School improvement through external inspection and school self-evaluation

SDPI Summer School NUI Galway: 23 June 2009

Harold Hislop, Deputy Chief Inspector

PROMOTING THE QUALITY OF LEARNING

INSPECTORATE 1

Overview

• Structures, role and context of the Inspectorate’s work • Our approach to evaluation and school improvement • Providing an external perspective • External inspection and school improvement: what should happen after inspection? • Maximum impact from inspection • School self-evaluation • Challenges and questions in realising self-evaluation 2

STRUCTURE, ROLE AND THE CONTEXT OF OUR WORK

3

Organisation

Chief Inspector (Head of Division and a member of MAC) Regional Subdivision

Deputy Chief Inspector

Policy Support Subdivision

Deputy Chief Inspector

BU1-North & Dublin North BU2-South East & Dublin South BU3-Mid-West & South BU4-Midlands & West BU5: ESRU & European Schools BU6: Teacher Education Policy & Inspectorate Human Resources BU7: Curr & Assessment Policy & Inspectorate International Linkages BU8: Special Education Policy & Inspectorate Corporate Functions 4 Other deployments: Regional Services, Planning Unit, Teacher Education

The Inspectorate

• Centralised inspectorate – A division of the Department of Education and Science • Statutory remit under Education Act 1998 – Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of educational provision at primary and second level – Support and advise schools, teachers, boards of management – Advise the Minister on educational policy and provision 5

What influences the way we work?

The learner

• Every learner entitled to high quality provision

Legislation

• Statutory remit under the Education Act and other legislation

Public Service Reform

• Initiatives to improve the delivery & accountability of public services • Requirement for annual business plan • Performance management (PMDS) – Each staff member agrees role profile (targets for year) with manager – Mid-year and end of year review 6

What influences the way we work?

Partnership

• Legislation places strong duty on Inspectorate to consult about the way in which it carries out evaluative work

Professionalism

• Strong historical tradition which ensures Inspectorate has close links with teaching profession • Maintenance of good, professional working relationships with schools, management bodies, teachers, students and in more recent times, parents 7

OUR APPROACH TO EVALUATION AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

8

Effective school improvement is multi-faceted

GOALS AND STANDARDS TEACHER QUALITY EVALUATION & REVIEW PROCESSES Teachers Principal School Improvement Students & Parents BOM DES SUPPORTS MANAGEMENT SUPPORTS

9

We all have a role to play in school improvement

INTERNAL

• Principal,

for example…

– Leadership for improvement – Setting emphasis on learning outcomes – Tackling under-performance • Each teacher,

for example…

– his/her commitment to highest professional standards – role in furthering improvement of co-teachers in subject department and work of school as a whole • Board of management 10

We all have a role to play in school improvement

EXTERNAL

Teacher quality Goals and standards Management supports

The professional teacher The Teaching Council Continuum of teacher education Professional teacher networks NCCA – Curricula and syllabi State Examinations NQAI - Qualification frameworks Management organisations Patron/trustees VECs and CEOs

11

We all have a role to play in school improvement

DES supports for schools Evaluation and review

DES support services (e.g. SLSS, LDS, SESS) Funding: capitation, teacher salaries, capital expenditure Supports for students (e.g. SEN, NCSE, DEIS) School development planning Self-evaluation External inspection National and international surveys

12

Emphasis in the inspection of schools has changed….

From A policing model of external inspection

o Locates control and development outside the school o Idea that quality can be “inspected into” the school o Requires significant personnel resources

To Promoting internal control and development

o Recognises that change must be fostered

within

organisations o Based on a

vision of school as a professional organisation

o Sees inspectors and school personnel as

co-professionals

13

Our dominant philosophy is formative  Purposes of inspection o

Assure quality

in education system

o

Provide an

external perspective

on the work of the school

o

Affirm

good practice

o

Constructively identify

areas for improvement

o

Facilitate school

self-evaluation

o

Recommendations provide a

platform for development

14

We commit to…

• Take account of school context and school self-review • Courtesy, respect and fairness • Sensitivity to individual teachers and schools • Fostering positive relationships with the school community • Fair and accurate judgements based on evidence • Clear and transparent review mechanism:

Review Procedure under Section 13(9) of Education Act

15

Influences on evaluation approach

• School improvement literature – Research and professional development of staff • Curriculum reform and review – e.g. Links with NCCA • Socio-economic demands for high quality education • Govt commitment to transparency and service • International reviews of education: e.g. PISA • International educational bodies – OCED Education Committee; OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), Towards an Integrated Public Service (OECD) – EU policy on education (e.g. teacher competencies, education for citizenship, Lisbon agenda) 16

