Parents, teachers and pupils must be fully behind any moves by schools to depart from national advice on the curriculum, the inspectorate has warned. Schools will require their support, and not just show they have held consultations.
The decision by Jack McConnell, the Education Minister, to allow schools greater curriculum flexibility has been widely welcomed. But it is now clear that the inspectorate does not regard this as unfettered discretion.
The implications were spelled out last week by Ken Greer, HMI, at the annual conference of the Scottish School Board Association in Dumfries. A “key caveat” in the new guidance issued in August, he said, is that schools using this opportunity for curriculum innovation need to ensure that they have consulted fully.
Mr Greer added: “Of particular importance is the need for consensus before proposals are introduced. Consultation also needs to continue in order to keep parents and pupils aware of the ways in which the school has chosen to vary provision from national advice.”
This might require school boards to rethink how they conduct their business if they are to help with the kind of continuing consultation envisaged in the circular, he went on. “HMI will monitor not only the impact of the flexibility on individual pupil’s learning but also the processes leading to the changes in provision.”
Mr Greer said the new freedom for schools requires “a third - party assurance” of the quality of the experience children receive. In the first instance this would be the responsibility of the local authorities, but the HMI’s external view is an attempt to guard against “self-deception or self-congratulation”. Mr Greer said, however, that HMI “must not be dazzled by their own importance”.
Responsibility for quality lies with the school and the people who work there every day. Inspection is about making accountable those who are responsible. “If we cannot be the partners of pupils in our inspection, at least we can be their advocates,” he said.
