National Inspection Research Articles

Organisation de la gestion de l'eau en Pologne

This article deals with the Polish system of water management, which is organized between seven Regional Boards of Water Management (RZGW) dependent on the Environment Ministry. Their task of management is completed by executive tasks of Regional Directions of Water Administration and by research tasks of the Meteorology Institute. The last, but not least institution of water management in Poland are the regional and national Inspections of Environmental Protection.

Influences on the Literacy Hour

This paper outlines some of the key influences on the development of the National Literacy Strategy. In particular, it concentrates on the influences of international data on reading standards, international analyses of school effectiveness and some sources which have influenced the main components of the Framework for Teaching which supports the Literacy Hour. Finally, it draws upon national inspection evidence that many schools are likely to have much to gain from adopting the Literacy Hour. This conclusion is supported by the highly significant gains in the achievement of over 7000 pupils which have been reported in the evaluations of the National Literacy Project (NLP), the initiative on which the National Literacy Strategy is based. The paper is based on a more detailed review of research and other related evidence (Beard, in press).

External Inspection or School Self‐evaluation? A Comparative Analysis of Policy and Practice in Primary Schools in England and Finland

AbstractThe findings reported in this article form part of a wider comparative research project investigating the processes of curriculum change in primary schools in England and Finland during the period 1994–97. The two countries’ policies on inspection and monitoring were moving in opposite directions. Finland has abandoned its national inspection system and is promoting school self‐evaluation, whilst in England external accountability has been imposed on schools through Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections. Using data from case studies of six schools in each country, it is argued that each country has something to learn from the practice of the other. In England, the impact of OFSTED inspections has been mainly on policies and procedures, rather than on classroom practice, and the effects on teacher morale have been debilitating. In Finland, although early attempts at school self‐evaluation have lacked a whole‐school strategy, ownership of the evaluation process by teachers, together with inputs from parental feedback and pupil self‐assessment, have contributed to positive changes in classroom practice.

The Fourth European Trainees Forum

The Fourth European Trainees Forum met In Lisbon in April 1996. Twenty-six delegates from 14 countries came together to discuss psychiatric training in the European context. New to the Forum was Austria, with the result that now all the countries of the European Union training psychiatrists are members of the Forum, with Norway and Switzerland present as well. The meeting began with a morning conference for Portuguese trainees on The identity of the psychiatrist in the 21st century', followed by a day and a half of round-table discussions. One of the aims of the Forum has been to expand activity between its annual meetings. Over the past year the Forum has had observer status on the European Boards for Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This allowed proposing amendments to the Charters on the Minimum Requirements for Specialist Training in the European Union. Forum members also contributed to a symposium on training in Strasbourg in October 1995 organised by the Association of European Psychiatrists (AEP). Two important training issues were discussed in detail quality assurance of training institu tions and requirements for supervisors of train ing. Only four countries Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway and the UK have a system of inspection visits which include a trainee on the approval team; the majority have no national inspection process at all. Indeed, on hearing of the approval visit system that exists in the UK and Ireland, one representative exclaimed that it must be paradise to work as a trainee here! The Forum has recommended that a national system of regular inspection visits with trainee involve ment should be a mandatory requirement of national training programmes. On the matter of supervision, it is clear that this is variable both within and between countries. Interestingly, representatives from The Netherlands and Ger many stressed the distinction between the 'trainer' who provides the trainee with day to day clinical advice and the 'supervisor' who monitors the trainee's progress on a weekly basis but with a longer-term perspective. The Forum agreed that 'supervisors' need specific training in

>OFSTED: inspecting schools and improvement through inspection

Abstract Approximately one‐third of all maintained secondary schools in England, and a smaller tranche of nursery, primary and special schools, were inspected under the arrangements set out in Section 9 of the 1992 Education (Schools) Act by the end of 1994. This article reviews some aspects of quality assurance in the national inspection system in England. It looks in particular at the improvement of inspection and at improvement through inspection. Continuous improvement of the inspection system reflects feedback from key stakeholders, as well as work by OFSTED to incorporate new developments. Improvement through inspection, broadly defined, has to cover both what occurs at the individual school level and in the system at large as a result of inspection. We argue that an effective inspection system can provide a powerful incentive for, as well as directly contributing to, school improvement and development

The Future GMP Inspection System (Inside and outside the European Community): What Does Subsidiarity Really Mean?

