1 School improvement through external inspection and school self-evaluation SDPI Summer School NUI Galway: 22 June 2010 Emer Egan Assistant Chief Inspector PROMOTING THE QUALITY OF LEARNING INSPECTORATE

2 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 WSE: MLL Programme evaluation

3 STRUCTURE, ROLE AND THE CONTEXT OF OUR WORK

4 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: Curriculum & Assessment Policy & Inspectorate International Linkages BU8: Special Education Policy & Inspectorate Corporate Functions Other deployments: Regional Services, Planning Unit, Teacher Education

5 The Inspectorate Centralised inspectorate –A division of the Department of Education and Skills 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

6 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

7 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 parents

8 OUR APPROACH TO EVALUATION AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

9 Effective school improvement is multi-faceted Principal Students & Parents BOM Teachers

10 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

11 We all have a role to play in school improvement Teacher quality The professional teacher The Teaching Council Continuum of teacher education Professional teacher networks Goals and standards NCCA – Curricula and syllabi State Examinations NQAI - Qualification frameworks Management supports Management organisations Patron/trustees VECs and CEOs EXTERNAL

12 We all have a role to play in school improvement DES supports for schools DES support services (e.g. PDST, SESS) Funding: capitation, teacher salaries, capital expenditure Supports for students (e.g. SEN, NCSE, DEIS) Evaluation and review School development planning Self-evaluation External inspection National and international surveys

13 Emphasis in the inspection of schools has changed…. A policing model of external inspection oLocates control and development outside the school oIdea that quality can be “inspected into” the school oRequires significant personnel resources Promoting internal control and development oRecognises that change must be fostered within organisations oBased on a vision of school as a professional organisation oSees inspectors and school personnel as co-professionals From To

14 Our dominant philosophy is formative  Purposes of inspection oAssure quality in education system oProvide an external perspective on the work of the school oAffirm good practice oConstructively identify areas for improvement oFacilitate school self-evaluation oRecommendations provide a platform for development

15 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

16 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 Government 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)

17 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

18 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

19 PROVIDING AN EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE

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

21 Reports published by 27 May 2010 Whole School Evaluation (PP): 200 Subject inspection within WSE:730 Subject inspection (stand-alone): 1753 Programme evaluation within WSE: 18 Programme evaluation (stand-alone): 68 Centres for Education: 64 Whole School Evaluation (P):857 Total: 3690

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

23 After inspection Underlying principle: School self-review and improvement at the 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.

24 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, parents and students, as appropriate –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

25 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”

26 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

27 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!!

28 MAXIMUM IMPACT FROM INSPECTION: Learning lessons from the inspection programme

29 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

30 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

31 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

32 Recommendations In some cases, evaluations have found quite considerable room for improvement… “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.”

33 Recommendations “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

34 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 Composite reports

35 Other composite reports Other titles Looking at Guidance, English, History Forthcoming: Looking at Biology

36 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

37 Thematic reports

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

39 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 enriching teaching and improving learning outcomes to reflect on whole-school and classroom practice to recognise the strengths of their school to focus on teaching and learning strategies and on student learning outcomes

40 What can school self-evaluation do? to examine areas where outcomes could have been better and identify areas for further development to assist staff in sharing ideas and good practice to provide opportunities for teachers to monitor their own teaching and identify their professional needs 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

41 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 SDP, 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

42 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?

43 How could self-evaluation bring about this better focus? 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

44 How could self-evaluation bring about this better focus? 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

45 How could self-evaluation bring about this better focus? 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

46 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

47 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

48 So in the interface between inspection and self-evaluation… 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

49 WSE MLL Management, Leadership and Learning

50 Model of Inspection trialled at Post Primary level in 2010 WSE – Management, Leadership and Learning Aim: to facilitate a shorter, more focused evaluation of the work of schools Main focus on the quality of management and leadership and the quality of teaching and learning WSE-MLL designed to complement the established evaluation models (WSE, Subject, Programme, Thematic).

51 WSE MLL – Outline A limited range of information and documentation sought in advance of the evaluation Evaluation consists of two inspectors (three inspectors in schools with over 700 students) Three weeks notice of the evaluation. One day in the school during the preparatory phase –Informal meeting with staff, administer questionnaires, review documentation, meet BOM (including presentation by BOM) Three days in the school during the in-school phase of the evaluation –Meetings with P&DP, Key Staff Members and Students –Observation of T&L in a range of lessons.

52 WSE MLL – Outline Inspectors view a wide range of lessons, not limited to specific subject areas, in order to: –evaluate the overall quality of teaching and learning in the school –gather evidence on any other whole-school matters: school management, curriculum provision, planning and assessment –follow-up on recommendations from previous evaluation reports A schedule of lessons to be inspected is provided on each day of the in-school phase Brief, general feedback is provided to teachers at the end of lessons Student and parent questionnaires are a key part of the evidence base Inspection report is succinct (6 pages approx)

53 Key elements - Requirement for BOM to give presentation to inspection team - The use of Student and Parent Questionnaires (2nd year and 5th year students and their parents) - Less documentation sought in advance, far fewer meetings - Any lesson can be inspected as part of the evaluation - Onus placed on schools to engage in the self-evaluation process (presentation from BOM, awareness that evidence of development from previous reports being sought).

54 Key elements –Much shorter model – less time in school, fewer meetings, smaller inspection team –Previous inspection reports, student and parent questionnaires analysed as part of the evidence base –Inspecting and following up on generic aspects of teaching and learning in a wide range of lessons –Much shorter report in a shorter time-frame.

55 Trial and feedback WSE-MLL has been trialled in 12 schools to date These reports have not been published Members of Boards of Management, Principals and Teachers invited to DES to give feedback Feedback on this model overall very positive Trials to continue in the next school year

56 PROGRAMME EVALUATION

57 Programme Evaluations JCSP,TY, LCA, LCVP all evaluated by the Inspectorate School receives two weeks notice Programme plan, programme timetables and information request form required in advance

58 Programme Evaluation Outline (i) Interview with school principal (ii) Meeting and ongoing liaison with the programme co- ordinator(s) during the evaluation visit (iii) Interview with small group of students (iv) Interview with core group of teachers (including a SEN teacher in the case of LCA) (v) Observation of teaching and learning in a number of lessons

59 Programme Evaluation Outline (contd.) (vii) Review of relevant documentation pertaining to the programme (viii) Feedback to principal, programme co-ordinator and core team (on a day to be arranged between the inspector and the principal in the case of JCSP and LCA evaluations and in the case of TY programme evaluations where there are three or more class groups following the programme) (ix) Meeting with programme co-ordinator if necessary

60 Evaluation Framework –Programme organisation –Programme planning and co-ordination –Teaching and learning

61 Questions?