Encouraging schools and inspectors to use self-evaluation Herman Franssen Coordinator International Affairs Inspector Primary Education Dutch Inspectorate of Education

Overview of this presentation Key elements of our new inspection regime Pilot with schoolboards about self-evaluation The use of self-evaluations by inspectors Closing remarks 2

Key elements of the inspection regime

Basic principles of the new regime Basis quality quarantee Encouraging improvement Straightforward, bespoke regulation Governor responsibility Essentially, the basic principles of the new regime are as follows: Basic quality guarantee. As we do now, the Inspectorate will continue to assure the quality of educational provision in the Netherlands. Governing bodies and their schools are required to comply with the prescribed statutory standards for quality of education, quality assurance and financial management. Encouraging improvement. We wish to actively promote a culture of improvement at schools and in their governing bodies, encouraging them to raise the quality of all aspects of their provision. Straightforward, bespoke regulation. As far as possible, we want our regulation of schools and governing bodies to facilitate their own ambitions. The school plan plays a key role in achieving this. Common and largely identical assessment frameworks have been compiled for the primary (PO), secondary (SO), special education (SO/VSO) and vocational further education (MBO) sectors, suitable for the very wide range of schools and governing bodies we find ourselves dealing with in practice. This approach simplifies the inspection and regulatory regimes for all sectors, whilst also allowing us to respond effectively to the trend towards multi-sectoral governance in education. Governor responsibility. Ultimately, the governing body is responsible for the quality and continuity of the education provided by the school(s) operating under its auspices. For this reason, under the new regime we will be inspecting governing bodies as well as schools. Each governing body has its own process for maintaining and improving the quality of educational provision, which we take as our starting point in regulating it. Governing bodies and schools with better processes provide more reliable information about the quality of their education. Having earned our trust in that way, we as an inspectorate can permit them greater freedom of movement. This allows us to regulate with a lighter touch where possible, but a heavier one where necessary. I will only focus on 2 and 4. Important role of SE within these principles.

Self-evaluation Several aims: Driver of the improvement process. SE is important element of the culture of constant improvement of quality of education. SE can also be an instrument for schoolboards to gather information about the quality of its schools.

Pilot with schoolboards about the use of self-evaluation

Pilot with schoolboards Aim: To encourage the use of self-evaluations by schools/schoolboards and explore possibilities for inspectors to use SE within their inspections Part I Meetings with schoolboards about their quality system the use of SE in their schools Different purposes of SE; stimulating school improvement, checking quality. Different models: reflections of the staff, audits, visitations, SE followed by audit, etc.

Pilot with schoolboards Part 2 Inspection of the schools that had conducted SE: Meeting with head and staff: How did you carry out the self evaluation? What was the focus (which aspects were evaluated)? What were your conclusions? What did you do with the results?

Pilot with schoolboards Reflection of the inspector(s) How can we use the results of the SE? Is there any reason for not trusting the results of the SE? Can we adopt the conclusions? Is verifying of the conclusions sufficient or is full inspection still necessary? Adjusting the design of the inspection. Fewer classroom observations Less document analysis

Follow up and closing remarks

Follow up National Council of Schoolboards in Primary Education strongly supports the use of SE and contributes to the professionalisation of schoolboards Distribution of good pratices Training program for auditors More open attitude of inspectors towards the reliability of SE Differentiation in the inspections Presentation of the results of the SE by the school is now an integral part of an inspection

Closing remarks We do not use a list of strict criteria to judge whether a SE is reliable Only more general assumptions SE is related to (parts of) our framework Proper design of the SE Results of the SE are recent Professional judment of the inspector is important We do not provide schools with models for SE (the risk of inspecion orientated se)

About the new inspection regime