Provision of school education: right of child and duty of education authority

1 Right of child to school education

It shall be the right of every child of school age to be provided with school education by, or by virtue of arrangements made, or entered into, by, an education authority.

2 Duty of education authority in providing school education

(1) Where school education is provided to a child or young person by, or by virtue of arrangements made, or entered into, by, an education authority it shall be the duty of the authority to secure that the education is directed to the development of the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of the child or young person to their fullest potential.

(2) In carrying out their duty under this section, an education authority shall have due regard, so far as is reasonably practicable, to the views (if there is a wish to express them) of the child or young person in decisions that significantly affect that child or young person, taking account of the child or young person’s age and maturity.

Raising standards

3 Raising standards

(1) The Scottish Ministers shall endeavour to secure improvement in the quality of school education which is provided for Scotland; and they shall exercise their powers in relation to such provision with a view to raising standards of education.

(2) An education authority shall endeavour to secure improvement in the quality of school education which is provided in the schools managed by them; and they shall exercise their functions in relation to such provision with a view to raising standards of education.

(3) The duties under subsection (2) above shall apply also in relation to school education which is provided in pursuance of any arrangements made, or entered into, by an education authority under—

(a) section 14 of the 1980 Act; or

(b) section 35 of this Act.

(4) In subsections (1) to (3) above, “school education” means school education directed as is described in section 2 of this Act.

4 National priorities in education

(1) From time to time the Scottish Ministers, after consulting the education authorities and giving such persons as appear to the Scottish Ministers to have an interest in the matter an opportunity to make their views known—

(a) shall define, by order made by statutory instrument, priorities in educational objectives for school education provided for Scotland; and

(b) may define and publish measures of performance in respect of the priorities;

and the priorities which for the time being are the most recently so defined shall be known as the “national priorities in education”.

(2) A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (1)(a) above shall not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been—

(a) laid before; and

(b) approved by a resolution of,

the Scottish Parliament.

5 Education authority’s annual statement of improvement objectives

(1) For the purposes of their duty under section 3(2) of this Act, an education authority, after consulting such bodies as appear to the authority to be representative of teachers and parents within their area and of persons, other than teachers, who are employed in schools within that area and after giving children, young persons and such other persons within that area as appear to the authority to have an interest in the matter an opportunity to make their views known, shall, by such date in 2001 as the Scottish Ministers may, after consulting the education authorities, determine (one date being so determined for all the authorities) and thereafter by that date annually, prepare and publish a statement setting objectives.

(2) The statement so prepared and published shall be known as the authority’s “annual statement of education improvement objectives” and shall include an account—

(a) of the ways in which the authority will seek to involve parents in promoting the education of their children;

(b) of the ways in which they will, in providing school education, encourage equal opportunities and in particular the observance of the equal opportunity requirements; and

(c) of—

(i) the ways in which; or

(ii) the circumstances in which,

they will provide Gaelic medium education and, where they do provide Gaelic medium education, of the ways in which they will seek to develop their provision of such education.

(3) In paragraph (b) of subsection (2) above, “equal opportunities” and “equal opportunity requirements” have the same meanings as in the exceptions to section L2 of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46); in paragraph (c) of that subsection, “Gaelic medium education” is teaching by means of the Gaelic language as spoken in Scotland; and the references in those paragraphs to providing education shall be construed as including providing it in pursuance of such arrangements as are mentioned in section 3(3) of this Act.

(4) The objectives shall be set—

(a) in respect of each of the national priorities in education and by reference to such measures of performance as are published under paragraph (b) of section 4(1) of this Act; and

(b) in respect of such other matters and by reference to such other measures of performance, if any, as the authority consider appropriate.

(5) If, during the twelve months following the date of publication of an annual statement of education improvement objectives, there is a change of circumstances relevant to the statement and that change is of such significance that the education authority conclude that the objectives should be revised, they shall prepare and publish a supplementary statement revising the objectives accordingly.

(6) An education authority shall, by such date in 2002 or in 2003 as the Scottish Ministers may, after consulting the education authorities, determine (one date being so determined for all the authorities) and thereafter by that date annually, prepare and publish a report as to their success—

(a) in meeting the objectives set in the annual statement of education improvement objectives most recently published by them; or

(b) if there has been published under subsection (5) above a supplementary statement revising those objectives, in meeting the objectives as so revised.

