Elected Member Briefing - Education Scotland Inspection of ESOL

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Elaine Ritchie, Strategic Lead, Housing and Communities

EMBN Number: 142-25 

Date: 29 October 2025 

Subject: Education Scotland Inspection of ESOL

Details

Purpose

To provide elected members with an update on an upcoming thematic inspection by Education Scotland of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision in Perth and Kinross.

Briefing Information

At the request of the national Community Learning and Development (CLD) Strategic Leadership Group, HM Inspectors are undertaking a thematic review focused of ESOL provision across Scotland. This follows concerns raised in the Learning: For All. For Life. A report from the Independent Review of Community Learning and Development (CLD) and Education Scotland's national report Evaluation of community learning and development in Scotland published in December 2024. 

The review aims to gather insights into: 

• What has changed since 2024, 
• What improvements are emerging, and 
• What barriers to provision remain. 

The thematic review will explore how effectively ESOL providers are responding to the challenges highlighted in the independent review, with a particular focus on:

• Accessibility of provision to meet individual learner needs
• Collaboration among ESOL providers to remove barriers, and
• Workforce capacity to support learners effectively

The review will be undertaken over three phases. HM Inspectors will focus on the experience of learners in accessing provision within communities and colleges and how providers respond to demand.

Phase one - scoping and desk research. HM Inspectors will draw from recently published research and reports. This will help to inform the fieldwork element of the review. This phase will be completed by the end of October 2025.

Phase two - HM Inspectors will arrange a series of online meetings with:

• key national ESOL networks and relevant national bodies.
• six selected localities (urban, rural and island). 

Phase three - HM Inspectors will visit the selected localities.

Key features of visits:

• Engagement with staff and volunteers from CLD teams and third sector providers of ESOL.
• Engagement with ESOL Partnerships, where they exist.
• Engagement with college staff providing ESOL courses and funding to community-based partners.
• Meetings with learners - with a provider and in the community.
• Engagement with college staff providing ESOL courses and funding to community-based partners.
• Meetings with learners - with a provider and in the community.

PKC volunteered itself to participate in the thematic inspection as one of the urban localities. This offer was accepted by Education Scotland and HM Inspectors will visit Perth on 12^th November where they will meet CLD staff, volunteers and ESOL learners at The Learning Curve, Scott Street, UHI Perth and High Street learning centres.  We will focus on our work with adults and young people who are seeking asylum as we believe this is an area of good practice which will be of interest to the inspection team.

A summary of all findings will be drafted by Education Scotland using the evidence gathered during the thematic review. Initial findings will be shared with the CLD Strategic Leadership Group in December 2025. A final report will be published in early 2026. Following publication, HM Inspectors will engage with stakeholders to share the findings from the review.