Appendix 2 - Summarised Findings
Perth and Kinross Council · 2 June 2025
Back to Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee — 2 June 2025 and its agenda
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1 National Thematic Inspection: Local authority approaches to supporting school improvement Summarised Findings Local Authority Perth and Kinross Council HM Lead Inspector Simon Gallon In September 2024, a team of inspectors from Education Scotland visited Perth and Kinross Council. During our visit, we talked to senior leaders, local authority officers, parents/carers, headteachers, teachers, representatives from professional associations and elected members. Purpose and themes The purpose of the visit was to gather evidence about how Perth and Kinross Council supports school improvement, with a focus on how they support schools to improve the quality of education through: • the implementation of effective improvement planning and standards and quality reporting • self- evaluation and quality assurance • professional learning • universal and targeted support and challenge Context of the local authority Perth and Kinross Council is a geographically large local authority with a mix of urban and predominantly rural communities. Its administrative centre is located in the city of Perth. Due to its geographic size, a number of schools lie as far as 50 miles to the north or south of the administrative centre in Perth. Twenty three percent of children and young people in primary and secondary schools live within deciles 1-2 of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Approximately 29% of children in primary and 42% of young people in secondary have been assessed as requiring additional support with their learning. The average attendance in 2022/2023 was 90.4%. The national average is 90.2%. There are a total of 81 schools across the local authority. This includes 69 primary schools, 11 secondary schools, which includes 4 all-through schools, one special school, nine Intensive Support Provisions (ISP) in primary schools and six ISPs in secondary schools. Two schools provide GME. The size of schools varies
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2 significantly with primary school rolls ranging from under 20 to around 400, and secondary school rolls ranging from around 150 to over 1000. There are currently a few primary schools with a roll of under 20 pupils. The Chief Education Officer, who is the Strategic Lead for Education and Learning, has been in post since 2015. She is supported by four service managers with remits covering primary, secondary, early learning and childcare, and inclusion. Theme 1 - How do local authorities support schools to improve the quality of education through implementing effective improvement planning and standards and quality reporting? • How clear and effective is the local authority’s arrangements and advice to schools on self-evaluation, improvement planning and standards and quality reporting? • How does the local authority ensure that schools’ self-evaluation is accurate, rigorous and robust, based on reliable and comprehensive data and information? • In what ways does the local authority promote collaboration with all stakeholders, especially learners, as essential to effective self-evaluation and identification of priorities? • What is the role of central teams in providing critical feedback to school leaders on the quality/robustness of their self-evaluation and school improvement planning processes? • To what extent does the local authority use the data from individual school or cluster improvement plans and standards and quality reports, to direct their officers’ work? The local authority’s advice and guidance to support school improvement is clear and comprehensive. Local authority officers have developed a range of documents (Quality Improvement Framework) which provide guidance and templates for schools. The improvement framework contains expectations and recommendations. This aims to support consistency of approaches while respecting individual headteachers’ autonomy and empowerment. Local authority officers have collaborated with headteachers to update guidance documents iteratively over recent years. Headteachers and local authority staff understand and use these approaches well. The advice and guidance provided by the local authority supports a consistent approach to school improvement across schools. As a result, local authority officers report an increase in consistency, quality and specificity of school improvement priorities. The local authority sets clear expectations for the completion and submission of standards and quality reports and school improvement plans. Local authority improvement priorities are shared with headteachers to inform individual school improvement plans. Headteachers indicate processes are more cohesive. Headteachers submit their school improvement plans to the local authority in June. Primary schools submit their standards and quality report (SQR) at the
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3 same time. Secondary schools submit their SQR in August to allow SQA exam data to be included. Officers provide all schools with feedback on school improvement plans (SIPs) and SQRs. This relates to school improvement objectives, outcomes, measures, actions and evidence that reflects the intended impact on children and young people. Local authority officers and headteachers collaborate effectively to improve the quality of education. Quality Improvement Officers (QIOs) work directly with schools. They are linked to locality management groups (LMGs) which consist of a secondary school and its associated primary schools. QIOs visit all schools in the first term of each session as part of the local authority’s universal school improvement offer. These provide formal opportunities for headteachers and local authority staff to review performance and agree levels of support required in individual schools annually. If further support is required, this is tailored to the individual