Quality and Standards in Human Services in Ireland - the NESC ...

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STAKEHOLDER RESPONSIBILITIES 29implementation of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS)programme or the teaching of literacy and numeracy. (See Section 5.3 for adescription of DEIS).At primary level, the DES also undertakes evaluations of, for example, the provisionfor Traveller education, implementation of the primary school curriculum, andliteracy and numeracy in schools designated as disadvantaged under the DEIS, aswell as the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Childrenand Young People, which was launched in 2011 (see Section 5.4).3.1.5 Inspectorate Code of PracticeThe increasing emphasis on standards and accountability in Irish education appliesto the work of the Inspectorate and is reflected in The Professional Code of Practiceon Evaluation and Reporting for the Inspectorate. The purpose of the Code, whichwas published in 2002, is to formalise the practices and procedures that underpinthe work of the Inspectorate and to make clear the standards to which inspectorswork. It applies equally to evaluating and reporting on the work of schools as units,on individual teachers, on curricular programmes and on the implementation ofministerial regulations, carried out by inspectors working individually or in teams.The guidelines set out general principles in relation to the role of the Inspectorate inschool evaluation and reporting processes. The Code states that the aims ofevaluation are to: Identify, acknowledge and affirm good practice in schools; Promote continuing improvement in the quality of education offered by schools; Promote self-evaluation and continuous development by schools and staffs; and Provide an assurance of quality in the educational system as a whole, based onthe collection of objective, dependable, high-quality data (Department ofEducation and Science, 2002: 1).The Code also specifically commits the Inspectorate to a system of evaluation whichis fair and consistent, both in the manner in which inspections are carried out and inthe style of reporting that it generates.3.1.6 Internal Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements in theInspectorateIn 2005 the Inspectorate commissioned MORI Ireland to conduct a formal customersurvey that focused on quality and standards in the evaluation of work done byinspectors in schools. The survey provided an opportunity for parents, members ofBoards of Management, school principals and teachers from 150 schools who hadbeen inspected during an 18-month period, to contribute their views on the qualityof the services provided by the Inspectorate. The survey focused, in particular, on
STAKEHOLDER RESPONSIBILITIES 30professional relationships in the context of school evaluation, evaluationprocedures, and reporting practices.The outcomes of the survey suggested that there was a high degree of satisfactionwith the way the Inspectorate conducted evaluation activities in schools(Department of Education and Science, 2005b: 34). In general, the Inspectorate wasseen as a highly professional group, and inspectors were regarded as agreeable andefficient by a large majority of teachers and principals. Eighty-nine per cent ofprincipals found the written reports to be fair and balanced. The Inspectoraterecorded very high satisfaction levels in other more complex and variable areas ofthe evaluation process. Despite this positive response, the survey also identifiedsome areas for improvement. In the main these related to the Inspectorate’sadministrative procedures, for example, notice regarding meetings, lack ofconsistency between inspectors’ oral and written reports, and the punctualprovision of written reports to schools (ibid.: 34). Following the publication of theMORI report, the Inspectorate has been working on improving its administrativeprocedures and the other issues raised in the reports.Since the publication of the outcomes of the MORI survey in 2005, the Inspectoratehas also implemented a number of self-reviews. During 2010, for example, itinitiated a very intensive self-review starting with small groups of inspectors,initially. This exercise has been extended, and in more recent times it is engagingwith internal customers, for example, other sections of the DES. It is also intendedto engage more directly with external customers, principals, teachers and parents inthe future.The Inspectorate also has a Review Procedure in respect of the work of allinspectors. Section 13(9) of the Education Act requires the Inspectorate to operateboth an informal and formal appeals mechanism, the latter involving anindependent reviewer.At the time of writing, the DES Inspectorate was planning to implement a series ofpost-inspection questionnaires, which will be managed by a different part of theInspectorate. It is intended to establish as routine practice that a proportion ofschools who have recently been through a Whole School Evaluation and otherinspection processes will be invited to provide feedback through the questionnaireson how well the process was executed and what change happened subsequently.There is recognition among DES Inspectorate representatives that the monitoringand review practices that have been described must become an integral part of itswork, and that there is a need in the system for the articulation of a much morecoherent set of standards, which could be benchmarked at various levels in thesystem.Along with the implementation of legislation and the establishment of specialistagencies to improve quality and accountability, the DES has also reconfigured someof its internal sections and established new arrangements that support to thedevelopment of schools and teachers, for example, the School Improvement Groupand the Professional Development Support for Teachers, which are describedbelow.
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