Education Inspectors Research Articles

AN ASSESSMENT OF PROVISION, FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ODO-OTIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the provision, functionality and accessibility of School Libraries in public secondary schools in Odo-Otin Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria.Methodology: A qualitative research method was adopted. Evidence was gathered through semi-structured interviews with principals, staff members, teachers in charge of the library, as well as students in all the 17 public schools being investigated. A Local Inspector of Education was also interviewed at Okuku, the headquarters of the Local Government are, who gave further insight into the issues and challenges faced by public school libraries. Observations were made and recorded on a checklist as to how the libraries in schools visited were resourced and laid out. The checklist was created according to the resources one would expect to find in a well-resourced library as described in the literature. It was used to indicate the type of resources available in the library. No attempt was made to count the number of resources that were available; it was only used to determine if the resource was present. All the seventeen (17) public secondary schools in Local Government were visited and data was collected over a period of one month in 2017. Data collected was analysed using frequency counts and simple percentages. The findings were presented tabulated according to the research objectives.Findings: The study revealed that school libraries are not provided in most schools in Odo-Otin Local Government Area. It also revealed that the few libraries that existed are majorly housed in converted classrooms, with no certified professional staff, inadequate furniture, and grossly inadequate information resources; and that accessibility to the few libraries that exist depends on the staff members that equally use them as their staff rooms. It also revealed that two schools in the Odo-Otin had benefited from Federal Government of Nigeria’s SchoolUnique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study revealed that a tier of Government in the Country is not fully implementing the National Policy on Education (2004); and that the learning environment in public secondary schools in Odo-otin is breach of Nigeria constitution on right to quality education.

Development of the Artistic Supervision Model Scale (ASMS)

The purpose of the study is to develop the Artistic Supervision Model Scale in accordance with the perception of inspectors and the elementary and secondary school teachers on artistic supervision. The lack of a measuring instrument related to the model of artistic supervision in the field of literature reveals the necessity of such study. 290 teachers working in 14 public elementary and secondary schools in Bolu province and 179 educational inspectors working in 17 provinces participated in the study. In order to verify the scale, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. For the reliability of the scale, internal consistency and item analysis were calculated. SPSS 18.00 and Lisrel 8.7 package programs were used for the data analysis. The analysis of the data revealed that it is a reliable scale made up of four dimensions and has a very good adaptation value. The dimensions involved in the scale are called as philosophy of artistic inspection, teaching as an art, assessment activities for artistic approach, and educational specialty task for the inspector.

Evaluation and decentralised governance: Examples of inspections in polycentric education systems

Across Europe schools and other service providers increasingly operate in networks to provide inclusive education or develop and implement more localized school-to-school improvement models. As some education systems move towards more decentralized decision-making where multiple actors have an active role in steering and governing schools, the tasks and responsibilities of Inspectorates of Education must also change. This paper reflects on these changes and suggests ‘polycentric’ inspection models that fit such a decentralized context. Examples of inspection frameworks and methods from Northern Ireland, England and the Netherlands are provided, as well as a brief discussion of the potential impact of such ‘polycentric’ models.

APPLICABILITY OF BALANCED SCORECARD SYSTEM IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS ACCORDING TO OPINIONS OF EDUCATION INSPECTORS, MANAGERS AND TEACHERS

This study was carried out in order to specifying the opinions of the staffs working as manager, teacher and educational inspectors at primary schools about the implementation of balanced scorecard in education institutions. To perform that aim the staffs serving as manager, teacher and inspector at the primary Schools nearby center of Elazig Province was determined as the population. In the research, the descriptive survey model was used. The sampling subjects consisted of 110 managers, 340 teachers, 20 inspectors, which was specified by the Random Sampling Method. For the purpose of reflecting the viewpoint of participants, a balanced score card was prepared. In order to determine the reliability and validity of the scale analysis was been done and it was found to be reliability coefficient was Cronbach Alfa=0.963,standartize reference value was =,965. The data shows that scale was very reliable and valid that feature was. The researcher personally kept track of this scale and collected by going to the schools. At the end of this research, it was realized that the participants generally approve the implementation of the balanced score card. That the participants attend the matters in the balanced scorecard scale and that the matters are implemented will be effective in terms of specifying the school performance and development. Article visualizations:

Voorspelt kwaliteitszorg de prestaties van instellingen voor voortgezet onderwijs?