6 School development plans

(1) For the purpose of securing improvement in the quality of education which a school managed by them provides, an education authority shall, subject to subsection (6) below, ensure that there is prepared for the school, by such date in 2001 as the Scottish Ministers may, after consulting the education authorities, determine (one date being so determined for all the authorities) and thereafter by that date annually, after consultation with the persons mentioned in subsection (2) below and after the pupils in attendance at the school have been given an opportunity to make their views known—

(a) a development plan which takes account of the objectives in the authority’s annual statement of education improvement objectives published by that date in the year in question and sets objectives for the school; and

(b) a summary of the development plan.

(2) The persons are—

(a) any School Board established for the school;

(b) the teachers employed in the school;

(c) such persons so employed or working in the school on an unpaid basis as are not teachers; and

(d) such local bodies as appear to the authority to be representative of—

(i) such teachers;

(ii) such persons; or

(iii) parents of pupils in attendance at the school.

(3) The development plan shall include an account of the ways in which, and extent to which, the headteacher of the school will—

(a) consult the pupils in attendance at the school; and

(b) seek to involve them, when decisions require to be made concerning the everyday running of the school.

(4) The education authority shall ensure that there is prepared, without unreasonable delay after the expiry of the period of twelve months immediately following the preparation, in any year, of the development plan—

(a) a report as to what was done, during those twelve months, in implementation of the plan; and

(b) a summary of that report.

(5) The education authority shall ensure that the parents of the pupils in attendance at the school have access without cost to the development plan and the report upon request and receive copies of the summaries prepared by virtue of subsections (1)(b) and (4)(b) above; and any other person shall be entitled to have access to those summaries on request.

(6) The development plan prepared in any year after the first year in which such a plan is prepared for the school may be in the same terms as, or be a revised version of, that prepared in a preceding year or may be prepared anew; but the education authority shall from time to time review the implementation of the plan and if there is in any year a change of circumstances relevant to the plan and of such significance that they conclude that the plan should be revised or prepared anew then they shall ensure that the development plan next prepared is prepared accordingly.

7 Review of school performance

(1) An education authority shall from time to time, after consulting such bodies as appear to the authority to be representative of teachers and parents within their area and giving such persons within that area as appear to the authority to have an interest in the matter an opportunity to make their views known, define and publish, as respects quality of education provided, measures and standards of performance for the schools managed by them; and different measures and standards may be so defined for different categories of such schools.

(2) An education authority shall, as respects each school managed by them, from time to time review the quality of education which the school provides; and if, having regard to the measures and standards of performance for the time being defined by them under subsection (1) above and relevant to the school, they conclude in any such review that the school is not performing satisfactorily they shall take such steps as appear to them to be requisite to remedy the matter.

Delegation schemes

8 Delegation schemes

(1) An education authority shall have a scheme for delegating to the headteacher of a school—

(a) managed by them; and

(b) of a category of school which is stated in the scheme to be covered by the scheme,

management of that share of the authority’s budget for a financial year which is available for allocation to individual schools and is appropriated for the school; or management of part of that share.

(2) The scheme—

(a) shall delegate to the headteacher the preparation of the school development plan; and

(b) may also so delegate such other management functions in relation to the school as the authority think fit.

(3) The scheme shall require that the headteacher exercise the delegated functions in a manner consistent with the education authority’s duties under section 3(2) of this Act.

Inspections

9 Inspection of education authority

(1) On any occasion on which they are requested to do so by the Scottish Ministers, or at such intervals as appear to the Scottish Ministers to be appropriate, Her Majesty’s Inspectors, or any person appointed by the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of this section (or Her Majesty’s Inspectors and any such person), shall inspect an education authority so as to review the way in which the authority are exercising their functions in relation to the provision of school education.

(2) A request under subsection (1) above may relate to those functions generally or to such matters in relation to those functions as may be specified in the request.

(3) The education authority shall give all assistance which they are reasonably able to give to whomever is carrying out the inspection.