needs of the school. Such examples include, coaching and mentoring, professional development on report writing, developing outcome-based priorities or using data to analyse impact. Headteachers who are newly appointed particularly welcome this level of additional support. Headteachers value these engagement sessions and report that these have increasingly focused on challenging school performance. The local authority has reviewed its approach to providing support to schools in recent years. It focuses more on an equitable rather than equal approach and aims to empower individual headteachers. This has been in response to a reduced number of staff in the local authority team. It now operates a universal, tailored or intensive support programme which replaces a cyclical approach used previously. Local authority staff target support to schools using a responsive and risk-based approach. Risk factors include, for example, changes to school leadership teams, attainment data, attendance data and complaints. This informs and directs the work of the local authority officers. Local authority officers undertake quality improvement reviews in primary and secondary schools. QIOs select these schools based on data analysis and risk factors. The local authority shares a letter with parents at the end of this process to inform them of the school’s progress and capacity for further improvement. Headteachers report that the process is helping to identify more accurately the school’s capacity for continuous improvement. School leaders are encouraged to be involved in improvement activities beyond their own establishments. Such opportunities include, for example, being members of previous validated self-evaluation teams and the local authority’s School Leaders Improvement Programme (SLIP). Headteachers also sit on, and contribute to, the local authority’s Raising Attainment Board. Officers and headteachers are making effective use of their Attainment Advisor. This has led to higher expectation around headteachers’ use of data to inform and measure the impact of school improvement priorities. There is a network of Associate Assessors (AAs) across the local authority who are involved in HMI inspections of schools. Service managers are aware that a
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4 more structured approach to using their knowledge and skills could benefit a greater number of staff in the authority. The local authority has a range of supportive and helpful network groups to support school improvement. All headteachers have regular opportunities to support improvement beyond their own establishment through participation in different networks. These include headteacher forums, cluster (LMG) networks, primary headteachers, secondary headteachers and school improvement data family groups. These networks include opportunities for discussion and the sharing of plans, policies, experiences and approaches. QIOs and headteachers identified these networks as integral to supporting school improvement and sharing effective practice. Elected members are confident in officers’ understanding of schools and particularly those schools that require targeted support. Local authority staff recently led a session for elected members to develop their understanding of school improvement frameworks and self-evaluation. Elected members agreed that these sessions had provided a strategic overview of approaches which has supported them further in their understanding of school improvement. The local authority shares regularly the impact of schools on children and young people with elected members. This is done through the Council’s Learning and Families Committee, Executive Sub Committee and Scrutiny and Performance Committee. Theme 2: How do local authorities support schools to improve the quality of education through self-evaluation and quality assurance? • What methods does the local authority use to evaluate school performance (review the quality of education) for example, gathering evidence from stakeholders, review/validated self-evaluation visits, attainment analysis)? How effective are these methods? How often does this take place? • To what extent do officers carry out regular and rigorous evaluation of the quality of school provision? How is this work quality assured? • How does the local authority evaluate the quality of learning, teaching and assessment? • How clear and effective is the advice and support for schools on approaches to self-evaluation and their quality assurance? How effectively does the local authority moderate this at strategic and school levels? • How does the local authority identify and share effective practice through quality assurance? Is this making a difference across the authority? The local authority’s Quality Improvement Framework (QIF) is the basis for its approach to self-evaluation and monitoring performance of schools. The overall aim of the QIF is to improve the quality of educational provision in schools and settings. The QIF sets out clearly the improvement activity of the local authority’s Quality Improvement Team. It also provides guidance to support and enable school leaders to be empowered to lead their own improvement journey. There is team of eight QIOs across all areas of Education and Learning. They have regular contact with schools. Both QIOs and service managers can see that