Abstract Does quality management predict performance in schools of secondary education?Much empirical research has demonstrated correlations between Total Quality Management and performance, usually within companies. This article focuses on schools for secondary education in the Netherlands. It researched whether the assessment of their quality management systems by the Inspectorate of Education can predict future financial and operational (educational) performance. This led to the following conclusions. The present method of assessment of the inspectorate covers only three of six relevant dimensions of an assessment model like the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence Framework. Especially the Human Resource Focus is lacking from the assessments. Perhaps because of that, the usefulness of the assessment for the prediction of future results, is limited. Financial results cannot be predicted in this way. With regard to educational results, only the systematic analysis of students’ results has some predictive power.

Metodología de enseñanza en centros eficaces de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco

<p class="RESUMENCURSIVA">El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la metodología de enseñanza en centros educativos de alto nivel de eficacia de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco. Mediante procedimientos estadísticos de regresión multinivel, se seleccionaron 32 centros que cumplían el los criterios para considerarlos de “alto valor añadido”. En la segunda fase cualitativa se realizaron 90 entrevistas a profesorado de equipos directivos, de la Inspección y de los Centros de Apoyo a la Formación e Innovación Educativa y se procedió a la identificación de las buenas prácticas en éste área. Si bien la metodología de enseñanza se considera un factor clave de la eficacia escolar, no se ha encontrado que destaque una metodología en particular en función de las características de estos centros. Destacan innovaciones en diversas áreas (Lenguas, Matemáticas y Transversales) y metodologías propias que llevan tiempo perfeccionando y adecuando a las necesidades del alumnado y del centro (trabajo en grupos, el aprendizaje cooperativo, la metodología basada en competencias o por proyectos, entre otras) y la mitad de los centros utilizan las TICs como recurso didáctico.</p>

Should be the School Inspection the innovation driver at educational establishments?

This presentation is intended to be a reflection on the role to be played by inspectors of education in the new social and educational scenario faced by schools and teachers of the 21st century. The traditional way of performing the functions of monitoring, evaluation and counseling does not allow inspectors to respond to the new needs of schools and the educational system. Its mission has to change; it has to break inertias and go beyond documentary supervision and the search for specific solutions to problems generated in (educational) centers. Inspectors should lead collaborative work with other external agents, who provide centers with the necessary support needed in the search for innovative educational projects involving the curricular and methodological transformation in the classroom.

EL CUADERNO DE CENTRO COMO HERRAMIENTA PARA LA SUPERVISIÓN

When we first decided to do a presentation of a paper about the School Notebook, a digital tool created to register the inspection interventions in education centers, we were encouraged by the rising interest and awareness over this tool that has been implemented by the Inspectorates of Education of the Basque Country. Our main goal is to present the school notebook in the current context, considering its origins and understanding that due to the continuous teamwork to be carried out by the future inspectors, the actual notebook will continue evolving to a more complex and advanced scenario. In conclusion, the present paper´s aim is to reflect on and analyze certain elements to open new doors to the inspectorate. Therefore, we are presenting a model we have created to work within our Autonomous Community considering its virtues and potentialities. We are also pointing out some key elements we should improve towards excellence and efficiency within our professional careers.

