Falling rates of nursery inspections under the SNP are undermining the drive to end inequality in education, Scottish Labour has claimed.
Inspections carried out by Education Scotland have fallen by a third since 2011, according to figures released by the Scottish Government.
Daniel Johnson, Scottish Labour’s education spokesman, said the figures are “worrying” and do not tally with the SNP administration’s aim to close the attainment gap.
“Inspections in our nurseries should be regular and thorough because so much of the work we can do to cut the attainment gap between the richest and the rest can begin there,” he said.
“Instead it looks like the SNP is happy to turn a blind eye and provide the bare minimum.
“That isn’t good enough – we have heard a lot of warm words from the SNP government about its commitment to education and cutting the attainment gap, but the actions of the government suggest otherwise.”
Inspectors’ visits to nurseries fell from 201 in 2011 to 135 last year, Education Secretary John Swinney revealed in a written parliamentary answer. The estimate for this year is 99.
The trend of declining number of inspections is also seen at schools.
Holyrood’s education committee was told in November there will be 107 inspections at primary and secondary level in 2016/17.
That compares with 115 last year and 189 in 2013/14.
Alastair Delaney, who is director of inspections at Education Scotland, has told MSPs that the government agency is increasing the number of early years inspectors after they had “lost expertise in that area”.
Speaking last year, he said those inspectors are going through their induction, adding: “Next year, from April 1, we will see an overall increase in the number of inspections.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Ensuring a high quality experience for children is the key objective of our expansion of early learning and childcare in Scotland.
“Quality is one of the four underpinning principles of this expansion and is a key issue we are consulting on through the Blueprint for 2020.
“Education Scotland, Care Inspectorate, local authorities and a highly qualified and diverse workforce are all essential as we continue our work to almost double free early learning and childcare by 2020.”
