Response 26232810

Back to Response listing

Our Vision – the Guiding Principles of Inspection

1.1. To what extent do you support, or not support, the Scottish government’s overall proposed vision for the purpose and aim of inspection of ELC and school age childcare services?

Please select one item
Fully support
Partially support
Don’t support

1.2. Do you think the proposed vision is missing anything or contains something that you think does not reflect the purpose and aim of inspection of ELC and school age childcare services?

Please select one item
Yes
No

1.3. To what extent do you support, or not support, the Scottish government’s draft guiding principles for inspection of ELC and school age childcare services?

Please select one item
Fully support
Partially support
Don’t support

1.5. Do you think the draft guiding principles are missing anything?

Please select one item
Yes
No

The current inspection and scrutiny landscape

2.1. Some settings in Scotland currently receive inspections from both the Care Inspectorate and HMIE, visiting either separately or jointly. If you are an ELC and/or school age childcare setting (including childminders, practitioners, teachers and staff working within those settings), from which organisations has your setting or service previously received inspections? (please tick all that apply)

Please select all that apply
Only the Care Inspectorate (single agency inspection)
Only HMIE (single agency inspection)
Both the Care Inspectorate and HMIE (as separate visits)
Both the Care Inspectorate and HMIE (as a joint visit)
Neither/ not applicable

2.2. If you are an ELC setting providing funded ELC (or a childminder, practitioner, teacher or staff member working within that setting), when did your setting or service last receive an inspection from HMIE?

Please select one item
Within the last 2 years
2-5 years ago
5-10 years ago
More than 10 years ago
Never

2.3. If you are an ELC and/or school age childcare setting (or a childminder, practitioner, teacher or staff member working within that setting), when did your setting or service last receive an inspection from the Care Inspectorate?

Please select one item
Within the last 2 years
2-5 years ago
5-10 years ago
More than 10 years ago
Never

2.4. Discounting periods of disruption over the COVID-19 pandemic, what is your experience of the current inspection approach?

Please select one item
Mainly positive
Neither positive or negative
Mainly negative
I have not experienced this

2.5. Discounting periods of disruption over the COVID-19 pandemic, what do you consider are the benefits of the current inspection approach?

Please give us your views
Having a named inspector who you can contact to discuss various changes to service before committing to new ideas. This has not always been possible but when it has it has been very effective. Visits by inspectors to discuss changes to the building rather than formal inspections were great way of building relationships rather than full on inspections.
Inspectors who come and get involved with sessions have always provided more realistic feedback than those that standbank or spend time with paperwork,

2.6. Discounting periods of disruption over COVID-19 pandemic, what do you consider are the challenges of the current inspection approach?

Please give us your views
Very stressful for staff
Different inspectors have different views so one inspection the same thing can be criticised that was praised in the previous inspection
Would be better to be small ongoing contact rather than big inspections
Although I agree that inspections should be unanounced but that can mean the appropriate staff for a full inspection might not be present. The inspectors should not expect managers/administrators to give up their days off or holidays. The time for feedback at the end of the inspection should also be agreed with staff who may have other commitments.

2.7. Under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, HMIE and the Care Inspectorate are under a duty to ‘cooperate and coordinate’ their inspection activity. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the two inspectorate bodies cooperate with one another and coordinate inspection activity effectively?

Please select one item
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly agree
Don’t know
Can you tell us why you think this?
More recently it has been CI inspectors who have carried out inspections we have felt that not all of them have had a full grasp of the nuances of the educational requirements and have given mixed messages.

2.8. Do you think any change is required to the current duty to ‘cooperate and coordinate’ inspection activity to provide opportunities to improve cooperation and coordination between the inspectorate bodies in the short and medium term?

Please select one item
Yes, more could be done
No, more could not be done
If you answered ‘Yes’, what more could be done?
Have one document for self evaluation that covers the requirements of both organisations and ensure this is what the inspection is based on.

2.9. What are your views on how local authorities carry out their role in monitoring and supporting quality improvement in ELC and school age childcare provision (where appropriate), and how this aligns with the inspection functions carried out by the Care Inspectorate and HMIE?

Please give us your views
This has been very varied over the years. Often it has led to more confusion than help.
However it has been improving

2.10. Please provide any further comments on how you think the current inspection approach could be improved.

Please give us your views
Ongoing short visits to build relationships and reduce the stress of "big" inspections would be really productive
Online inspections of "paperwork" would reduce the problem of inspectors turning up then not being able to access the appropriate documents. With the increase in home working this will be even more relevant.

A shared quality framework

3.1. Do you support the proposal to develop a shared quality framework between HMIE and the Care Inspectorate?

Please select one item
Yes
No
Unsure
Can you tell us why you think this?
The current system is very time consuming and unweildly having 2 different sets of criteria to work to and assess against.

3.2. What do you consider are the benefits to implementation of a shared quality framework?

Please give us your views
Self assessment should be more straightforward
It will be clearer for staff to know exactly what is considered good practice as all the information will be in one place.
Inspectors will have clearer guidelines
There will be less duplication of staff effort in carrying out self assessment activities so more time can be spent on implementing improvements

3.3. What do you consider are the challenges to implementation of a shared quality framework?

Please give us your views
It will be a new set of guidelines to work with
Hopefully the indicators will be well designed to encompass the shared aspects of care and education

3.4. Do you think that the development of a shared quality framework will meet the needs of the sector to simplify the inspection landscape and reduce the inspectorate burden?

Please select one item
Yes
No
Unsure
Why do you think this?
Hopefully- if they are well designed this will be the case!

3.5. Do you think that the shared framework should apply to all ELC services, including funded and unfunded nursery and childminder provision for 0-5 year olds, and to childcare provision for children of school age (over 5 years old)?

Please select one item
Yes
No
Unsure
Why do you think this?
It will ensure the best quality of support for all children