Mesa redonda: Papel de la inspección en la innovación educativa

A summary of the round table discussion developed in The Congress of Education Inspectors held in October 2016 in Valladolid. The main ideas that were discussed were how throughout the history of the Inspectors have always been involved in innovation and how the White Paper of the teaching profession and its School environment is that the inspection becomes a significant agent of the educational change. A methodological change is urgently needed in classrooms and centers with a work by competencies, the inspection should, through control and supervision, verify that these innovations are being carried out. That paradigmatic change that is being happening in the educational field requires a rethinking of the inspection functions and the new role that inspectors must assume, taking into account that there are different inspections in Europe that are already changing the model. Some Autonomous Regions are publishing innovation rules and granting inspection to their monitoring and evaluation systems. There are three possible and compatible models of performance of the innovative inspection: one, based on the control and supervision so that apply the rule that makes innovation possible; another, which is to enable the pedagogical autonomy of the centers; And the third model of collaboration and involvement in the innovation of the centers. It is dangerous for inspection to be dedicated only to the main functions are those of control and supervision and avoid oversaturation of many actions that are not his own. There must be a leadership and coordination on the part of the inspection of educational services that involve the centers, but points out the danger that this may dilute the inspection role. The inspection would have to have more pedagogical training in order to do their job well and have more influence in the centers and the faculty.

Vocational Education and Training in Rural Zimbabwe: Attitudes and Opinions of Students, Teachers and Education Inspectors: The Case of Murewa District

The 2008 global economic crisis has seen young people’s career and employment prospects dwindle, particularly for those based in rural areas. Governments in both industrialised and developing countries are considering vocational education reform to meet nations’ employment and economic needs. Despite renewed interest in VET, the sentiments of students and teachers remain largely unexplored. This study investigated the views and attitudes of students, teachers and education inspectors towards VET in rural Zimbabwe. The findings revealed divergent views. It emerged that most students did not necessarily have negative views of VET, but they were put off by the low status, lack of choice and the lacklustre delivery of VET. Teachers and students alike were sceptical about the role of VET in securing employment. This study will contribute to the on-going review of Zimbabwe’s education system and will inform school managers and policy makers on curriculum development and culture change in rural communities and schools.

Assessment quality and practices in secondary PE in the Netherlands

ABSTRACTBackground: Assessment can have various functions, and is an important impetus for student learning. For assessment to be effective, it should be aligned with curriculum goals and of sufficient quality. Although it has been suggested that assessment quality in physical education (PE) is suboptimal, research into actual assessment practices has been relatively scarce.Purpose: The goals of the present study were to determine the quality of assessment, teachers’ views on the functions of assessment, the alignment of assessment with learning goals, and the actual assessment practices in secondary PE in the Netherlands.Participants and setting: A total of 260 PE teachers from different schools in the Netherlands filled out an online Physical Education Assessment Questionnaire (PEAQ) on behalf of their school.Data collection: The online questionnaire (PEAQ) contained the following sections: quality of assessment, intended functions of assessment, assessment practices, and intended goals of PE.Data analysis: Percentages of agreement were calculated for all items. In addition, assessment quality items were recoded into a numerical value between 1 and 5 (mean ± SD). Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for each predefined quality aspect of the PEAQ, and for assessment quality as a whole.Findings: Mean assessment quality (±SD) was 3.6 ± 0.6. With regard to the function of assessment, most PE teachers indicated that they intended using assessment as a means of supporting the students’ learning process (formative function). At the same time, the majority of schools take PE grades into account for determining whether a student may enter the next year (summative function). With regard to assessment practices, a large variety of factors are included when grading, and observation is by far the assessment technique most widely applied. A minority of PE teachers grade students without predetermined assessment criteria, and usually criteria are identical for all students. There is an apparent discrepancy between reported PE goals and assessment practices; although increasing students’ fitness levels is the least important goal of PE lessons according to the PE teachers, 81% reports that fitness is one of the factors being judged. Conversely, while 94% considers gaining knowledge about physical activity and sports as one of the goals of PE, only 34% actually assesses knowledge.Conclusions: Assessment in Dutch PE is of moderate quality. The findings further suggest that PE teachers consider assessment for learning important but that their assessment practices are not generally in line with this view. Furthermore, there seems to be a lack of alignment between intended learning outcomes and what is actually being valued and assessed. We believe that these results call for a concerted effort from PE departments, school boards, and the education inspectorate to scrutinise existing assessment practices, and work together to optimise PE assessment.

