Towards a Better Future

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Chapter Eight: The Changing Role of the Inspectorate CHAPTER EIGHT The Changing Role of the Inspectorate THE STAGE OF TRANSITION The Education Act of 1998 was the first comprehensive Education Act in the history of the state. The Act was also a landmark in the development of the Inspectorate in that Section 13 of the Act gave statutory recognition to it, and gave a new definition to its role. It gave a more strategic and focussed role in contrast to the multi-tasked and diversified role that had hitherto prevailed. Its future role was to be an evaluative and advisory one - to evaluate and report on all aspects of the school system. Its statutory duty now required it to give advice on education issues to all key stakeholders and to provide policy advice to the Department and the Minister. The Inspectorate had also a legislative duty to consult with key stakeholders relevant to the promotion of quality education. Its remit could be summarised as system evaluation, system development and system support. The changed role of the Inspectorate coincided with a major reform of the then Department of Education and Science (DES), following the Deloitte & Touche, 1999, and the Cromien, 2000, reports. The early years of the new century witnessed major changes in the structure and functions of the Department in an effort to declutter it from the vast range of diverse activities that were overabsorbing it, to the detriment of the strategic policy. A range of new agencies was set up to take over many responsibilities in areas such as psychological services, special education, ICT, state examinations, teacher education and registration. These developments assisted the Inspectorate to focus its professional work on evaluation and advice, as well as school- and system-improvement. To position itself for its changed role, the Inspectorate re-structured its organisational framework and introduced a range of new procedures and models of communication, which have had a major — 137 —
Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System influence in the re-shaping of the school system in recent years. Leadership and staffing of the Inspectorate also underwent significant change, with a new recruiting policy shaped by its professional concerns (Coolahan, 2009, pp. 260-290). Among key internal structures were the Senior Management Group (SMG), the Evaluation Support and Research Unit (ESRU) and the Staff Development Unit (SDU). Improved inspector induction processes were introduced and more extensive forms of continuing professional development (CPD) were made available, reflective of the Chief Inspector’s comment of the Inspectorate as ‘a learning organisation’. Among key early indicators of the changing pattern of work and communication of the Inspectorate in the early years of this century were the following: In 1999, the School Development Planning Unit was set up, which in subsequent years, would guide schools in implementing the school development planning policy. In 2002, the Inspectorate published its Professional Code of Practice on Evaluating and Reporting, making known to interested parties how it approached its work. In 2002, it also published Fifty Reports: What Inspectors Say, to inform on the viewpoints of the Inspectorate on “ The changed role of the Inspectorate coincided with a major reform of the then Department of Education and Science (DES), following the Deloitte & Touche, 1999, and the Cromien, 2000, reports. ” practice evaluated. A publication to help schools in self-evaluation, Looking at Our Schools, was published in 2003. The first new form of inspection, Whole-School Evaluation (WSE), took place in primary schools in 2003 and in post-primary schools in 2004. The first Chief Inspector’s Report, for 2001-04, was published in 2005 (DES, 2005c). In 2006, a notable event took place with the first Inspectors’ Reports on the evaluation of schools published on the DES website. The Chief Inspector’s Report for 2008 is a good example of the changed culture of inspection that had been brought about in these years. It provides an overview of the range and scale of the various forms of inspection then operative and includes focussed comments on the strengths and weaknesses of aspects of the school system. It clearly emphasises the close engagement now operating by the Inspectorate with the work of teachers, school communities, and provision outside the mainstream system (DES, 2009). It provides incisive comment on what is working well in schools, what needs to be improved, and what needs to be done into the future. Overall, the Report is reflective of a significant shift in direction for much of the work of the Inspectorate in which evaluation and mentoring of educational quality, on the ground, is centre stage, extensive feedback is given to practitioners, policy advice is collated, and reflection occurs on emerging trends. It is also significant to note that, between 2002 and 2008, the — 138 —
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Towards a Better Future

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