The move, which will be piloted from late next month, will cut the advance warning time from three weeks in secondaries and two weeks in primaries.
Next year Education Scotland will also try out “neighbourhood reviews” to gauge how secondary schools and their cluster of primaries and nurseries are meeting the needs of pupils growing up in a given community. These reviews will also encompass other services including community learning, colleges and careers information.
The focus will shift from how individual schools are performing to pupils’ wider experience in relation to implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence, for example, or attempts to narrow the attainment gap between richer and poorer children.
Alastair Delaney, director of inspection at Education Scotland, said the aim was to ensure that inspection continued to make “a significant contribution” to improvement. The organisation has drawn on a wide range of expertise nationally and internationally to shape its proposals.
“The next step is to try out the approaches for which we found there was most support. We shall then work to gather views and evaluate these try-outs,” he said. “The evaluations will help inform further developments before any roll-out nationally of new approaches to inspection.
“One area this review has looked at is shifting the focus from the establishment to the learner. Rather than inspecting the establishment itself, the inspection will instead focus on the learner’s journey and their experience of the different elements of their education.”
Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, welcomed the move to reduce the notice period. “Short or no-notice inspections have been discussed for some time and they seem quite attractive because the stressful preparation time will be removed and inspectors will see the school as it operates normally.
“There are, of course, difficulties with it too such as absent staff or school trips, but parents want inspectors to get a taste of their school as it really is, and to get clear and meaningful feedback on strengths and areas for development.”
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) also backed the proposal as an attempt to ease the pressure on school staff caused by inspections. However, practical issues could arise if inspections were announced during a period of unexpected staff shortage, a spokesman said. “There may also be a potential risk of headteachers putting staff on year-round alert due to the short notice nature of inspections. As ever, the key to positive inspections will continue to be dialogue with all staff.”