A third Scottish primary schools have not been inspected in a decade

More than 600 primary schools have gone without an inspection for at least 10 years.
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Almost one in three primary schools in Scotland has not been inspected in at least a decade, new figures from the Scottish government reveal.

HM Inspectors of Education have not visited 604 of Scotland’s 2,012 primary schools since 2010 at the earliest, and at least one primary was last checked 16 years ago - when Scottish Labour’s Jack McConnell was still First Minister.

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The data, released in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, also showed that around 700 primary schools have been waiting since at least 2014 for an inspection.

Almost one in three primary schools in Scotland has not been inspected in at least a decade, new figures from the Scottish government reveal.Almost one in three primary schools in Scotland has not been inspected in at least a decade, new figures from the Scottish government reveal.
Almost one in three primary schools in Scotland has not been inspected in at least a decade, new figures from the Scottish government reveal.

The revelation comes after criticism of Scotland’s poor performance in international league tables late last year.

Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed Scotland had continued to fall in its rankings, finishing 31st in the world for maths, behind countries like Latvia and Slovenia.

PISA also found that Scottish students were regularly being outperformed by their English counterparts in reading and science categories.

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Responding to the FOI request, an Education Scotland spokesperson said: “Education Scotland has significantly strengthened its scrutiny functions and increased the number of school inspections it carries out.

“In the last academic year (2018/19) Education Scotland completed 252 school inspections, an increase of over 30% on the previous year.

Schools are selected for inspection each year on a proportionate basis, using a sampling approach and predetermined set criteria rather than a cyclical approach.

Education Scotland considers the length of time since last inspection as part of its sampling.

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“In Scotland, overall responsibility for the quality of education and securing continuous improvement sits with the local authority.

“There is a three-level approach to evaluating and improving education: schools have a responsibility to evaluate their performance; local authorities have responsibility for the quality of education in their area; and the third level is scrutiny activity carried out by HM Inspectors of Education,” they added.

The news comes as Education Scotland announced today that it would temporarily suspend its early learning, childcare, and school inspection programme entirely to help teachers and carers concentrate on reopening schools.

Gayle Gorman, HM Chief Inspector and Chief Executive of Education Scotland, said: “Schools and education authorities have faced a huge challenge in adapting during the Covid-19 crisis, and we want to minimise any additional work that might be required for inspections to allow education establishments to focus on reopening schools.”

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Education Scotland said inspections would resume during the 2020/21 school year “when it is safe and appropriate to do so.”

Teachers and other childcare professionals are returning to work this week in preparation for the reopening of schools across Scotland, scheduled for August 11.

Class sizes could be reduced to ten pupils with most children receiving part of their teaching in schools with social distancing measures - and the rest at home with digital learning.

Guidance issued by the Scottish Government to schools and local authorities warns the new model of teaching “may lead to requirements for workforce flexibility and increased staffing”, and “more teachers or support staff being needed for a greater number of smaller classes”.

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