School Management & Organization, Academic Evaluation

Inspecting Schools

Name: Inspecting Schools
Author: Wilcox
ISBN: 9780335196746

by Wilcox

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Overview

During the first half of the 1990s the British government turned inspection into an ambitious instrument of educational policy-making. Initially it encouraged local education authorities to experiment with inspection 'in all its forms'. Growing impatient wih the pace of change, however, a new policy was brought into force afer the 1992 General Election. Schools were to be inspected on a hitherto unprecedented scale. Every primary and secondary school in England and Wales was to undergo a 'full' inspection once every four years. At the same time a new agency, the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), was set up to organize the new programme. Their concern, they declared, was not merely to hold schools to account but to help them to improve. So-called 'failing' schools, in particular, would be identified and put on notice to change. The research reported here is one of the very first independent attempts to explore the aftermath of inspection and the ways in which schools do (or don't) take up inspectors' challlenges. What kinds of recommendations do schools find relatively easy to implement? Which factors seem to make a difference? Do so-called 'failing' schools require special treatment? In short, has a 'powerful tool' for school improvement been discovered? Or is its leverage on change processes, in practice, more modest? The history of school inspections in Britain stretches back over 150 years. Despite this lengthy tradition, its effects have up till now been simply asserted or taken for granted. Inspecting Schools offers a compelling account of the limits and possibilities of inspection as a mechanism for school reform.

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Booknews

Based on a three-year study, explores what happens to British schools when they are inspected by the national agency established for that purpose in 1992. Particularly looks at what happens when the inspectors announce their intention to inspect, how they set about their tasks, what problems they encounter, and how schools and teachers react to them and their findings. Also considers what changes result from the inspection, what kinds of recommendations school find easy to implement, what factors make a difference, whether failing schools need special treatment, and whether the program is making any significant difference. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)