Co-operation with other inspectorates

• North-South – Management cooperation, staff exchange • Britain & Ireland (Ofsted, Estyn, HMIe, ETI & DES) – Participation in joint meetings – Sharing of good practice • Europe – European Network for the Evaluation of Educational Systems • Joint projects led by Ireland or in which Ireland participates – Standing International Conference of Inspectorates • e.g. Papers from Ireland on inspection practices and outcomes • Other countries, e.g. New Zealand – Study visits, exchange of speakers/lecturers 17

Evaluation Support and Research Unit

• Develop evaluation techniques and tools – Inspection models, tools to collect and analyse evidence, reporting styles and templates • Design and lead specialised evaluations – Respond to demands/needs of Department, school system, learner groups – Design specialised evaluations, train inspectors – Oversee writing of composite national report • Publishing house for the Inspectorate • Research on issues such as inspection models, trends and developments 18

PROVIDING AN EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE

19

External evaluations

• Using a range of inspection types • Developing models to suit circumstances of provision • Current models include….

20

Post-primary WSEs

30 20 10 0 70 60 50 40 53 2005 57 2006 59 60 64 2007 2008 2009*

*planned for 2009 21

Subject inspections

758 730 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2005 676 2006 SIs in WSE 2007 SIs 2008 668

22

Other evaluations

2006 2007 2008 Programme evaluations Centres for education Thematic evaluations 28 schs 23 schs 42 schs 22 centres 17 centres 9 schs 20 schs 23

EXTERNAL INPECTION AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: What should happen after inspection?

24

After inspection

•

Underlying principle

: School self-review and improvement at heart of effective school • External evaluation can provide advice but improvement only happens if there is effective implementation in school • Primary responsibility for following through on recommendations rests with board and staff – BOM, CEO, Principal, Staff must take ownership of need for change and implement change programme • Others may be involved to limited extent – Patron/VEC, certain DES divisions, school support services, etc. 25

So what should happen after inspection? • Full circulation of the report • Read and examine the strengths and areas for development • Review the school’s planning and self-evaluation – Review needs to include board, senior management, staff and possibly parents and students – Have these processes identified similar priorities? – What should our priorities now be? – Does the self-review and planning process need to be improved? • What actions will we take now?

– Action plan – Identify where assistance is needed • Implementation, monitoring and review to ensure real improvement happens 26

Are inspections effective?

Independent survey in 2005 by MORI…..

• 86% of teachers agreed or strongly agreed that

“Feedback and advice were given in a supportive and constructive manner”

• 80% of teachers agreed or strongly agreed that

“Inspectors provided constructive advice about ways of improving educational provision”

• 80% of teachers agreed or strongly agreed that

“Written reports were clear and provided me with valid and constructive recommendations for development”

27

Is the Department involved in following-up?

• Coordinated sharing of information between Inspectorate and Schools Division of DES • Involvement of DES and Inspectorate in follow through to inspection is – proportionate to need – concentrated on very small number of schools with very serious failings and those with significant problems – concentrated on learning outcomes – is tailored to the needs of the individual case – looks at supports and the approach needed to address underlying issues in school 28

Examples include…

• DES engaging with board and/or the patron/trustees of the school • Patron/trustees working with BOM to bring about change • School engaging with support services • Assistance to leadership or management of school • Report(s) from BOM to DES on actions taken to implement recommendations • Follow-up visit(s) by Inspectorate or other officials from DES • Combination of actions suited to needs of situation

There is no one solution!!

29

MAXIMUM IMPACT FROM INSPECTION: Learning lessons from the inspection programme

30

Sharing the outcomes of inspection: Reports on the website of the DES

Publication allows us to learn from each other AND can inform self-evaluation

31

For example, where WSEs find more effective leadership and middle management..

• Quality leadership, principal & deputy principal communicate effectively, cooperate fully in running effective school • Mix of pastoral, curricular and organisational duties for middle management; clear duties; effectively implemented; regularly reviewed for good of school • Collaborative policy making process; SDP focussed on core areas of teaching and learning • Time for planning but not at the expense of minimum teacher contact time for students 32

Where WSEs find less effective leadership and middle management…

• Weak leadership; poor cooperation between Principal and Deputy; poor cooperation between in-school management team • SDP not well developed – paper and/or recent exercise rather than a continuous process for improvement • Middle management posts not well structured to changing needs of school • Planning and review not impacting on teaching and the quality of students’ learning • Teacher deployments / Teacher absenteeism 33

• In some cases, evaluations have found quite considerable room for improvement… 34

• “In line with section 21 of the Education Act, the board ….should begin immediately to develop a school plan….

