Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000

Raising standards

3 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 duties under subsection (2) above shall apply also in relation to school education which is provided in pursuance of any arrangements made, or entered into, by an education authority under—

(a) section 14 of the 1980 Act; or

(b) section 35 of this Act.

(4) In subsections (1) to (3) above, “school education” means school education directed as is described in section 2 of this Act.

4 National priorities in education

(1) From time to time the Scottish Ministers, after consulting the education authorities and giving such persons as appear to the Scottish Ministers to have an interest in the matter an opportunity to make their views known—

(a) shall define, by order made by statutory instrument, priorities in educational objectives for school education provided for Scotland; and

(b) may define and publish measures of performance in respect of the priorities;

and the priorities which for the time being are the most recently so defined shall be known as the “national priorities in education”.

(2) A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (1)(a) above shall not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been—

(a) laid before; and

(b) approved by a resolution of,

the Scottish Parliament.

5 Education authority’s annual statement of improvement objectives

(1) For the purposes of their duty under section 3(2) of this Act, an education authority, after consulting such bodies as appear to the authority to be representative of teachers and parents within their area and of persons, other than teachers, who are employed in schools within that area and after giving children, young persons and such other persons within that area as appear to the authority to have an interest in the matter an opportunity to make their views known, shall, by such date in 2001 as the Scottish Ministers may, after consulting the education authorities, determine (one date being so determined for all the authorities) and thereafter by that date annually, prepare and publish a statement setting objectives.

(2) The statement so prepared and published shall be known as the authority’s “annual statement of education improvement objectives” and shall include an account—

(a) of the ways in which the authority will seek to involve parents in promoting the education of their children;

(b) of the ways in which they will, in providing school education, encourage equal opportunities and in particular the observance of the equal opportunity requirements; and

(c) of—

(i) the ways in which; or

(ii) the circumstances in which,

they will provide Gaelic medium education and, where they do provide Gaelic medium education, of the ways in which they will seek to develop their provision of such education.

(3) In paragraph (b) of subsection (2) above, “equal opportunities” and “equal opportunity requirements” have the same meanings as in the exceptions to section L2 of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46); in paragraph (c) of that subsection, “Gaelic medium education” is teaching by means of the Gaelic language as spoken in Scotland; and the references in those paragraphs to providing education shall be construed as including providing it in pursuance of such arrangements as are mentioned in section 3(3) of this Act.

(4) The objectives shall be set—

(a) in respect of each of the national priorities in education and by reference to such measures of performance as are published under paragraph (b) of section 4(1) of this Act; and

(b) in respect of such other matters and by reference to such other measures of performance, if any, as the authority consider appropriate.

(5) 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.

(6) An education authority shall, by such date in 2002 or in 2003 as the Scottish Ministers may, after consulting the education authorities, determine (one date being so determined for all the authorities) and thereafter by that date annually, prepare and publish a report as to their success—

(a) in meeting the objectives set in the annual statement of education improvement objectives most recently published by them; or

(b) if there has been published under subsection (5) above a supplementary statement revising those objectives, in meeting the objectives as so revised.

6 School development plans

(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 (6) below, ensure that there is prepared for the school, by such date in 2001 as the Scottish Ministers may, after consulting the education authorities, determine (one date being so determined for all the authorities) and thereafter by that date annually, after consultation with the persons mentioned in subsection (2) below and after the pupils in attendance at the school have been given an opportunity to make their views known—

(a) a development plan which takes account of the objectives in the authority’s annual statement of education improvement objectives published by that date in the year in question and sets objectives for the school; and

(b) a summary of the development plan.

(2) The persons are—

(a) any School Board established for the school;

(b) the teachers employed in the school;

(c) such persons so employed or working in the school on an unpaid basis as are not teachers; and

(d) such local bodies as appear to the authority to be representative of—

(i) such teachers;

(ii) such persons; or

(iii) parents of pupils in attendance at the school.

(3) The development plan shall include an account of the ways in which, and extent to which, the headteacher of the school will—

(a) consult the pupils in attendance at the school; and

(b) seek to involve them, when decisions require to be made concerning the everyday running of the school.

(4) The education authority shall ensure that there is prepared, without unreasonable delay after the expiry of the period of twelve months immediately following the preparation, in any year, of the development plan—

(a) a report as to what was done, during those twelve months, in implementation of the plan; and

(b) a summary of that report.

(5) The education authority shall ensure that the parents of the pupils in attendance at the school have access without cost to the development plan and the report upon request and receive copies of the summaries prepared by virtue of subsections (1)(b) and (4)(b) above; and any other person shall be entitled to have access to those summaries on request.

(6) 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.

7 Review of school performance

(1) An education authority shall from time to time, after consulting such bodies as appear to the authority to be representative of teachers and parents within their area and giving such persons within that area as appear to the authority to have an interest in the matter an opportunity to make their views known, 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 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.