|
|
|
|
[CONSULTATION DRAFT]
An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make further provision as respects school education, the welfare of pupils attending independent schools and corporal punishment of pupils for whom school education is provided; and for connected purposes.
Raising standards
1 Raising standards
(1) The Scottish Ministers shall endeavour to secure improvement in the quality of school education which is provided for Scotland; and they shall exercise their powers in relation to such provision with a view to raising standards of education.
(2) An education authority shall endeavour to secure improvement in the quality of school education which is provided in the schools managed by them; and they shall exercise their functions in relation to such provision with a view to raising standards of education.
(3) The duty under subsection (2) above shall apply also in relation to school education which is provided by virtue of any arrangements made by an education authority under section 24 of this Act.
|
Raising standards |
|
This section places Scottish Ministers and local authorities under a duty to try to ensure improvement in education. The duty extends to pre-school education, education for those children who attend school and education for children who are of school age, but who for some reason do not attend school. |
2 Education authority's annual statement of improvement objectives
(1) For the purpose of promoting the improvement mentioned in section 1(2) of this Act, an education authority shall, after consulting such bodies as appear to the authority to be representative of teachers and parents within their area and of such other persons within that area as have an interest in the matter--
(a) by the end of July 2001; and
(b) by the end of July in each year thereafter,
prepare and publish a statement setting objectives for the twelve months immediately following the date of publication; and the statement shall be known as the authority's "annual statement of education improvement objectives".
(2) The objectives shall be set by reference to--
(a) such measures of performance (including, without prejudice to that generality, measures expressed as a range of values) as the Scottish Ministers may, after consultation with the education authorities, define and publish; and
(b) such other measures of performance, if any, as the authority consider appropriate.
(3) If, during the twelve months following the date of publication of an annual statement of education improvement objectives, there is a change of circumstances relevant to the statement and that change is of such significance that the education authority conclude that the objectives should be revised, they shall prepare and publish a supplementary statement revising the objectives accordingly.
(4) An education authority shall--
(a) by the end of December 2002; and
(b) by the end of December in each year thereafter,
prepare and publish a report as to their success--
(i) in meeting the objectives set in the annual statement of education improvement objectives most recently published by them; or
(ii) if there has been published under subsection (3) above a supplementary statement revising those objectives, in meeting the objectives as so revised.
|
Education authority's annual statement of improvement objectives |
|
This section requires local authorities to consult on and publish an annual statement of improvement objectives based on performance indicators defined and published by Scottish Ministers. |
|
Subsection (1) requires that the local authority, following consultation with teachers, parents and others with an interest, publish an annual statement of improvement objectives. The first statement is to be published by the end of July 2001 with further annual statements to be published by July in each following year. |
|
Subsection (2) requires that the objectives set by the local authority be based on performance indicators defined and published by Scottish Ministers following consultation with authorities. Subsection (2)(b) makes it clear that the authority may set additional objectives should it choose to do so. |
|
Subsection (3) allows the local authority to revise its statement of objectives if there is a change of circumstances. If the statement is changed the authority is required to publish the revised statement. |
|
Subsection (4) requires the local authority to prepare and publish a report each December from December 2002 which sets out how successful the authority has been in meeting its objectives. |
(1) For the purpose of securing improvement in the quality of education which a school managed by them provides, an education authority shall, subject to subsection (4) below, ensure that there is prepared for the school, by the end of July 2001 and by the end of July in each year thereafter, after consultation with any School Board established for the school and with the parents of the pupils in attendance at the school--
(a) a development plan which takes account of the objectives in the authority's annual statement of education improvement objectives published in the month in question and sets objectives for the school; and
(b) a summary of the development plan.
(2) The education authority shall ensure that there is prepared, without unreasonable delay after the end of July in each year after 2001 --
(a) a report as to what was done, during the twelve months up to the end of that month, in implementation of the development plan prepared under subsection (1) above; and
(b) a summary of that report.
(3) The education authority shall ensure that the parents of the pupils in attendance at the school receive copies of, or have ready access to, the summaries prepared by virtue of subsections (1)(b) and (2)(b) above; and any other person shall be entitled to have access to those summaries on request.
(4) The development plan prepared in any year after the first year in which such a plan is prepared for the school may be in the same terms as, or be a revised version of, that prepared in a preceding year or may be prepared anew; but the education authority shall from time to time review the implementation of the plan and if there is in any year a change of circumstances relevant to the plan and of such significance that they conclude that the plan should be revised or prepared anew then they shall ensure that the development plan next prepared is prepared accordingly.
|
School development plans |
|
This section places local authorities under a duty to ensure that each school that they are responsible for prepares an annual school development plan, following consultation, and that an annual report on performance is prepared and made available. |
|
Subsection (1) establishes the general requirement that a local authority ensure that each school has a plan (and a summary of that plan) which has been prepared following consultation with parents and the School Board. The plan should take account of the authority's annual statement of improvement objectives and set objectives for the school. |
|
Subsection (2) requires that the authority ensure that an annual report (and a summary of the report) on the implementation of the school development plan is prepared. |
|
Subsection (3) requires that parents receive copies of, or have access to, the summary of the plan and the report. |
|
Subsection (4) allows school development plans to be rolled forward from one year to the next with only such revision and amendment as is necessary or for the plan to be prepared afresh. This subsection also requires the authority to keep the plan under review and that if circumstances change significantly to ensure that the new circumstances are taken into account when the next plan is prepared. |
4 Review of school performance
(1) An education authority shall from time to time define and publish, as respects quality of education provided, measures and standards of performance for the schools managed by them; and different measures and standards may be so defined for different categories of such schools.