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5 this approach is making a positive difference to schools and keeping the improvement momentum going. QIOs meet with headteachers of all schools in the first term. They reflect with headteachers on the feedback provided about the SQR. Where necessary, they challenge schools on their evaluations against each of the quality indicators from How Good Is Our School? 4th edition (HGIOS4). Local authority officers report they are holding increasingly robust conversations with headteachers. They analyse and question the evidence schools provide where they feel unable to support the school’s own evaluation. Local authority officers are increasingly challenging school leaders where school evaluations have remained static for consecutive years. QIOs and headteachers indicate these challenging conversations are supporting school’s self-evaluation to be more accurate, evidence-based and reflective of national standards. QIOs indicate the correlation of school self-evaluation and evaluations of recent primary inspections is evidence of this improvement. Some headteachers indicate that they would like support in how to conduct self-evaluation activities in school and would welcome sharing of effective practice in this area. QIOs undertake a series of termly visits to all secondary and identified primary schools across the local authority. They analyse attainment and performance data and undertake direct observation of learning and teaching with school leaders. Headteachers and QIOs say this is helping to moderate standards and expectations around high quality learning and teaching. QIOs indicate that it is also enhancing their understanding of the quality of learning and teaching and improvements being made across the local authority. This work is underpinned by the local authority’s Learning and Teaching Framework. QIOs meet with each other regularly to discuss quality assurance across schools. They indicate that this helps them to have a greater understanding of school improvement across the local authority. It also supports their moderation and understanding of school performance against national Benchmarks. QIOs produce quarterly reports on school improvement and self-evaluation which they present to local authority service managers and the Raising Attainment Board. Arrangements for self-evaluation and quality assurance have been updated in the last two years. Local authority officers have previously conducted Validated Self- Assessment (VSE) visits to all secondary schools. These focused on particular themes of school improvement or performance. Secondary headteachers, who have had a recent VSE were positive about the experience and report that it validated their improvement journey. Schools that have had a VSE followed by an inspection from Education Scotland, reported they felt better prepared for the inspection process. On the whole, headteachers report that the VSE improved their understanding of robust triangulation and evaluative language prior to their HMI inspection. As a result, the local authority is supporting headteachers to be more robust and accurate in their self-evaluation. Since introducing a risk-based approach to supporting school improvement, these have been replaced by a more responsive Quality Improvement Review (QIR) process. Schools are identified for a QIR based on a range of risk factors
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6 including proximity to inspection. Schools can also request a QIR as part of tailored support. The school’s QIO leads the review, and the team will consist of central staff, the school’s leadership team and may include senior leaders from partner schools. The visiting team works with school leaders to triangulate quality assurance evidence and validate the self-evaluation of the school. Through relevant support and challenge, strengths and next steps for the school are established to ensure continuous improvement. The visits have a particular focus on key areas within quality indicators from HGIOS4. Local authority staff indicate that QIRs support schools to identify the progress they have made in relation to their quality improvement plans and outline their capacity for continuous improvement. Elected members feel that they are right to scrutinise HMI inspection reports of individual schools following their inspection. However, they also think that the local press has a tendency to feature the schools where there have been issues rather than congratulating those who have had a positive outcome. They feel that the positive messages need to be more at the forefront and celebrate the success of schools. QIOs capture examples of good practice through their visits to schools and encourage staff to share these at meetings such as headteachers’ forums. Examples of this include sharing effective practice in learning and teaching and universal approaches to improving outcomes for children and young people. Headteachers say that sharing of effective practice happens at a local management group (LMG) level and also in school comparator groups. Teachers have benefitted from the ‘trios’ approach on a departmental level in secondary schools. Observation of learning and teaching in this context, along with feedback, has been particularly helpful for them. Primary teachers have also found feedback from observations helpful. Some have also benefitted from presentations on approaches from pupil support teachers. Staff are encouraged to visit other schools to observe practice. For example, teachers met colleagues in another school to look at learning through play. They feel empowered as individuals to see effective practice and take this back to their own school. Increasingly, schools are making links with schools in other authorities with similar criteria to themselves. The authority also makes links to national networks such as the social, emotional and behavioural needs network. This has helped officers to identify provisions which may be worth visiting to learn from. The Attainment Advisor provides clear support for the local authority in terms of effective planning to reduce the poverty related attainment gap. A Closing the Gap Toolkit details effective, evidence-based approaches and interventions. This is helping to ensure that Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) is used more appropriately to improve outcomes for children and young people. The ‘Closing the Gap Tool’ is visible to all schools, and everyone can see what others are doing through their use of PEF to meet particular needs. Elected members are aware that this is an important area. Effective practice is also shared with partner providers in early learning and childcare establishments.