This paper covers the “new system” for marketing authorization in the European Community, particularly with regard to the manufacture and import of medicinal products, effective from 1995 onwards. The role of national inspection services will be modified under this system, in order to move from a country-by-country system to a community-wide system. Harmonization of inspection practices, preapproval inspections, laboratory controls, and relations with non-European Community countries have all been rethought. Manufacturing of investigational medicinal products is covered by good manufacturing practice.

Wastage due to diseases and defects in very young calves slaughtered in New Zealand

Analysis of disease and defect data from a national meat inspection database for very young calves slaughtered in New Zealand up to 1987 revealed low prevalences of diseases and defects but relatively high condemnation rates within particular disease and defect categories. Calves slaughtered between 1987 and 1992 showed a decrease in the total condemnation rate of carcasses from 2.20% to 1.17%. The greatest reductions in condemnation rates were seen in the categories of wounds and bruises and "other" reasons; navel ill (omphalophlebitis) was initially included in the latter category and condemnations due to this condition persisted as the most frequent cause of wastage. The decrease in condemnation rates occurred subsequent to implementation of a national farm-gate quality assurance programme and a scientific investigation of traditional meat inspection carcass condemnation criteria. The former led to an increase in the quality of calves submitted for slaughter and the latter to changes in specifications for meat inspection judgments for several localised and resolved diseases and defects. Alterations to the disease and defect recording categories of the database have resulted in more appropriate national statistics and such a database can be used to identify inconsistencies in the application of meat inspection judgments between slaughterhouses.

Inventory of Highway Infrastructure Problems Through Bridge Inspection

Today, bridge inspection is a very systematic procedure. In order to assist in this effort, national bridge inspection standards have been developed for the use of various state and county agencies. This paper presents an overview of the inspection procedures used and investigates problems associated with the implementation of inspection standards. It recommends that additional funds are required to train inspectors and to purchase equipment necessary to perform thorough inspections. The study was conducted in a typical region on the Gulf Coast. On‐system inspections revealed deteriorations that were, for the most part, cosmetic in nature. The deficiencies encountered were found not to greatly affect the structural integrity of the facilities under investigation. However, the off‐system inspections revealed that 41.2% of the structures in this category have a load‐carrying capacity below H10. In addition, 8.3% of off‐system bridges were recommended for closure. Various recommendations that can be followed...

Food inspection and EEC policy

A European study of the organisation of efficient food inspection systems is needed before more radical changes in national inspection systems are attempted through harmonisation in the EEC. The author discusses food inspection in the Netherlands, the present state of harmonisation and the problems arising from it, paying particular attention to meat and meat products. Difficulties arise when veterinarians are given exclusive responsibility for policing regulations.

The Private Enforcement of Law

The Private Enforcement of Law

On the Rice Grain Quality with Reference to the National Inspection Gradation

1. Rice products mainly consist of normal, green, rusty, milky-white, deformed and opaque grains, and inspection grade is principally decided according to the percentage of normal grains present in the whole lot, because most of the factors, affecting gradation closely relate to this percentage. 2. Quality of normal grains is indicated by the density of starch accumulation in peripheral region of rice grain which has negative correlation with percentage of basal white grains present in normal grains. This percentage is correlated with percentage of bran to grain in weight and milling-loss of rice, then negativly correlated with specific gravity of rice. In general, high grade rice in national inspection shows a low number of this percentage. 3. The correlation between cooking quality and inspection grade of rice is not recognized, because cooking quality is more or less affected by environmental conditions during the ripening period of rice but usually, depends on varietal charactoristic.

The national physical laboratory inspection by the general board

The national physical laboratory inspection by the general board

The School Question in Belgium

The Belgian primary schools are administered by the authorities of the communes. The central government, however, contributes large subsidies to the support of the primary schools and establishes certain requirements to which the primary schools must conform. The administration of the subsidies, including the national publicschool inspection service, falls to the Minister of Sciences and Arts. For fifty years or more the so-called school war has been waged in Belgium over religious courses in the public schools and state control of private religious schools. Religious instruction in the public schools was established by the law of 1895 and has been in operation since that date. Parents who do not wish their children to take the religious courses may have them exempted. Political control of the public schools has also been a major issue for many years in Belgium. In politics the school war is reflected in the activities of the Catholic or Clerical party and of the Liberal or anti-clerical party. Each of these parties has undertaken to use the public schools to impress the minds of the children with its political principles. The present political situation in Belgium gives added interest to M. Destr6e's address.

Attitude of the Nurseryman Toward a National Inspection and Quarantine Law

Attitude of the Nurseryman Toward a National Inspection and Quarantine Law

National Inspection to Prevent Importation of Destructive Insects

National Inspection to Prevent Importation of Destructive Insects