Consultation on future inspection arrangements for local government education services

Background

The last cycle of inspections involving local authorities commenced in 2010, with the final inspection taking place in November 2013. Fifteen of the 22 local authorities required follow-up activity. These continued until January 2016 when the last remaining authority in follow-up was judged to have made enough progress following their inspection.

In addition, Estyn inspected the four regional education consortia between February and July 2016. Estyn will visit the four consortia again in September to October 2017 to report on their progress.

Local government education services
Previously Estyn referred to local authority education services for children and young people (LAESCYP). Estyn is proposing to use the term local government education services (LGES) for future inspections. This is because some education services are now provided regionally, but under local government.
New inspection arrangements for individual education providers
Estyn is introducing new inspection arrangements for most individual education providers, including all schools, from September 2017. Aspects of these new arrangements are likely to apply to the new arrangements for local government education services – for example, the judgement descriptors.
Consultation
Estyn is keen to gather the views of stakeholders to inform the development of a framework and guidance for future inspections of local government education services.
Following this initial consultation, Estyn will work with representatives of key stakeholders to develop draft inspection arrangements. Estyn will pilot these arrangements and consult with stakeholders on them. The new inspection cycle is scheduled to begin in autumn 2018.

At this stage, we would like you to answer two questions:

  1. How do you think Estyn should inspect local government education servicesin the future?
  1. If Estyn has concerns following a local government education services inspection, how do you think Estyn should follow this up?

In answering the questions, you may wish to consider:

  • the successful features of the previous cycle of inspections[1]
  • the implications of the regionalisation of aspects of education services[2] (with the possibility of other education services being regionalised in future)
  • the implications of recent and forthcoming changes to legislation (for example, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015[3] and the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill[4])
  • the scope of the inspections, in particular the extent to which services for children and young people outside schools or outside of statutory school age are included, including prevention and early intervention services for children and young people
  • the role of Estyn’s local authority link inspectors, who monitor,challenge and support the performance of the local authority in between inspections
  • the role that improvement conferences could play – these are being piloted in Spring 2017[5]
  • the role of other inspectorates and regulators

In addition to these points, in answering question 2 you may wish to consider the successful features of follow-up activity in the previous cycle of inspections. In that cycle, three levels of follow-up were used depending on the degree of concern: Estyn Monitoring, In Need of Significant Improvement or Special Measures. Monitoring visits to local authorities varied in frequency and intensity depending on the category.

You are not limited to answering the two questions or just commenting on the areas we suggest you consider. We welcome your views on any aspects of the inspection of local government education services.

Following this initial consultation, Estyn will work with representatives of key stakeholders to develop draft inspection arrangements. Estyn will pilot these arrangements and consult with stakeholders on them. The new inspection cycle is scheduled to begin in autumn 2018.

Thank you in advance for your engagement in this consultation and we look forward to receiving your response.

How to submit your views

There are three ways you can submit your views:

1Complete the online questionnaire at

2Email your views to s

3Print the response form at the end of this document and post it to:

Consultation Officer

Estyn,

Anchor Court,

Keen Road,

Cardiff

CF24 5JW

The consultation will be open from 9 February - 9March2017. All postal responses must arrive at Estyn by the closing date.

Confidentiality

Information provided will be held by Estyn. Individual responses will not be shared with anybody outside the organisation. The information will be used to help improve how Estyn inspects education and training in Wales. If you disclose your identity on your response, it will be treated in confidence.

Response Form

Key information about you

Please choose one option below which best describes the capacity in which you are completing this questionnaire.

Learner
☐ / Parent/carer
☐ / Education professional
☐ / Member of the public
☐ / Other (please specify):
  1. How do you think Estyn should inspect local government education servicesin the future?
  1. If Estyn has concerns following a local government education services inspection, how do you think Estyn should follow this up?

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]