How many full school inspections have taken place in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each year since 2000.

Education Scotland, our national improvement agency for education, undertakes a wide range of activities to promote assurance and improvement in the quality of education provided by Scottish schools, including undertaking a sample of full inspections annually. The number of full inspections Education Scotland undertakes each year varies. Inspection is one strong driver of improvement, but the national inspection programme is designed to recognise that local authorities retain primary responsibility for securing improvement in their schools.
Education Scotland does not retain the number of inspections by sector prior to 1 April 2002 and as such we have provided the number of school inspections for the period 2002 onwards. The figures for 2015-16 include both the inspections that have taken place since 1 April 2015 as well as those Education Scotland plans to undertake up to 31 March 2016.
Year (1 April to 31 March)
Primary
Secondary
Special
Total
2002-03
191
46
21
258
2003-04
221
44
34
299
2004-05
412
53
26
491
2005-06
264
55
29
348
2006-07
244
50
26
320
2007-08
237
50
28
315
2008-09
262
55
34
351
2009-10
304
76
37
417
2010-11
223
33
29
285
2011-12
175
53
23
251
2012-13
106
31
25
162
2013-14
162
33
15
210
2014-15
96
22
19
137
2015-16
105
23
20
148
Scotland has a tri-level approach to quality assurance and improvement in schools:
At the first level all schools undertake systematic self-evaluation and improvement planning, using a common framework of quality and performance indicators;
At the second level local authorities have a statutory duty to assure the quality of provision in their schools and secure improvement; and
At the third level, Education Scotland inspects a national sample of schools each year and enhances that sample with individual schools judged to be at risk.
Over and above the national sample of schools inspected annually, Education Scotland undertakes additional inspections of any school where there is a clear need for external review, for example to ensure a quick response to an identified risk of serious under-performance.
During the period of implementation of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), Education Scotland deployed its staff to a number of other intensive support and challenge activities with schools and local authorities. This involved visits from Education Scotland staff, including HM Inspectors to a large number of schools across Scotland. While these types of visits and activities are not full inspections they have played a strong role in driving improvement in schools across Scotland.
Over the period September 2010 to March 2015, HM Inspectors and Education Scotland staff provided targeted support for schools and local authorities as follows:
September 2010: 48 additional support for CfE activities were undertaken by HM Inspectors, in partnership with local authorities, SQA and Learning and Teaching Scotland. They included 18 whole-schools visits of different kinds, 18 subject-based support events, seven senior manager/cluster support visits and five sessions with Education Authority senior managers/quality improvement officers and headteachers, one of which involved five education authorities.
October to November 2010: 147 additional support for CfE activities were carried out by HM Inspectors in partnership with local authorities, Learning and Teaching Scotland and SQA.
January to June 2012: a total of 39 support events took place across 20 authorities to support changes to the primary curriculum.
April 2012 to March 2013: following an audit with local authorities to identify what further support might be needed on introducing new National Qualifications, Education Scotland staff carried out visits to 49 secondary schools.
April 2013 to March 2014: Education Scotland carried out visits to 70 secondary schools across all local authorities.
April 2014 to March 2015: Education Scotland carried out visits to