This is the first major study of the development and practice of school inspection and evaluation across Europe from its origins to the present day. The book demonstrates how European practice has grown to influence education systems across the world. It is required reading for school inspectors, evaluators and education policy formers.
This book provides an overview and discussion of the evidence base of effective school inspections; reflecting on issues of validity and reliability of school inspections in relation to school effectiveness research, unintended consequences and emergent roles and responsibilities of Inspectorates of Education. Chapters include findings from systematic literature reviews and primary research while also presenting a range of practical examples from inspections systems from all over the world. The book provides relevant background materials for Inspectorates of Education who aim to improve the effectiveness of their systems and working methods, as well as clear examples for researchers aiming to analyse and understand the effectiveness of these systems. The final chapter reflects on changes in the current education landscape and discusses newer models of school inspections that fit within a more decentralized inspection system.
Written for heads and teachers but also containing useful pointers for inspectors, this forward-thinking book examines exactly what the relationship between inspection and self-evaluation means for schools.
School evaluation is often linked to issues of accountability, performance assessment, regulation and inspection, where the work of teachers and/or the functioning of the school becomes the subject of critique. School Evaluation with a Purpose explores the latest thinking surrounding external and self-evaluation in schools. Examining teacher professionalism, reflective practice and what really matters in education, it considers the key challenges around current evaluative practice and puts forward alternative methods of evaluation, placing reflective practice and teacher professionalism at its heart. Exploring the stories of evaluation and the practice of resilient schools and school leaders in five European contexts, the book aims to support and promote the agency of teachers, school leaders and students. This book will be of particular interest to school leaders internationally, researchers, master's students of Education and Education Leadership, and policymakers responsible for law enforcement in the field of school inspection.
The range, speed and scale of Europeanizing effects in education, and their complexity, has produced a relatively new field of study. Using scholarship and research drawn from sociology, politics and education, this book examines the rise of international and transnational policy and the flow of data and people around Europe to study Europeanizing processes and situations in education. Each chapter creates a space for policy research on European education, involving a range of disciplines to develop empirical studies about European institutions, networks and processes; the interplay between policy-makers, stakeholders, experts, and researchers; and the space between the European and the national. The volume investigates the construction of European education, exploring the consideration of the role of think tanks and consultancies, international organizations, researcher mobilities, standards, indicators of higher education, and cultural metaphor. Bringing together international contributors from a variety of disciplines across Europe, the book will be of key value to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of education studies, politics and sociology.
This timely book examines what a meaningful school accountability system could look like in England. The book starts with a deep dive into our current inspection model, discussing some of the current pressures within the system, and comparing our inspection approach to that of other countries and sectors. It moves on to show how Ofsted and school inspections are perceived and portrayed - using first-hand accounts, academic papers, government publications, and media reports - and pulls together some of the current thinking on how the model could be improved. The author ends with her own proposals for a more meaningful and humane school accountability system. She suggests we rethink what we do, and how we do it, with a call for wide-ranging consultation leading to evidence-informed reform of the school inspection process.
This collection is an inside look at European Commission policy-making in education and the privatization of policy-making in the European Union. Along with contributions from leading academics in the field of educational policy and policy-sociology, this book also introduces the voices of policy consultants and policy-makers.
This report provides an international comparative analysis and policy advice to countries on how evaluation and assessment arrangements can be embedded within a consistent framework to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education.
School evaluation is often linked to issues of accountability, performance assessment, regulation and inspection, where the work of teachers and/or the functioning of the school becomes the subject of critique. School Evaluation with a Purpose explores the latest thinking surrounding external and self-evaluation in schools. Examining teacher professionalism, reflective practice and what really matters in education, it considers the key challenges around current evaluative practice and puts forward alternative methods of evaluation, placing reflective practice and teacher professionalism at its heart. Exploring the stories of evaluation and the practice of resilient schools and school leaders in five European contexts, the book aims to support and promote the agency of teachers, school leaders and students. This book will be of particular interest to school leaders internationally, researchers, master's students of Education and Education Leadership, and policymakers responsible for law enforcement in the field of school inspection.