La inspección de enseñanza primaria y la consolidación del sistema escolar en la provincia de Teruel (1849-1900)

The Inspectorate of Education in Spain was created in 1849. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the supervision of schools was for the first time in the hands of professional officials that used uniform education criteria for all schools. As delegates of the government, these helped to consolidate the school system, which, after the enactment of the Public Education Act of 1857, was gradually but very significantly implemented throughout the nation. The article describes the operation of the first provincial inspectors in Teruel, a rural province in the interior of Spain, which had high rates of illiteracy and serious problems with school attendance, teacher remuneration, and lack of schools, especially for girls. This article describes the work of the provincial inspectors, who, through their association with the Provincial Board of Education, managed to improve all aspects related to the working and living conditions of teachers: state exams, pay, classification for promotion or regulation of promotions, transfers and substitutions. It also studies the inspection visits to schools, and their contribution to both the improvement in school organization and the teaching methodology used by teachers in one-room schools.

Risk-based school inspections: impact of targeted inspection approaches on Dutch secondary schools

In most countries, publicly funded schools are held accountable to one inspectorate and are judged against agreed national standards. Many inspectorates of education have recently moved towards more proportional risk-based inspection models, targeting high-risk schools for visits, while schools with satisfactory student attainment levels are excluded from inspections. This paper looks into these newer inspection models and aims to enhance our understanding of the potential effectiveness of such targeted models on student attainment and other performance indicators. Random effects models, analyzing changes in schools over time, indicate that targeted inspections particularly have an effect on student attainment in literacy in weak schools, while also impacting on student satisfaction, student numbers and student-staff ratios.

The school in construction of cultural and linguistic borders in Uruguay of the end of the Nineteenth Century

A fines del siglo XIX, Uruguay inició su primer período de construcción nacional. La reforma escolar de 1877, liderada por José Pedro Varela, desempeñó un rol fundamental en este proceso. En este trabajo se estudia como la escuela construyó las fronteras culturales y lingüísticas del país, mediante la creación de escuelas rurales y la preocupación por el uso del portugués en las escuelas rurales fronterizas, representándolo como amenaza a la nacionalidad. Se analizan obras pedagógicas e informes técnicos de Varela y otros documentos de la reforma. Primero se presenta el contexto socio- histórico y educativo del país y la figura de Varela. Luego se discute el lugar asignado a la lengua y a la escuela, y en particular a las escuelas rurales.

The nice case of the greek inspector

It is described the disappearance of the Inspector of Education in the Greek educational system and the recent discussion on recovery or not on the context of political and social changes of modern Greece. This portrait is described within the political and social historical area of Greece. Finally, conclusions about the institution of inspector of education and its relevance in the European context are extracted. No direct similarities are established with the Spanish case.

Tools for teacher assessment development

Starting from the idea that the highest levels of success of an education system depend largely on the quality of teachers and considering that the current regulatory framework defines assessment as a valuable tool for monitoring and assessment of results and improvement of the processes, it is essential to establish the general characteristics of this assessment, evaluation procedures and tools and the strong involvement of inspectorate of education in a process that should be one of its priority duties and responsibilities. Considering the need to establish a framework in the form of rubric, we try to check in short the main procedures and instruments for carrying teacher assessment, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages, always from the perspective of inspectorate of education.

Effective and inclusive schools? Attention to diversity in highly effective schools in the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country

ABSTRACTThis paper forms part of a research project that aims to characterise best practices in highly effective schools in the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country (ARBC). The aim is for the best practices identified to serve as points of reference when designing improvement plans to be implemented in all schools in the ARBC, with the advice and support of the education inspectorate. Highly effective schools are identified through the results of the Diagnostic Assessments carried out by the Basque Institute for Research and Evaluation in Education (ISEI-IVEI) of all primary and secondary schools in the ARBC. Multilevel statistical modelling and Hierarchical Linear Models were used to select 32 highly effective schools, with highly effective being taken to mean any school with higher-than-expected student results after adjusting for the effect of contextual factors. Eighty-three interviews were conducted with management teams, educational advisors and inspectors at each of the selected schools. This paper presents the results obtained in relation to how attention to diversity is organised. The practices identified included, among others, inclusive actions such as support teaching in ordinary classrooms, the splitting up of classroom groups, the formation of heterogeneous groups and the conceptualisation of the support provided as a shared teaching responsibility.

