Why is this National Indicator important?
If we know how well our schools are performing for our young people, we can understand how well they help our children become successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. Achieving this outcome is not only important in its own right - it will also help us achieve almost every other National Indicator.
People are Scotland's powerhouse. For Scotland to be all it can be, all our people need to develop skills, in the widest sense, so they can fulfil their potential. This is not just about qualifications. It is about wider achievement.
Schools have a key role to play in the successful delivery of this outcome. Our reforms under Curriculum for Excellence are intended to give schools the flexibility and scope to focus on outcomes for our children and young people. Curriculum for Excellence is about providing the best possible teaching for our children and young people to help them become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. It is also about ensuring they have skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work.
Only in doing this can schools achieve a positive inspection report. The indicator is derived from HM Inspectorate of Education's evaluations of improvements in performance in terms of the outcomes for pupils across the full range of achievement. This includes attainment, the quality of pupils' learning experiences and how well their learning needs are met.
What will influence this National Indicator?
The role of the local authority is key in ensuring that the building blocks for positive inspection reports are in place. These are: a trained and motivated workforce; high quality leadership from the local authority and school management; a focus on teaching and learning; and the necessary support.
At school level, all staff should recognise the need for robust self-evaluation and continuous improvement and the importance of not setting limits on the expectations they have of themselves and every single one of their pupils. Local and national government should continue to provide advice on 'what works', for example as shown in The Journey to Excellence five-part resource, and effective and positive support. Curriculum for Excellence focuses on learning and teaching, fostering ambition and raising expectations. Schools also need to be rich in information and data about progress in the achievements of every learner. This approach is intended to result in improvements in outcomes for learners and, therefore, in positive inspection reports.
What is the Government's Role?
The Scottish Government sets the overall framework for Scottish school education. We work in partnership with local government to ensure the necessary building blocks are in place - an adequately sized, trained and motivated workforce, strong leadership and a curriculum which will deliver for all our young people.
How are we performing?
At present there is no representative trend information available for the indicator. HMIE evaluations from school inspections will be collated from April 2008. They will use revised quality indicators from " How good is our school? 3". The baseline will be built up from all inspections from April 2008 to March 2011 but nationally representative sub-samples of inspected schools will be identified in each of the first three years 2008-09 to 2010-2011.
Methodology
For more information see 2007 Spending Review Technical Note
For information on general methodological approach, please click here.
Who are our partners?
HM Inspectorate of Education
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
Association of Directors of Education in Scotland
Learning and Teaching Scotland
Scottish Qualifications Authority
Related Strategic Objectives
Smarter
Healthier
Wealthier and Fairer