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Effects of school inspections
Abstract
The goal of this study is to expand the available knowledge concerning whether Dutch school inspections lead to school improvement. Using interviews, surveys and case studies, the following research question was answered: is there evidence that school inspections have any effects and, if so, how do features of schools (such as innovation capacity and support and pressure from the environment) and school inspections contribute to these effects? The results of the case studies showed that all schools started to improve after a school visit. The innovation capacity of the school and the school environment do not seem to contribute to school improvement. The provision of feedback about weaknesses, the assessment of these weak points as unsatisfactory, and agreements between an inspector and the school regarding improvement on these points are three factors that do appear to make a difference in promoting school improvement.
Apart from its role to ensure school accountability, most Inspectorates pursue development-oriented goals. This introduction article will first provide a theoretical background for the assumed effects and side effects of school inspections, as well as an overview of the current knowledge base, based on an elaborate literature study. It is clear that a framework is needed in order to offer a coherent and well-documented picture of the effects of inspection and of their explanatory features. Furthermore an intensive scan of each of the previous publications of Studies in Educational Evaluation was conducted in order to determine a selection of nine highly relevant articles. In the final section of this introduction, a short review of the articles included in this special issue is presented.
This study looks into the effects of school inspection in the context of Flemish education. Respondents in five primary case schools were interviewed before inspection, immediately after inspection and four months later (totalling 45 interviews with 15 respondents). Our results indicate that the inspection incites reflection amongst school staff on the quality of their education before the inspection takes place, but the inspection itself does not provide substantial new insights in the schools’ strengths or weaknesses. The inspection judgement strongly affects the response of school towards the inspection. The case schools with a positive inspection report take practically no concrete action for improvement in the four months after inspection, while a more active response is seen in a school with a less favourable inspection report. The article also discusses the impact of some of the particularities of the Flemish education context on the effects of inspection.
Examines the nature of transformational leadership and its relation to teachers’ changed practices within the context of Dutch large-scale innovation. Presents two qualitative studies and a survey. The qualitative studies produced three dimensions of transformational leadership: vision, individual consideration, and intellectual stimulation. Within the framework of the survey, these dimensions were further operationalized and exploratively related to teachers’ concerns, teachers’ learning activities, and teachers’ changed practices. The results indicate the significance of the dimensions of transformational leadership in relation to changed teacher practices. The results also suggest the significance of intervening constructs for future research into the impact of leadership on changed teacher practices.
The issue of whether schools immersed in a market culture will be more consumer responsive has been much debated in the UK and elsewhere. This paper examines the extent and ways in which school managers seek to identify parental viewpoints, so that these can influence school decision-making. It suggests schools vary in openness towards the receipt of parental viewpoints, managers placing a great deal of reliance upon informal and ad hoc means of feedback as opposed to-though not necessarily more valid-systematic and planned approaches.
This paper questions a central assumption of OFSTED, that inspection is an effective and, moreover, a cost‐effective method for improving schools. In particular, doubts are expressed about the capacity of OFSTED inspections to identify the ‘worst’ schools and provide them with a sure mechanism for improvement. It is argued that applying OFSTED inspections to all schools discourages diversity and encourages conformity to the OFSTED school model. This would appear to be in contradiction to the Government's avowed policy of diversity and choice. A case is made for ‘reforming’ OFSTED so as to carry out a modified form of the original HMI functions of monitoring, identifying good practice and offering advice and assistance. Some further specific suggestions are given as to how the new OFSTED would operate
ABSTRACT The results of research on the effects of OFSTED secondary school inspections in England since 1994 are presented. The reactions of headteachers to the inspections and their progress on the resulting school action plan are given. The results indicate considerable potential for school inspections to contribute to the process of school improvement.
Variation in the success of large-scale reform is afunction of many factors interacting at many ``levels''.Built on a selective review of the evidence aboutlarge-scale reform, this paper provides a framework forexplaining such variation, as well as assessing progressin that direction. Relevant factors influencing reformsuccess, according to the framework, include broad international social, economic and political trends bearing on education, characteristics of national educationalpolicies and strategies for their implementation, and localconditions conceptualized in terms of a model of workplaceproductivity; this model is defined by local practitioners' motivation, capacity, and the organizationalconditions in which they work. This framework has been usedto guide the external evaluation of the National Literacy andNumeracy Strategies.
John Holland has been clear that he believes vocational interests to be “an expression of personality.” In this paper, we document evidence for fundamental links between measures of personality and vocational interests. We go on to provide an interpretation of those links and suggest that personality assessment and interest measurement offer information that is critical to predicting individuals' success in achieving status and acceptance in groups. We also suggest a distinction between the perspective afforded by each type of measure. That is, personality assessment reflects the individual viewed from the perspective of an observer (i.e., an individual's “reputation”) while interest measurement reflects the perspective of the actor (i.e., an individual's “identity”).
Incl. bibl., abstract. This article reports the findings from a preliminary study of the impact of OfSTED (Office for Standards in Education) inspections on classroom change. The study utilized a case study approach to investigate teacher perceptions, responses and intentions to change their classroom practice as a result of the inspection process. Five comprehensive secondary schools from a range of socio-economic backgrounds provided data using a multiple methodological approach. The findings from the study suggest that the school context and culture are important factors in determining teacher perceptions, responses and intentions to change classroom practice as a result of inspection.