10 Code of practice as regards inspection of education authority

The Scottish Ministers may, for the purposes of—

(a) giving practical guidance on matters relating to inspections under section 9 of this Act (including, without prejudice to that generality, such matters as the making and publishing of reports on the matters reviewed); and

(b) promoting what appear to them to be desirable practices with respect to those matters,

from time to time prepare, approve and issue such codes of practice as in their opinion are suitable for those purposes.

11 Inspection of educational establishment

In section 66 of the 1980 Act (which makes provision for the inspection of educational establishments)—

(a) in subsection (1), for the words from “other persons” to the end there shall be substituted “any person appointed by the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of this section (or Her Majesty’s Inspectors and any such person)”; and

(b) after that subsection there shall be inserted—

“(1AA) If requested to do so by the Scottish Ministers—

(a) Her Majesty’s Inspectors or any person appointed by the Scottish Ministers for the purposes of this section shall give advice to the Scottish Ministers on such matter as may be specified in the request;

(b) Her Majesty’s Inspectors or any such person (or Her Majesty’s Inspectors and any such person) may, as respects a matter so specified, inspect and report on a school (including any establishment in which school education is provided in pursuance of arrangements entered into under section 35 of this Act), or class of schools, so specified.”.

12 Code of practice as regards inspection of educational establishment

After section 66 of the 1980 Act there shall be inserted—

“66A Code of practice as regards inspections under section 66

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, the Scottish Ministers may, for the purposes of—

(a) giving practical guidance on matters relating to inspections under section 66 of this Act (including, without prejudice to that generality, such matters as the making and publishing of reports on those inspections); and

(b) promoting what appear to them to be desirable practices with respect to these matters,

from time to time prepare, approve and issue such codes of practice as in their opinion are suitable for those purposes.

(2) Subsection (1) above does not apply in relation to inspections of educational establishments which are institutions for the provision of any form of further education.”.

Guidance

13 Guidance to education authorities: raising standards and delegation schemes

The Scottish Ministers may issue guidance to education authorities in relation to the functions of those authorities under sections 3 to 8 of this Act; and education authorities shall, in discharging those functions, have regard to any such guidance.

14 Guidance to education authorities as to home education

The Scottish Ministers may issue guidance as to the circumstances in which parents may choose to educate their children at home; and education authorities shall have regard to any such guidance.

Requirement for mainstream education

15 Requirement that education be provided in mainstream schools

(1) Where an education authority, in carrying out their duty to provide school education to a child of school age, provide that education in a school, they shall unless one of the circumstances mentioned in subsection (3) below arises in relation to the child provide it in a school other than a special school.

(2) If a child is under school age, then unless one of the circumstances mentioned in subsection (3) below arises in relation to the child, an education authority shall, where they—

(a) provide school education in a school to the child, provide it in; or

(b) under section 35 of this Act, enter into arrangements for the provision of school education in a school to the child, ensure that the arrangements are such that the education is provided in,

a school other than a special school.

(3) The circumstances are, that to provide education for the child in a school other than a special school—

(a) would not be suited to the ability or aptitude of the child;

(b) would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for the children with whom the child would be educated; or

(c) would result in unreasonable public expenditure being incurred which would not ordinarily be incurred,

and it shall be presumed that those circumstances arise only exceptionally.

(4) If one of the circumstances mentioned in subsection (3) above arises, the authority may provide education for the child in question in a school other than a special school; but they shall not do so without taking into account the views of the child and of the child’s parents in that regard.

Ending of corporal punishment in schools

16 No justification for corporal punishment

(1) Corporal punishment given by, or on the authority of, a member of staff to a pupil—

(a) for whom school education is provided by an education authority (whether or not at a school);

(b) for whom school education is provided, at a school other than a nursery school, by a person other than an education authority; or

(c) for whom school education is provided—

(i) by a person to whom any payment is made under section 23 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 (c. 43) (which provides for grants for the education of children under school age); or

(ii) at a nursery school, or other establishment, by a person other than an education authority, in pursuance of arrangements entered into under section 35 of this Act,

cannot be justified in any proceedings on the ground that it was so given in pursuance of a right exercisable by virtue of having a position as a member of staff.

(2) Subsection (1) above applies to corporal punishment given at any time and whether or not given at the place where education is provided.