Atención a la diversidad en la educación secundaria obligatoria: Análisis desde la inspección educativa

The objective of this study is twofold: The first is to determine the perceptions that education inspection professionals have on the attention to diversity in compulsory secondary education; and secondly, to check if there are differences in the perception of these professionals that depend on certain socio-demographic variables. For this purpose, an “ad hoc” questionnaire was applied (demographic data), and another for the assessment of attention to diversity as an educational dimension in schools (EVADIE: inspection education version) to 62 education inspectors of the Autonomous Community of Galicia (Spain). The results show a sense of diversity as something positive and rewarding that should be included in educational projects for schools, focused on educational and vocational guidance according to the abilities of the students. In addition, the study provides empirical evidence of weakness in the socio-demographic variables of the education inspection on the attention to diversity in compulsory secondary education centres. There are only significant differences according to age (in the curriculum, ordinary and extraordinary measures), antiquity (in the curriculum and the extraordinary measures), qualification (in the centre and curriculum), and province (in the centre and concept of diversity).

The perceived value-relevance of open data in the parents’ choice of Dutch primary schools

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived value-relevance of open data published by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education in the parents’ choice of Dutch primary schools.Design/methodology/approach– Empirical data were collected through a mixed method strategy including quantitative and qualitative methods: quantitative surveys among parents of pupils in 25 primary schools; and semi-structured in-depth interviews using a topic list.Findings– Parents make little use of the Inspectorate’s website compared to other information sources. The perceived usefulness of this website to parents choosing a primary school is also relatively low. Personal information gathered by school visits, written information from schools and information from other parents are more important sources.Research limitations/implications– Subjective considerations, such as the atmosphere and ambience of a school, play an important role in parents’ choice behavior. Pragmatic considerations also play a role, such as a school’s nearness. This study shows that it is necessary to rethink the rational assumptions behind publishing performance data.Practical implications– This study observed a mismatch between the demand and supply of open data about primary schools. The Inspectorate’s publication strategy is based on “hard” and “written” data presented on a website, but parents also appreciate “soft” and personal “oral” data. Parents state that the Inspectorate should not only focus on negative school results for censuring (“naming and shaming”), but also give attention to schools that perform well (“naming and faming”).Originality/value– Research about parents’ and citizens’ use of quality information in general is scarce. These findings show that parents’ choice behavior is less rational than assumed. Relativistic notions about decision-making processes are recognized in other studies also, but they suggest that highly educated parents are over-represented in the group of parents who actively make school choices, whereas this study found no indications that parents’ educational level affects their choices.

Analysis of the Perceptions of Administrators on the Educations Regulations

The main purpose of the Ministry of National Education Guidance and Inspection Directorate and Education Inspectors Directorates Regulation consists of defining the organizations and duties of these directorates. In this respect, the regulation deals with the power and responsibilities of education inspectors to be appointed in the directorates separately and regulates issues such as their appointment, employment, training and replacement; in short all working style and principles. In this study, it is aimed at analyzing and evaluating the Ministry of National Education Guidance and Supervision Directorate and Education Inspectors Directorates Regulation taking the views of inspectors in the dimensions of structure, process and understanding. In line with this purpose, the views of education inspectors (N=86) have been obtained by Baskan and Kapusuzoğlu (2013) through a survey of 25 items developed in line with the regulations. The obtained data has been analyzed through averages, the T- test, Anova and Tukey-B tests. As a result of the study, it has been concluded that the inspectors do not find the application terms related to the competition examination and the changes made in terms of the examination board, regulations made in terms of the reclamation period and the oral examination process “appropriate” and that they find the regulations related to the written examination subjects and score weight, their training and appointment “partially appropriate.” In addition, the views of the inspectors do not display differences based on personal characteristics with the exception of terms of service.