Pointless and long overdue for axe: Critics attack school inspections

Published on Thursday 21 January 2010 21:35

Fiona MacLeod on claims that self regulation is the best way to boost standards

• An inspector calls at Musselburgh Grammar School

SCHOOL inspectors should be banned from the classroom and responsibility handed to local authorities, senior figures in Scottish education said last night.

They believe the current system is contributing to the decline in education standards in Scotland, and they are urging that responsibility for monitoring teaching be removed from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe).

Greg Dempster, general secretary of the Association of Heads and Deputes in Scotland, which represents primary headteachers, and John Stodter, general secretary of the Association of Directors of Education, have called for councils to take direct control.

Mr Dempster said: "Only occasionally would they (HMIe] drill down to school level as part of quality control. The benefit would be that it's not the once-in-seven-years snapshot, which can be very misleading over time."

Mr Stodter said: "We do think the future lies in checking the evaluation of schools and councils, rather than actually doing the inspections themselves. Councils already do that. The good councils will know already what the state of play is."

This approach is better than inspecting every school, he says: "Look at teachers – if there is one bad boy in the class, you don't keep the whole class back."

HMIe has announced major reforms and suggests inspections would be reduced from a maximum of two weeks to between three and five days, and the process would begin with a school's self-assessment of its own performance.

The inspectorate denied the reforms were a reaction to the death of Borders headteacher Irene Hogg, who took her own life in 2008 after she was told her leadership of Glendinning Terrace primary in Galashiels would be rated weak by HMIe.

A fatal accident inquiry ruled earlier this week that her death was "inextricably linked" to the outcome of the school inspection, but did not recommend any changes to how the inspections are handled.

HMIe claims the reforms have been coming for a long time, but the then senior chief inspector of schools, Graham Donaldson, said he was very aware of the need to alleviate stress.

The calls to hand responsibility to local authorities are backed by Ms Hogg's brother.

Roger Hogg said the 15 million that HMIe costs annually to run should be used to employ more teachers and reduce class sizes.

He said: "It seems to me, a layman, that the whole inspection process is divisive, extraordinarily stressful and largely pointless.

"If local authorities have the obligation, under statute, to provide education, why do we need a watchdog to look over their shoulders? Moreover, a watchdog which costs 15m a year."

Jim Docherty, deputy general secretary of the Secondary Teachers' Association, also criticised the body: "They have their glossy documents, but these are written by the HMIe themselves. They are judging them against their own standards.

"We think HMIe should be more accountable. Who's inspecting the inspectors?"

Recent international reports show Scotland is falling behind other nations, including England, particularly in maths and science. Finland, which has no national system of school inspection and no external exams before the age of 16, has outperformed Scotland for a decade.

A study comparing Finland to England's inspection system, which is similar to Scotland's, by academics at York University in 1998 said the Finnish system contributed to positive changes in classroom practice. In England, its inspectorate, Ofsted, mainly affected policy and procedure and debilitated teachers' morale.

It is a view parent groups agree with. Judith Gillespie, policy development manager of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said: "Having an outside body is important, but HMIe inspect against government policies, which they don't ever apply a critical eye to.

"What we need from HMIe is something much more independent of government, in the way the prison inspectorate is."

A spokesman for HMIe said: "We have strong evidence that our work has a demonstrable and positive impact on children's learning and education and that school staff and parents have a high degree of confidence in our work."

One headteacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was in a similar role to Ms Hogg – a small rural school where he also has teaching responsibilities. He said: "The inspections system is overwhelming in its complexity, and it is Dickensian in that there is no right of reply or appeal."

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