School Inspectors as Policy Implementers: Influences and Activities

Baxter, Jacqueline

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52536-5_1

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Unions can bring together schools and staff at professional development events, which aid the sharing of good practice and encourage development of learning organisations (Heystek and Lethoko, 2001;Long et al, 2013). They can also militate against resistance to unpopular policies, by the ways in which they choose to implement them: it is recognised that in the policy implementation chain, such individuals can not only colour the ways in which policies are received, but, equally, influence the extent to which they are implemented in ways which are positive and well received by system actors (Baxter, 2017). School inspectors, for example, can positively influence the ways in which schools self-evaluate, an important skill in which inspection becomes more of a two way conversation, rather than an externally imposed set of tick boxes which schools may struggle to make sense of (Copping, 2011;Vanhoof et al, 2009).…”

Section: System Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trust, Accountability and Capacity in Education System Reform

Ehren

Baxter

2020

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This global collection brings a new perspective to the field of comparative education by presenting trust, capacity and accountability as the three building blocks of education systems and education system reform. In exploring how these three factors relate to student learning outcomes across different international contexts, this book provides a powerful framework for a more equal system.Drawing upon research and case studies from scholars, policymakers and experts from international agencies across five continents, this book shows how trust, capacity and accountability interact in ways and with consequences that vary among countries, pointing readers towards understanding potential leverage points for system change.Trust, Accountability and Capacity in Education System Reform illuminates how these three concepts are embedded in an institutional context temporally, socially and institutionally and offers an analysis that will be of use to researchers, policymakers and agencies working in comparative education and towards education system reform. CONTENTS vii x1 Trust, accountability and capacity: Three building blocks of education system reform 1

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Section: System Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trust, Accountability and Capacity in Education System Reform

Ehren

Baxter

2020

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“…In recent decades, a key theme in the educational literature relates to a shift in the organization of public services from a centralized government to more localized “governance” in accordance with the principles of decentralization, devolution, and deregulation. In education, this shift has been operationalized through a greater emphasis on school autonomy and empowerment, but somewhat paradoxically, with an added framework of greater surveillance and accountability (Baxter, 2017; Brown et al, 2016b; Clarke, 2017; Janssens & van Amelsvoort, 2008; Lindblad et al, 2002; Nevo, 2002; Ozga, 2009). In this new realm of allegedly greater school autonomy, inspection regimes have emerged in most countries, even those with no such tradition but, again somewhat paradoxically, alongside a drive for control and regulation by external inspectors, most inspection regimes give greater or lesser emphasis to some form of internal regulation, often referred to as SSE (Brown et al, 2018).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embedding Self-Evaluation in School Routines

et al. 2021

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School self-evaluation (SSE) has emerged as a widely used approach to school evaluation in recent decades. This has occurred in the context of what is referred to as “New Public Management,” an element of which seeks to empower public institutions to make decisions locally about improving their processes and standards. Inspection regimes in many countries have developed legislative, methodological, and support mechanisms for schools to carry out SSE. This paper, by using the evolution of the SSE process in Irish education, analyses the efficacy of SSE by exploring teachers and school principals’ perceptions of both the challenges and supports concerning the integration of SSE in their schools. Results derived from this study suggest that respondents were, overall, fully aware of the support services available to them. However, support capacity challenges also emerged, in particular as it relates to data use and target setting. Importantly, it is argued that since there are striking resemblances between SSE as it has developed in Ireland and other systems, the challenges and solutions identified in this paper will have wide application in other contexts.

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“…Although several studies establish a direct link between school inspection and national education policy (see, for example, Altrichter and Kemethofer, 2015;Baxter, 2017), which is intended to assure and promote the effectiveness and quality of an education system at the system-level, there are also studies that highlight unintended consequences of school inspections, both, as it were, philosophical/ political and practical. The former tend to suggest that accountability systems come from a right wing worldview, are demeaning of professional autonomy and thus tend to de professionalize schools and teachers, while the latter focus on unintended consequences at the school level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study also aims to examine the general perceptions of school leaders and inspectors about the impact of quality assurance agencies on teaching and learning, using semi-structured interviews with both groups in these countries. It is an altogether novel aspect as generally, empirical studies on school inspection focus on the effects of school inspection (De Wolf and Janssens, 2007;Ehren et al, 2015;Penninckx et al, 2016;Jones et al, 2017), the role of school self-evaluation in external evaluation (MacBeath, 2006;McNamara et al, 2011;Chapman and Sammons, 2013;Brown et al, 2017;McNamara et al, 2022) or school inspectors' roles and responsibilities (Baxter, 2017;Baxter and Hult, 2017;Penninckx and Vanhoof, 2017). It is essential to know that in Dubai and Ireland, this institution is called inspection; in New Zealand, evaluation, while in Pakistan, it is called monitoring and supervision.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School inspections: a rhetoric of quality or reality?

Gardezi,

McNamara,

Brown

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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This study aims to explore the perspectives of school inspectors and leaders on the quality of school inspection in four countries with different inspection systems: Dubai, Ireland, New Zealand, and Pakistan. The study also examines the general perceptions of school leaders and inspectors about the impact of quality assurance agencies on teaching and learning in these countries. Using semi-structured interviews of school leaders (n = 28) and inspectors (n = 14), the research found that school leaders’ experiences and perceptions of school inspection and evaluation were varied in and across all four countries. While some expressed dissatisfaction with the inspectors and the process, others regarded it as a beneficial endeavor that instilled a sense of vigilance and attentiveness toward the quality standards and inspection criteria. School leaders’ experiences and perceptions were mostly positive in Dubai and mixed in the cases of Ireland, New Zealand and Pakistan. Furthermore, the study found a negative correlation between the perception of school leaders and inspectors regarding the quality of inspection practices and their perception of the impact of inspection. Thus, it is imperative to establish improved avenues of communication to facilitate heightened awareness among school leaders regarding the efficacy of inspectors’ work and the comprehensive measures implemented by inspectorates to ensure the quality of their own practices. This initiative will foster enhanced trust between school leaders and inspectors, consequently amplifying the overall influence of school inspections.

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School Inspectors as Policy Implementers: Influences and Activities

Cited by 7 publications

References 47 publications

Trust, Accountability and Capacity in Education System Reform

Trust, Accountability and Capacity in Education System Reform

Embedding Self-Evaluation in School Routines

School inspections: a rhetoric of quality or reality?

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