Towards a Better Future

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Chapter Eight: The Changing Role of the Inspectorate moves by the Inspectorate on whole-school planning, SSE and WSE is to encourage greater collaborative and collegial work within school communities, breaking away from a more traditional model of teacher individualism and ‘king/queen of the classroom syndrome.’ The Inspectorate also regards its work emphases on teaching and learning to be in harmony with types of varied and active pedagogy and the varied forms of pupil learning and engagement which underpin the primary curriculum and the new Junior Cycle reforms. The Inspectorate’s Strategic Plan for 2014-2016 indicates that the Inspectorate will use a programme of interlinked inspection models of different duration, intensity and purpose. The revised inspection planning process is aimed at ensuring some form of inspection in at least 25% of all schools in a school year. It is also aimed to have a published report on each post-primary school in each three-year period and a published report on each primary school within an eight-year cycle (DES, 2014a, p. 9). A striking characteristic of the modern school Inspectorate is the continual process of reflection on the outcomes of consultation and experience to refine and upgrade its practice and guidelines to school communities. This trend is very evident in a range of documents being issued to school communities and to education partners for implementation from the school year 2016- 17. Circulars have been issued to schools relating to the next phase of school self-evaluation, 2016-2022. These are accompanied by School Self-Evaluation Guidelines 2016-2020 for both “ The Inspectorate’s Strategic Plan for 2014-2016 indicates that the Inspectorate will use a programme of interlinked inspection models of different duration, intensity and purpose. ” primary and secondary schools. These publications are complemented by new editions of Looking at Our School, 2016, setting out Quality Frameworks for primary and for post-primary schools. The Quality Frameworks focus on two key dimensions: teaching and learning; and leadership and management. It is planned that the Guidelines and the Quality Frameworks will assist schools in their self-development and will emphasise the complementarity of self-evaluation and external evaluation. They emphasise that the central focus of self-evaluation is on teaching and learning. The aim has been to simplify and streamline the Guidelines for clarity and ease of usage. International evidence would suggest that a system of school self-evaluation working in combination with forms of external monitoring/ evaluation lead to best outcomes. Looking at Our School is likely to be a key reference document for the school system for years to come. In June 2016, the Department issued Guides to Inspection for both primary and post-primary schools (DES, 2016g; DES, 2016h). Each Guide includes summaries of each inspection model being used, using a consistent format, and setting out the rationale and procedures for each of the modes of — 141 —
Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System inspection. The Guides also set out how the Quality Frameworks will be used to inform the work of the Inspectorate, in line with its Code of Practice (2015). To lessen the burden of work on schools, the number of documents typically requested in the course of an inspection has been reduced. The publication of this range of documents emphasises the importance being placed on consultation, clarification and communication in promoting a professional partnership between teaching and inspection. The Inspectorate is also preparing a Gaeltacht Education Policy at present, with a special focus on the issues involved in quality improvement for schooling in Gaeltacht areas. Early Years Inspection Following a period of extensive consultation, a new section was established within the Inspectorate, Early Years Education – Focussed Inspection (EYEI), in 2016. This is a corps of ten highly-specialised personnel. It evaluates the nature, range and appropriateness of the early years’ experiences for children participating in the free pre-schools in ECCE programmes. Criteria of evaluation have been designed appropriate to this form of schooling. The EYEI model complements the monitoring and regulatory processes of other relevant agencies in respect of ECCE provision. A specific mode of operation has been designed to suit the early childhood educational settings. However, the numbers of involved inspectors in EYEI will need to be expanded if they are to cope with the number of settings. Published reports appear on the DES website and on those of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Pobal. These inspections are based on a quality framework that is informed by the principles of Aistear and Síolta. Quality outcomes are identified for four broad areas of ECCE (DES, 2016c): ■ ■ ■ ■ The quality of the context to support children’s learning and development The quality of the process to support children’s learning and development The quality of children’s learning experiences and development The quality of management and leadership of learning. The first formal inspections commenced in April 2016, with reports being published in June 2016. A challenge ahead will be aligning inspection in early years’ settings with the inspection of infant classes in primary schools. NEW APPROACHES TO TEACHER INDUCTION AND PROBATION The Inspectorate has been seeking to bring about a significant change in a long-established practice – the probation of primary teachers. Working in association with the Teaching Council, this responsibility is being transferred to the teaching profession. This is part of a wider agenda of giving more authority to the profession for its own self-government and development. The Teaching Council has been operating a pilot scheme of teacher induction and probation, known as Droichead. — 142 —
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