A parents campaign group believes two north-east schools which not been inspected for 18 years have been left “out of sight”.
Earlier this week we revealed that Aboyne Primary and Insch Primary were last assessed way back in 2004.
The Aberdeenshire schools were among dozens across the north and north-east which have not been checked for well over a decade.
The Press and Journal also created a searchable table of schools so you can check when your local school was last inspected.
Calls for change to inspections
Now UFT Scotland have said it is “totally unacceptable” that some schools have not been checked by Education Scotland.
Campaigners said that for some pupils they have gone right through their schooling without any inspections being carried out.
Jo Bisset from UFT Scotland said: “Schools have been out of the sight of parents for two years.
“Now it seems some have been out the sight of inspectors for even longer.
“Inspection is a key part of the education system and gives parents and wider society to reassurance they need that our schools are up to scratch.
“It’s totally unacceptable that some haven’t been inspected in so long, and that needs to change as a matter or urgency.
“It means pupils will have gone through their entire school journey without their school being inspected once.”
Covid halted inspection visits
School inspections effectively stopped at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although recently Education Scotland have begun some so-called recovery visits which are designed to offer support to teachers rather than scrunitise.
Aberdeenshire Council said they do carry out their own evaluations in schools. They previously told us that the inspections were an “important method” for assessing schools.
The Scottish Government have also pointed to the comments they made about inspections earlier in the week.
A spokeswoman said they were in the process of establishing a new body to carry out school inspections.
She said: “School inspections increased in 2018-19 and would have increased further had it not been for the pandemic.
“HM Inspectors of Education have continued to engage with schools in a range of ways to support the education sector during Covid recovery.
“Inspections are not the only method of scrutiny – schools and local authorities also have responsibility for evaluating performance.
“Last month, the Education Secretary announced that a new and independent inspectorate body will be created. It will develop new inspection models and help to assess the overall performance of Scottish education.”
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