(2) An education authority shall, as respects each school managed by them, from time to time each year review the quality of education which the school provides; and if, having regard to the measures and standards of performance for the time being defined by them under subsection (1) above and relevant to the school, they conclude in any such review that the school is not performing satisfactorily they shall take such steps as appear to them to be requisite to remedy the matter.
|
Review of school performance |
|
This section requires a local authority to have in place arrangements to monitor performance in the schools that it is responsible for and to take action if necessary to ensure performance is satisfactory. |
|
Subsection (1) requires a local authority to publish measures and standards by which the quality of education provided in schools may be evaluated. |
|
Subsection (2) requires the authority to keep the performance of the schools managed by them under review and if the performance - as judged against the published measures and standards - is not satisfactory the authority is under a duty to take such action as it considers necessary to rectify the matter. |
Delegation schemes
(1) An education authority shall have a scheme for delegating to the head teacher of a school--
(a) managed by them; and
(b) of a category of school which is stated in the scheme to be covered by the scheme,
management of that share of the authority's budget for a financial year which is available for allocation to individual schools and is appropriated for the school; or management of part of that share.
(2) The scheme may also delegate to the head teacher such other management functions in relation to the school as the authority think fit.
|
Delegation schemes |
|
This section requires a local authority to put in place arrangements to delegate financial responsibilities to school level. An authority may also choose to delegate other management responsibilities. |
|
Subsection (1) requires that a local authority have in place a scheme for delegating financial management responsibilities to the head teachers of schools managed by them. The subsection allows that not all categories of local authority school may be covered by such a scheme. |
|
Subsection (2) allows the delegation scheme to include other management functions. |
Inspections
6 Inspection of education authority
(1) On any occasion on which they are requested to do so by the Scottish Ministers, or at such intervals as appear to the Scottish Ministers to be appropriate, Her Majesty's Inspectors, or any person appointed by the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of this section, (or Her Majesty's Inspectors and any such person) shall inspect an education authority so as to review the way in which the authority are exercising their functions in relation to the provision of school education.
(2) A request under subsection (1) above may relate to those functions generally or to such matters in relation to those functions as may be specified in the request.
(3) The education authority shall give all assistance which they are reasonably able to give to whomever is carrying out the inspection.
|
Inspections |
|
Inspection of education authority |
|
This section provides for the inspection of the functions of local authorities relating to school and pre-school education. |
|
Subsection (1) gives Scottish Ministers the power to request that HMI or some other person inspect these education functions of a local authority. |
|
Subsection (2) provides for the request to be for a general inspection of specified functions only. |
|
Subsection (3) requires that the education authority provide such assistance as it is reasonably able to give to any person carrying out an inspection. |
7 Code of practice as regards inspection of education authorities
The Scottish Ministers may, for the purposes of--
(a) giving practical guidance on matters relating to inspections under section 6 of this Act (including, without prejudice to that generality, such matters as the making and publishing of reports on the matters reviewed); and
(b) promoting what appear to them to be desirable practices with respect to those matters,
from time to time prepare, approve and issue such codes of practice as in their opinion are suitable for those purposes.
|
Code of practice as regards inspection of education authorities |
|
This section gives the Scottish Ministers the power to prepare and publish Codes of Practice giving guidance in relation to the inspection of the education functions of local authorities. |
8 Inspection of educational establishment
In section 66 of the 1980 Act (which makes provision for the inspection of educational establishments)--
(a) in subsection (1), for the words from "other persons" to the end there shall be substituted "any person appointed by the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of this section (or Her Majesty's Inspectors and any such person)"; and
(b) after that subsection there shall be inserted--
"(1AA) If requested to do so by the Scottish Ministers--
(a) Her Majesty's Inspectors or any person appointed by the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of this section shall give advice to the Scottish Ministers on such matter as may be specified in the request;
(b) Her Majesty's Inspectors or any such person (or Her Majesty's Inspectors and any such person) may, as respects a matter so specified, inspect and report on a school (including, for the purposes of this subsection, any establishment which, though not a school, provides nursery classes), or class of schools, so specified.".
