NOTHING terrifies a school staff room quite as much as an inspection. And rightly so. Scotland’s once enviable reputation for educational prowess was at least partly built on the back of regular and robust scrutiny of teachers and their heads.

The country’s first Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools was appointed when Queen Victoria was fresh on her throne.

This was the schoolmaster’s schoolmaster, the man – because they were all men – whose job was to impose and ensure standards.

Many parents and some politicians still like the idea of an independent body policing teachers and teaching with the vigour of a tawse-wielding Victorian headie. But as the old school inspectorate turned into quango Education Scotland, the focus has shifted to checking those schools most in need of support.

And that, in primaries and secondaries, has meant fewer inspections, and less stress and disruption for the anxious teachers who staff them.

There has been a similar shift away from random or regular checks by other inspectorates, including those who check, for example care homes.

Such a change has its merits, not least because Education Scotland is not the only body trying to ensure standards. Local authorities, which run most of Scotland’s schools, have quality improvement officers and other officials of their own.

However, Education Scotland and Scottish ministers should reflect on figures obtained by the Labour party and published today. These show the number of inspections of nurseries have fallen by a third since the SNP won its first majority administration in 2011.

At that rate it would take 18 years to inspect every pre-school educational facility in Scotland. That is enough time for today’s nursery pupils to leave secondary school and graduate from university.

In fact, Education Scotland expects to inspect fewer than 100 nurseries in the current financial year, down from 135 last year and 201 in 2011-12. There are some 2,449 such institutions in the country.

Crucially, more are on the way. The SNP has promised to double free childcare provision. To do so hundreds of new pre-school facilities will have to be built by the end of the current parliamentary term in 2021.

This expansion is to be welcomed. Yet ministers and Education Scotland must be aware it is easy for standards to fall at a time when there are many new workers, new managers and new buildings. Nurseries, moreover, may not always enjoy the same level of support from local authorities as schools.

Parents may have unrealistic expectations about how often – and how hard – nurseries and schools are inspected. However, they do have the right to expect standards in pre-school facilities will not fall as the sector expands. We all deserve to know our children are safe – and learning – in nursery. Pre-school is not a babysitting service. The Scottish Government, to its credit, has long recognised the importance of early years education. Its inspection regime must reflect this.