HMIE calls for improvement in early years

The report, published by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, is ananalysis of education in Scotland over the past three years, across allthe sectors the HMIE covers.

The pre-school sector won praise from the report's authors fordelivering a consistently good and enjoyable curriculum and forproviding welcoming and inclusive learning environments. They say thereis an improved emphasis on the use of ICT to support learning, andchildren are often able to choose their own activities during play. Thereport also notes supportive and caring relationships between children,parents and staff.

However, the report says that the quality of provision in thepartnership private and voluntary centres is generally worse than thatby the local authority sector. Although leadership in the pre-schoolsector had improved overall since a 2005 report by the HMIE, it saysmore needs to be done to ensure that all centres have well qualifiedleaders who provide high-quality guidance. It singles out the leadershipin the private and voluntary sectors as particular areas for improvementand says that, in almost all of the centres where leadership washighlighted as a weakness, there were also weaknesses in children'slearning experiences.