|
Inspection of educational establishments |
|
This section amends the general power to inspect schools contained in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. |
|
Section 66(1) of the 1980 Act reads (as amended by previous legislation): |
|
"66. - (1) The Scottish Ministers shall have power to cause inspection to be made of every school at such intervals as appear to them to be appropriate, and to cause a special inspection of any school to be made whenever they consider such an inspection to be desirable, and they may from time to time cause inspection to be made of any other educational establishment (other than a designated institution within the meaning of Part II of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992) and such inspections shall be made by Her Majesty's Inspectors or other persons appointed by the Scottish Ministers for the purpose." |
|
The amendment in paragraph (a) of the section is intended to make clear that inspections may be conducted by HMI in conjunction with other persons. |
|
The amendment in paragraph (b) gives the Scottish Ministers the power to request that HMI or any other person provide particular advice based on inspections of a school or group of schools. In practice this would allow for thematic inspections of education delivered in schools and pre-school centres. |
Guidance
9 Guidance to education authorities as to raising standards, delegation schemes and inspections
The Scottish Ministers may issue guidance to education authorities in relation to the functions of those authorities under sections 1 to 6 of this Act; and education authorities shall, in discharging those functions, have regard to any such guidance.
|
Guidance to education authorities as to raising standards delegation schemes and inspections |
|
This section gives Scottish Ministers the power to issue guidance to local authorities about certain of their functions under the Bill. The power relates to the provisions that together make up the improvement framework, i.e. covering raising standards, the annual statement of improvement objectives, school development plans, review of school performance, delegation schemes and inspection of authorities. If issued, authorities are required to have regard to the guidance in carrying out their functions. |
Ending of corporal punishment in schools
10 No right to give corporal punishment
(1) Corporal punishment given by, or on the authority of, a member of staff to a pupil--
(a) for whom school education is provided by an education authority (whether or not at a school);
(b) for whom school education is provided, at a school other than a nursery school, by a person other than an education authority; or
(c) for whom school education is provided--
(i) by a person to whom any payment is made under section 23 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 (c. 43) (which provides for grants for the education of children under school age); or
(ii) at a nursery school by a person other than an education authority, under arrangements made by virtue of section 24 of this Act,
cannot be justified in any proceedings on the ground that it was so given in pursuance of a right exercisable by the member of staff by virtue of his position as such.
(2) Subsection (1) above applies to corporal punishment given at any time and whether or not given at the place where education is provided.
(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, references in this section to giving corporal punishment are references to doing anything for the purposes of punishing the pupil concerned (whether or not there are other reasons for doing it) which, apart from any justification, would constitute physical assault upon that pupil.
(4) Corporal punishment shall not be taken to be given to a pupil by virtue of anything done for reasons which include averting--
(a) an immediate danger of personal injury to; or
(b) an immediate danger to the property of,
any person (including the pupil himself).
(5) In subsection (1) above, "member of staff", in relation to the pupil concerned, means--
(a) any person who works as a teacher at the school or other place at which education is provided for the pupil; or
(b) any other person who (whether in connection with the provision of education for the pupil or otherwise)--
(i) works at that school or place; or
(ii) otherwise provides his services there (whether or not for payment),
and has lawful control or charge of the pupil.
(6) Section 48A of the 1980 Act (which makes provision with regard to corporal punishment in schools etc.) is repealed.
|
Ending of corporal punishment in schools |
|
No right to give corporal punishment |
|
This section makes corporal punishment unlawful in schools (including independent schools) and publicly-funded pre-school centres. The previous prohibitions on corporal punishment in schools are repealed. |
|
Subsection (1) provides that there can be no justification of corporal punishment on the basis of the position held by a member of staff. The ban applies to all schools, including nursery schools, to pupils receiving education provided by the local authority outside school and to pupils receiving pre-school education somewhere other than at a school. |
|
Subsection (2) makes clear that it does not matter when or where the corporal punishment takes place. |
|
Subsection (3) provides that, for the purposes of this section, corporal punishment is anything that would constitute a physical assault. |
|
Subsection (4) excludes action taken to avert any immediate danger of personal injury or damage to property from the definition of corporal punishment. |
|
Subsection (5) explains what is meant by a member of staff. It includes teachers and other persons who work in the school and are in charge of the child. |
|
Subsection (6) repeals section 48A of the 1980 Act. This new section goes beyond the terms of the previous law making it redundant. |
Ending of self-governing status of schools
11 Ending of self-governing status of schools
(1) The Scottish Ministers may by order provide that, on such date as may be specified in the order, a self-governing school so specified shall cease to be under the management of its board of management and that it shall, in consequence, cease to be a school which is a self-governing school; and the board shall, on that date, cease to exist.
(2) On and after that date, the education authority in whose area the school is situated shall manage the school.
(3) On that date--
(a) all--
(i) land and other property (including corporeal and incorporeal moveable property); and
(ii) rights and obligations,
which immediately before that date were vested in that board shall transfer to and vest in that authority; and
(b) all persons in the employment of that board shall transfer to the employment of that authority.
(4) The vesting of property, rights and obligations under this section shall have effect notwithstanding any rule of law, any obligation or any provision made in or under any enactment (other than this Act or an enactment made under this Act).
|
Ending of self-governing status of schools |
|
This section provides that the Scottish Ministers can specify that, on a particular date, a particular self-governing school will return to the management of the local authority. The Board of Management of the self-governing school will be dissolved on that date and all land and property belonging to the Board, and rights and obligations vested in the Board, will transfer to the authority. |
|
|
|