• “The school’s admission and enrolment policies should be reviewed to ensure that they are in line with the policy of inclusion….” • “A total review of existing posts and duties should take place.” • “A whole-school review of the school’s code of behaviour is recommended ...” • “It was noted that…a number of teachers are allocated fewer than the stipulated minimum of 18 hours....the allocation of time for some subjects is not fully in line with syllabus guidelines…” • “A more concerted effort by the whole staff should lead to a general improvement in the quality and amount of work completed by students and contribute to the raising of standards and outcomes in all subjects.” -

WSE Report, PP school

35

Composite reports

• Findings and recommendations based on analysis of subject inspection reports or other inspection data • Emphasis on advice as well as evaluation • “Good practice” and “Concerns” boxes • Aimed at subject departments, school leaders, advisers 36

Other composite reports

Other titles

Looking at Guidance, English, History

Forthcoming:

Looking at Biology

37

Thematic evaluations

• Specialist evaluation projects with a research focus • Considerable research in advance of evaluation • Specific evaluation criteria, templates and schedules developed and tested • Additional focussed training for inspection teams • Reports – – –

Highlight good practice Identify challenges of the system Suggest how schools can improve practice

38

Thematic reports

Forthcoming

Leadership in Schools English as an Additional Language

39

SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION How can it help us to improve our school?

40

What can school self-evaluation do?

School self-evaluation is a process that should enable the principal, teachers and school community.... • to

evaluate

how well their school provides for its students • to make a difference to the experience of every student by • to

reflect enriching teaching and improving learning outcomes

on whole-school and classroom

practice

• to

recognise the strengths

of their school • to focus on

teaching and learning strategies

on student

learning outcomes

and 41

• to examine

areas where outcomes could have been better

development and identify areas for further • to assist staff in

sharing ideas and good practice

• to provide opportunities for teachers to

monitor their own teaching professional needs

and identify their • to support the

ownership

of school policies and establish a

clear vision for future direction

of the school • to provide a means of school

accountability

42

How could self-evaluation differ or relate to School Development Planning?

• SDP processes are well embedded in many schools • Robust self-evaluation should be a key element in the SDP process • Self-evaluation should not be additional to SPD, rather it seeks to provide a sharper focus to SDP: – –

Acknowledges the context of the school Brings more critical, objective focus to the review of the school’s work

– –

Can lead to better action planning Should result in better monitoring of progress and implementation

• And it can be used to provide better information to parents and others about the work of the school 43

How could self-evaluation bring about this better focus?

• By asking questions about outcomes such as… – How effective is our teaching and the learning of our students? – Are the learning outcomes of our students improving?

– What are the learning outcomes for different groups of students? – Are we good at retaining students? At promoting student attendance? – Are we stretching students’ achievements as much as possible? Getting as many as possible to take higher levels?

– How good is the management of this school in terms of the leadership it provides for school improvement? – How good are the supports we provide to students? 44

• By basing judgements on solid evidence, e.g.

– Detailed questionnaire evidence from students and from parents, board members, etc. – Analysis of examination results and comparisons with national data: for all students; for different groups (e.g. higher/lower achieving groups) – Standardised test results – Analysing uptake of higher levels in subjects / subject in senior cycle – Achievements in terms of students’ skills/abilities – Tracking and analysing data on retention of students – Examining attendance patterns – External evaluation evidence 45

• By facilitating and encouraging peer learning and peer review, for example….

– Encouraging teachers to share good practice – Facilitating teachers in observing each other teach and providing developmental feedback – Developing a culture of discussing pedagogy, suggesting and accepting suggestions for improvement – Creating a culture where teachers are constantly asking

“How can I do this better?” “Can you suggest to me how I can improve?” “Could we improve this by …….?”

– By having principals, curriculum leaders, etc. engage in reviewing teaching and learning in classrooms 46

• By setting clear targets for change and improvement… – Identifying areas for improvement, planning how change can be brought about e.g. improving achievement levels in specific subjects or for specific groups of students – Helping to identify staff learning needs and addressing these – Setting clear short-term and longer-term goals for improvement that can be measured – Providing a way in which progress can be monitored, acknowledged and celebrated 47

Promoting self-evaluation

Social Partnership Agreement delivering School Self-Evaluation



Towards 2016

embeds the Inspectorate’s

Looking at Our School

framework in the partnership agreement with teachers  The agreement intended to facilitate the

systematic implementation of school self-evaluation

in all primary and post primary schools  Agreement specifically mentions schools assessing performance in

teaching and learning

48

So in the interface between inspection and self evaluation…

• External evaluations, composite reports and

Looking at Our School

can help to inform the criteria by which schools judge their outcomes • Inspectorate can develop more refined criteria to aid self-evaluation –

Can do this in cooperation with schools and others

• Initially, self-evaluation needs to be primarily for the school community • But as confidence grows, schools should share findings with others –

Schools could aim to publish their own reports, targets, achievements and areas for development

49

• External evaluation – –

Complements internal evaluation Can look at the school’s self-evaluation as one key element of evidence

• Self-evaluation has potential to inform and sharpen the “School Response” to inspection reports –

School community should compare findings of external and internal processes

–

More focussed statements about what school will do next

• Models of inspection could adjust over time to incorporate outcomes of robust self-evaluation – – –

WSE could be less intensive in some cases Shorter or less frequent or different forms of evaluation Quality assuring self-evaluation

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