JUST over a year ago The Scotsman revealed that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of schools was to be stripped of its controversial power to formulate education policy.
As compensation for the loss of influence over how and what children are taught in schools, HMI won greater freedom to manoeuvre, with the award of semi-independence from the government in the form of agency status.
Now, the executive has on the
table a plan to present the inspectorate with a second bitter sweet package. Under the proposal, which is part of a series of public service reforms to be unveiled at intervals between now and elections to the Holyrood parliament next year, HMI is to lose its primary role of scrutinising schools - a role which dates back over 150 years. But it will be given a brief to concentrate on the larger fish of education authorities.
The inspectorate fiercely resisted the proposal but is believed to be "coming round to the idea" .
HMI is still feeling its way in exercising new powers to examine whether council officers and councillors are helping or hampering schools in their charge. Extra time and resources should help iron out flaws in the system, making authority inspections more consistent. Council officers have claimed that some inspectors, used to looking at the minutiae of school life, have been out of their depth attempting to evaluate how well an authority is operating. In this early stage, there is modest confidence in HMI’s ability to inspect authorities, particularly since a surprisingly good report for one authority, which has a mixed reputation. There are reports that headteachers thwarted inspectors by taking a collective decision not to reveal their many criticisms of the authority. Heads believed that publication of a frank report from HMI, was not in the interest of anyone in that education authority.
If there is any substance in these claims, it lends weight to the argument of many education authorities that HMI "could do better" and the government should consider other quality control agencies. In the recent past HMI inspections of schools have been as far apart as 20 years. Last year the inspectorate announced plans to descend on primaries and secondaries approximately every six or seven years, so that parents would have the reassurance that every child’s school is monitored during their time there.
However transferral of inspection powers to councils’ own review teams paves the way for even more frequent monitoring.
The government maintains that council reviews will also be more accurate. Critics of HMI inspections claim that they can be manipulated to produce a superficial report of artificially high grades, by schools which produce the right paperwork and policies, allowing inspectors to tick boxes. They also maintain that under this system good schools can fail to win the recognition they deserve.
But supporters of HMI say it is a more credible guardian of standards as it is independent, with many years of experience inspecting schools across the country.
Many inspectors feel that local authorities resentful about HMI’s new power to inspect them, have lobbied to win new powers for themselves. The inspectorate also takes the view that it is often a lightning conductor for ill feeling at many levels in Scottish education, towards government moves in recent years to make education professionals more accountable.
In the last two decades HMI has made itself more accessible and accountable by publishing its reports, using simpler language in the reports and asking schools for their assessment of inspectors. One of its more recent reforms is to canvas children’s views on their school.
Last year HMI which inspects around 300 schools a year from its Edinburgh base and three regional divisions, became the first school inspection agency in the UK to win the Cabinet Office’s charter mark.
The inspectorate has no executive power over schools and in recent decades has seen its powers diminish, losing remaining control over teacher qualifications and exam certification. However, its influence over Scottish education has in a real sense grown, partly because of a rapid turnover of education ministers, who have taken a while to find their feet.
Losing powers as a result of a growing trend towards self evaluation would be ironic as HMI helped give birth to this culture in Scottish education. The baby would be usurping its parent.