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7 Theme 3: How do local authorities support schools to improve the quality of education through professional learning? • What professional learning does the local authority currently provide to support school improvement? • What is the impact of this on developing the skills and knowledge of school leaders and staff on school improvement? • What support systems (e.g., mentoring, networks of practice, peer support groups, cluster support) are available for school leaders and staff? How are these approaches improving school performance and outcomes for learners? • To what extent do senior leaders have opportunities to support improvement beyond their own establishment? What difference is this making? • How effectively does the local authority utilise Associate Assessors (if applicable) to support school improvement across establishments. • Does the local authority’s professional learning strategy draw on support from national organisations? The local authority makes effective use of the national model for professional learning and improvement science methodologies. In line with this, central staff have designed many of its learning programmes based on the key principles of provision, structure and nature of adult learning. Such an example is a programme to support vulnerable children and young people. This requires staff to share their learning with others and demonstrate impact of learning at the end of the course. Local authority officers have recently considered the breadth of their professional learning offer. They ensure a focus on improved outcomes based on impact, teacher motivation and teacher knowledge. The local authority has identified the need to scale up some programmes and to develop measures to track sustained impact of these. Training around improvement methodologies has been rolled out to all senior and middle leaders. This is delivered on a repetitive cycle to ensure all staff understand and can use improvement methodologies when planning for and measuring school improvement. Local authority officers have recently introduced reflective practice sessions. Staff indicate these afford time to reflect on and discuss how improvement can be sustained in key areas. The local authority offers a wide range of professional learning opportunities linked to their strategic improvement priorities. Staff report that these develop their knowledge and skills in key priority areas. Details of the professional learning offer are shared with headteachers at their protected improvement planning days. This is enabling them to support effectively their improvement
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8 priorities at school level. Professional learning is easily accessed by all staff through an online portal. The Learning, Teaching, Assessment and Moderation Framework sets out very clear expectations and recommendations for all schools. This framework underpins the learning and teaching toolkit which provides staff at all levels with examples of effective practice, self-evaluation tools and professional learning packs. These packs contain useful links to professional reading, national resources and in-depth tutorials. Local authority officers report that this is helping to ensure a consistent approach to self-evaluation and improvement. There are also similar professional learning packs to support improvement in literacy and numeracy. Local authority officers monitor the impact of their professional learning through a variety of different approaches. These include feedback through the learning hub, plenary sessions woven through programmes and observed impact through quality improvement visits. Where appropriate, baseline measures are taken, and improvement methodologies are used to measure the impact of professional learning. The authority is looking at more formal procedures to measure sustained impact of professional learning. Staff at all levels have access to support systems including a range of planned professional network groups. These are allowing staff to develop a shared understanding of improvement priorities and to share effective practice. LMGs and comparator school groupings allow headteachers to plan for continuous school improvement and facilitate a level of support and challenge across schools. Networks have also been developed across the Intensive Support Provisions (ISP). These are co-chaired by the principal teachers and allow for the sharing of ideas and areas of improvement. Teachers appreciate the range of networks which are available for them to share practice and understand standards for assessment. Staff report that schools are empowered to lead change and improvement. Class teachers are encouraged to lead professional learning in their own establishments. The Inspiring Schools Programme is based on teachers delivering professional learning in their own schools using a practitioner enquiry approach. Teachers involved in this work are developing their skills and confidence to support their journey as aspiring future school leaders. The educational psychology service (EPS) is also involved in promoting and evaluating different approaches in schools. For example, nurture as a whole school approach to supporting inclusion and learning. They are sharing practice through professional learning activities and action research. Leadership pathways have been developed at all levels. The headteacher leadership programme is aimed at headteachers new to the local authority or new to headship. This can also be accessed by headteachers who require either additional support or training in particular areas of improvement. Opportunities are available for headteachers to participate in programmes developing coaching and mentoring skills. Local authority officers and headteachers agree that this is building leadership capacity across the authority.
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9 New headteachers are provided with a peer mentor who supports them with quality assurance approaches for school improvement. Overall, this impacts positively on supporting new headteachers. However, headteachers face challenges in identifying time to meet with their mentor in order to engage in high-quality discussions. Senior leaders have a range of opportunities to support improvement beyond their own establishments. These include participation in validated self-evaluation and involvement in strategic decision making such as the Raising Attainment Board and LMGs. These opportunities enable school leaders to influence strategic direction and develop a shared understanding of standards. The local authority works effectively within national organisations to support professional learning. Professional learning offers from organisations such as Education Scotland are regularly shared with all staff. There is evidence of good uptake of courses such as Developing Middle Leaders. Involvement with Children and Young People’s Improvement Collaborative’s National Writing Programme is having a significant impact on improving writing in the middle stages of primary school as well as encouraging boys to write. The success and impact of this programme has been shared recently across the authority. Some staff access additional qualifications through partnership working with Dundee University. This includes, for example, principal teachers in support provisions who have been enabled to complete an additional qualification in inclusive education. Theme 4: How do local authorities deliver universal support and challenge for all schools, and/or targeted support for specific schools to improve the quality of education? • What is the universal offer of support and challenge for all schools? • How does the local authority use the data from individual school or cluster improvement plans and standards and quality reports, to provide targeted support? • What measures are used to identify the need for targeted support? • Is there targeted support for specific schools? What might that look like? (examples?) What action is taken if a review of a school concludes that a school is not performing satisfactorily and requires targeted support? • What support systems (for example: mentoring, networks of practice, peer support groups) are available for school leaders and staff? • What is the role of central staff in facilitating/contributing to collaborative approaches, which improve school performance and outcomes for learners?
