A quality framework for daycare of children, childminding and school-aged childcare
The new Quality improvement framework for the early learning and childcare sectors is available on the Education Scotland website. It is important to note that we will continue to use our existing frameworks and approaches for inspection while the new approaches are developed, ahead of implementation in September 2025. The 18-month gap between Education Scotland and Care Inspectorate inspections will also remain in place.
The primary purpose of this quality framework is to support services to evaluate their own performance. It is then used by inspectors to provide independent assurance about the quality of care and support. By setting out what we expect to see in a high-quality service, we can also help support improvement.
Within the framework we have included a scrutiny toolbox, which provides examples of the scrutiny actions we may use in evaluating the quality of provision.
The resources within the document are key practice documents that we think will help care services in their own improvement journey. These are listed under each relevant key question.
