Improving Schools
The purpose of school education - detailed in the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 - is to encourage the development of the personality, talents, mental and physical abilities of a young person to their fullest potential.
The Act established five National Priorities which provide schools and local authorities with a broad, strategic framework for school improvement. The five National Priorities are:
The National Priorities are designed to ensure that improvement is not merely focused on academic attainment but on the many other skills and experiences that children should get from their time at school.
The Act also introduced inspections of the educational functions of councils. These inspections are carried out by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) and are subject to regular review. For more information see Inspection of Education Authorities.
Within the school improvement framework, we have a performance measure to improve the performance of the lowest attaining 20% of pupils, which is also a Closing the Opportunity Gap target. A Strategy for young people in need of more choices and chances was published in June 2006.