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10 The authority’s universal offer of support and challenge is based around the annual risk profile which is completed for all schools. This includes data for a range of factors including attendance, absence, deprivation and attainment data. Quality improvement reviews (QIRs) also gather important data. The use of data helpfully depersonalises any action which may be identified and agreed following analysis by the school and authority officers. The central team uses a range of key factors to determine universal, tailored or intensive support for schools annually. They work with school leaders to assess the level of support and agree timeframes. The local authority’s universal offer includes improvement methodology support and senior leadership team support days. Schools can also request tailored support, which is responsive to local needs. Areas of focus include data analysis, self-evaluation, quality assurance or evaluative writing. Where intensive support is required, a formal action plan, clear goals, responsibilities and timeframes is agreed. This plan is led by the headteacher but can include the direct support from officers to form a team around the school approach. For example, a headteacher being appointed to a school which was due a further inspection visit. Support was provided by the QIO, education support officers and early learning and childcare staff. Parents have found this approach helpful and have seen a positive impact. QIOs implement the same levels of support across primary and secondary schools. QIOs also engage with secondary schools using a pre-planned termly approach. Headteachers indicate these visits are helpful in agreeing standards in learning and teaching. Visits are varied and may include focus groups of parents, young people and staff, as appropriate. There has also been further discussion about self-evaluation. Headteachers lead and provide the strategic overview of the termly visits, including data. QIOs use this information to populate the risk profile responsively. QIOs visit settings in the special sector, including intensive support provisions (ISPs), in the second term. Tailored support may involve specific professional learning or intervention to support staff to meet the changing needs of the children and young people in the provision. Overall, headteachers value the role of QIOs and their interventions. They appreciate the opportunity to receive informal support as well as the structured approach to school visits. QIOs ring fence time to visit schools weekly and participate in observations, learning rounds and other quality assurance activities. Teachers report that they are very visible and supportive of schools. There are many forums, approaches and programmes for staff to share examples of good practice and receive support. For example, secondary headteachers have taken part in validated self-evaluation (VSE) activities in trios. They feel that this involved collaboration, criticality and sharing of experiences. 5. Any other relevant information
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11 The local authority identified recruitment and retention of staff as a challenge which affects capacity for school improvement. This can have a particular and significant impact in more rural areas. Headteacher posts can be especially difficult to fill with some vacancies requiring subsequent advertisements to attract candidates. Local authority officers, headteachers, teachers and parents identified that recruitment to certain subjects in secondary school was a challenge. Subjects include mathematics, computing and home economics. Parents and some headteachers highlighted additional support needs and inclusion as a challenge for some schools. Headteachers indicate that they are having to do more with less. They note it can be difficult to provide the support required by some children and young people as resources come under increasing pressure. This can have significant impact on staff capacity for school improvement. 6. Effective practice worth sharing Elected members highlighted the local authority’s approach to engaging with parents after schools have been inspected. Headteachers hold open meetings for parents following the publication of school inspection reports. This provides a helpful opportunity for parents and elected members to hear from the school about key messages. This includes highlighting the key successes and also how staff in school are addressing or planning to address areas for improvement identified as the result of a school inspection. Local authority officers and headteachers identified the local authority’s approaches to school improvement are well developed and streamlined. The responsive and risk-based approach has been enabled by well-developed and considered systems and processes. The authority has developed a comprehensive risk matrix to determine the focus of officers’ work with schools. Staff across schools and the local authority are working together effectively to achieve common goals and improvement objectives. As a result, there is collaborative approach to school improvement. The local authority makes effective use of the National Model for Professional Learning and Improvement Science Methodologies. In line with this they have designed many of their learning programmes based on the key principles of provision, structure and nature of adult learning. The local authority offers a wide range of professional learning opportunities linked to their strategic improvement priorities. These allow for staff to develop their knowledge and skills in key priority areas. This is enabling them to support effectively their improvement priorities at school level.