Chamber and committees

Education Scotland’s scrutiny programme includes inspection of special schools and units within mainstream schools which provide specialist provision, including for those with autism. During all school inspections, HM Inspectors of Education evaluate the quality of provision for children, including those with additional support needs. Units within mainstream schools, standalone special schools and independent special schools are inspected by HM Inspectors of Education with specialist knowledge and experience.

HM Inspectors also focus on how well a school is performing, the impact it is having on improving outcomes for children and young people and the capacity for continuous improvement. This includes consideration of the outcomes for those learners requiring additional support. HM Inspectors take into account the context and nature of the school, its children and young people and their needs.

HM Inspectors use a set of standards to evaluate and report on quality and improvement in Scottish education. When inspecting schools HM Inspectors of Education use a selection of quality indicators from the quality framework ‘How good is our school?’ (4th edition) (2015). During inspection, HM Inspectors of Education focus on children’s and young people’s learning experiences within and beyond the classroom; their achievements, and how the school is ensuring these are of the highest possible quality. This includes those children and young people with additional support needs. HM Inspectors of Education observe learning first hand and discuss learning with learners and staff. This includes specialist support staff who provide individual or group support to learners requiring additional support for learning.

HM Inspectors of Education also seek the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including parents, staff, learners, and partners, through online questionnaires and focus group discussions. There are opportunities for stakeholders to comment on the quality of support provided. Questionnaires are adapted and distributed in different forms to enable all learners to access and complete these. In addition, HM Inspectors also engage in direct conversation with learners to discuss their views and experiences.

HM Inspectors of Education publish a report of their findings in the format of a letter for parents and a more detailed document outlining the findings in a Summarised Inspection Findings document. Both these documents and the inspection questionnaire summaries are published on Education Scotland’s website.