The evaluation of individual schools in Europe and France: some reflections Dr Sotiria Grek

1. The evaluation of individual schools in Europe and France: some reflectionsDr Sotiria Grek JOINT SEMINAR SICI- FRENCH GENERAL INSPECTORATES 20-21 November 2008 CRETEIL, Paris 12 Val de Marne University

2. The FabQ project • comparing and contrasting QAE in Finland, England, Sweden, Denmark and Scotland; • exploring policy convergence, divergence and policy learning; • investigating QAE systems, processes and technologies, including data production and flows, and their impacts.

3. QAE as a form of governance may be seen in: (a) the extent to which it contributes to Europeanisation in the systems in this study; (b) the sharing of practices across these systems through policy learning; (c) through its shaping of the relations between local authorities/municipalities and national governments; (d) through its shaping of the work of teachers and head teachers/principals in the different systems.

4. The FabQ teacher survey: aims and challenges • a large scale collaboratively designed survey of headteachers and teachers; • exploring how they experience the implementation of QAE and how QAE affects their school work. • A process of translation and negotiation? • And what about the ‘social desirability’ bias?

5. A taste of the findings • 47% of survey respondents believe that the quality of education is improving by comparison with the 1980s; • 74% of respondents across the different systems believe there is less respect for teaching now than twenty years ago; • So teachers are raising quality but losing respect?

6. A taste of the findings • School heads and teachers in England most likely to say that National Testing reduces the quality of education (46% and 30% respectively); • But 31% and 33% said that it improves the quality of education; • Overall, teachers selected school-led QAE processes (70-80%) as most significant in improving quality; • 39% of respondents thought that inspection had no effect on quality, but 56% said that it did contribute to improved quality.

7. Teachers: A changing profession? • Personalisation of teaching and learning; • Focus on individualism; • Integration of compulsory education with other broader concepts, such as lifelong learning or community care; • Increased demand for extracting high performance from learners; • Multi-accountability systems and ‘economising’ of education; • Redesign and modernisation of schooling involves the creation of more fluid and flexible spaces; • EMPHASIS ON CONTINUOUS SELF-MONITORING AND FORWARD PROJECTION AND INCREASED RELIANCE ON DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS.

8. Inspectors: A changing profession? • From elite groups and amateur, ‘impressionistic’ evaluation in the past to expert, technical knowledge and evidence-based thinking of the present; • Changing inspection times and numbers of inspectors during inspection (at least in the UK); • Greater emphasis on stakeholders (parents); • Contribution to the internationalization of education and the emergence of a global education policy field through increased knowledge transfer and policy learning (eg. Self-evaluation?); • The critical friend becoming more hands-on? More emphasis on development rather than merely inspection? BUT as it has always been, inspection is An Ianus-like profession: constantly facing two ways, both teachers and the state

9. Inspection in Europe today: tensions and contradictions