4 HMIE INVOLVEMENT
Consultation question:
Q7 Do you agree that HMIE's views should be sought in all cases?
4.1 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education ( HMIE) is the independent body charged with promoting improvements in standards, quality and achievements in Scottish education. The Scottish Government recognises that parents and others affected by a proposed school closure may be very interested in HMIE's view of the educational impact of any closure and so proposes that "when consultations are being conducted, HMIE should be a mandatory consultee, with an obligation placed on them to respond and set out their views, of course only on matters within their competence." The consultation pointed out that it might be of greater advantage for HMIE to be able to look at all the issues that arise during a consultation period and so proposed that HMIE should respond after the consultation period.
SEEKING HMIE'S VIEWS
Consultation responses
4.2 Respondents were asked "Do you agree that HMIE's views should be sought in all cases?"
Chart 4.1 - Agreement that HMIE's views should be sought in all cases
4.3 Chart 4.1 shows a difference in opinion between respondent types; while 66% overall agreed that HMIE's views should be sought in all cases, this rose to 81% amongst parent councils/ parent bodies. Only 36% of local authorities and 40% of education respondents agreed; however the large percentages of no responses should be noted (43% of local authorities and 33% of education respondents did not give a direct answer).
4.4 Eleven percent overall disagreed that HMIE's views should be sought; 23% did not give a direct answer.
4.5 Reasons for involving HMIE were given in 10% of responses and these included the fact that HMIE has knowledge and understanding which would be beneficial to the process as well as the following comments:
"As the HMIE is independent, both authority AND parents will be assured of a bias-free report and so will have an unquestionable document to work from."
(parent council/ parent body)
"Authorities and HMIE are presently engaged in partnership working to improve the educational provision for youngsters and families and therefore engagement should be welcomed at anytime during the consultation process".
(local authority)
4.6 Other suggestions for ways in which HMIE might contribute to the process came from 8%, for example:
"Could the HMIE also take into consideration the proposed school for the new catchment area? It would be useful to have the HMIE view on the capability of the proposed school to accommodate the increased intake."
(community council/ group)
4.7 Six percent gave general, positive comments regarding HMIE's involvement in the process. One individual said "Their views are highly relevant in this case, and it would be a waste of an existing public resource not to request their view".
4.8 While 11% of the total said that HMIE should not be included, only 9% gave reason. One local authority felt:
"We are unsure of the value of the views of HMIE - all their comments on the educational standards of a particular establishment, and indeed local authority, are published on their website. In the past they have been unwilling to comment on the relative merits of different sizes of establishments, so we do not know what additional information they could bring to the debate."
4.9 There were some suggestions, from 6%, that other agencies should also be involved, with one individual commenting "it should be noted that with regard to financial impact statements, transport implications, and information pertaining to rural development issues expert views should also be sought from Audit Scotland, Development Organisations and other appropriate bodies."
4.10 The exact nature of HMIE's involvement would need to be clarified; 6% wanted to see more detail on how HMIE would be involved. Five percent commented that HMIE should only consider the educational benefits a closure might produce and should not consider any other issues which might result from a consultation process.
Comments from other strands of research
4.11 At the public meetings and the deliberative workshops, attendees and participants were universally in agreement that HMIE's views should be sought. Comments from the deliberative workshops included:
"Well if they're inspecting the schools, they would know the good schools."
(parent)
"Your inspectors are going to come down I suppose maybe on the educational aspects as well. If it is a school that's failing, then they're going to pick that up, and then it is a good reason t o close it."
(parent)
4.12 There was much discussion among parents, however, about which stage in the process this would be best done (with some wanting HMIE to be more actively involved from the start). Many, at both the workshops and public meetings, felt that information about the school's performance and that of other affected schools, from HMIE inspection reports, should be considered from the start of the process and included in the consultation document or even the educational benefit statement. Workshop participants said:
"They don't actually get much of a say though, do they? They get to look at it all, but they don't actually get a say."
(parent)
"But is it too late by the time they get it?"
(parent)
"Then if they come in at the latter stage. Like their [the council's] minds could have been made up. Are they actually going to take much notice of what they're saying?"
(parent)
4.13 Most felt that there was a need for more independent input and again this stemmed from deep-seated mistrust of local councils by the parents who participated in the workshops. Many, after discussion, came to the view that HMIE may not be best placed to undertake this wider independent role.
"I don't really see where they could get involved in any decent input because really the Inspectorate of Education are responsible for assessing what goes on in schools, ... They look at what goes on in schools, the performance of the schools, how the schools are run. Building a new school or closing a new school [sic] I don't think would come under their remit."
(parent)
"Depends. If it is a huge financial issue, maybe it should be somebody that's totally independent, but, you know, is it measuring the cost against, say, the cost to the community if you like?"
(parent)
4.14 A range of alternative suggestions was made, from involving HMIE much more and earlier in the process, to handing the whole consultation process over to an independent body to conduct.
4.15 Suggestions between these extremes included involving other agencies (though participants were unsure which) setting up a new organisation or, preferably, some kind of panel. This would be either a permanent national pool that could be drawn from or a specifically recruited ad hoc panel for each case. On balance, probably most felt that local knowledge was important and that it would therefore be important to ensure local representation on any panel. Expertise people would like to see involved, in addition to educational expertise, included neighbouring authorities, community representatives, planning experts, transport experts and so on.
4.16 Such a body could be involved in various stages of the process, but most commonly, workshop participants thought it should review the consultation report and make recommendations that the local authority would be obliged to seriously consider.
In summary:
The majority of consultation respondents (66%) agreed that HMIE's view should be sought and this was echoed in the public meetings and workshops. Eleven percent of consultation respondents disagreed that HMIE's views should be sought; 23% did not give a direct answer.
At the workshops and public meetings it was suggested that HMIE should be involved from the start of the process, rather than only at the end of the consultation.
There was some support, at workshops, public meetings and in consultation responses, for more independent input and the involvement of other independent viewpoints with a wide range of suggestions as to how this might be done - such as involving agencies like Audit Scotland and organisations concerned with development and planning, or convening a panel of relevant experts and local knowledge/representation.