inspections in the 2018-19 academic year looking at the following themes: Readiness…

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…

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.…

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…

This report is situated within the context of college sector reform, specifically regionalisation and the implementation of regional "outcome agreements" (ROA), and, within the wider context of public service reform, the refreshed guidance on Single Outcome Agreements (SOA) for Community Planning Partnerships (CPP). It sets out to…

The findings of Education Scotland's sectoral programme of inspections, which sample the providers of education at every stage from the early years to adult learning, provide a key source of evidence on how effectively one of its core public services is performing. The last published summary of inspection findings was produced in 2009 when Her…