Schools 'must do better' to help vulnerable children

Scotland's chief inspector of schools yesterday claimed the country was still “well short” of meeting the needs of its most vulnerable children. Graham Donaldson, the head of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, told a conference in Edinburgh that better quality teaching and a more imaginative curriculum were needed to improve opportunities for youngsters with troubled backgrounds. Mr Donaldson admitted that HMI inspectors were "increasingly identifying examples of exciting and innovative approaches to meeting the needs of Scotland’s children, particularly the most vulnerable. “But he added: “At the same time we are still well short of meeting the needs of all such children. The opportunity gap remains too wide.
“[That] can best be bridged through high quality teaching, an imaginative and stretching curriculum and a better focus on individual needs.”
Peter Peacock, the education minister, last month launched a series of reforms which he said would help to improve opportunities. But Mr Donaldson told yesterday’s conference, at Heriot-Watt University, that too few schools were doing enough to embrace the Executive’s inclusion policy, which seeks to put youngsters in mainstream schools wherever possible. He pointed out that since 2002, just over a quarter of schools inspected have been judged as fair or unsatisfactory at providing lessons that meet the individual needs of all pupils. He added: “There are some indications of improvement, with a small reduction in fair and unsatisfactory ratings and an equivalent increase in very good ratings. But there is still a long way to go to get all schools up to the high standards that only a few are currently achieving.”

Elsewhere, Mr Donaldson said that the gap between the country’s best- and worst- performing pupils remained “too wide”. Union leaders have also warned that the Executive’s inclusion policies have contributed to the problems of classroom indiscipline. A spokeswoman for the Executive acknowledged that the gap between the best and worst pupils was too wide, but insisted that reforms would address the problem. She said: “Figures show that pupils who are doing well are still moving away from the bottom 20 per cent and we acknowledge that. We have made it clear to local authorities that we have to do better, particularly for children in care, to help improve their attainment.”

Kevin Schofield
1 December 2004

http://news.scotsman.com/education.cfm?id=1376472004

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