I attended an election hustings event hosted by Holyrood magazine focussing on education issues. While there was agreement on the importance of developing approaches to improving the early years provision, the discussion quickly moved to further education and training and job opportunities, which formed the main part of the session.
I met with Bill Maxwell, Fiona Carlisle and Ken Muir (HMIE). The prompt for this meeting was to explore the increased role pupils could play in school inspections. HMIE have recently carried out a wide ranging consultation on the inspection process and are considering proposals to involve pupils more in process including the reporting of the findings of the inspection report. The meeting helpfully focussed on the response to a RIGHT blether, particularly the work stream around poverty and the impact on educational attainment. HMIE agreed to be members of a steering group on this when we are in a position to initiate this piece of work.