DIOCESAN EDUCATION SERVICE Inspection 2012 The new inspection process

DIOCESAN EDUCATION SERVICE

Inspection 2012Inspection 2012

The new inspection process


AgendaAgenda

• How we have come to where we are with inspection

• The changes in the 2012 Framework

• The new inspection process


Change 1998-2009Change 1998-20091998

No reference in Framework to monitoring; leadership only mentioned as an adjunct to the mission statement with no judgement about leadership per se

2000Self evaluation not a required area for inspectors to judge: simply one consideration which should contribute to a judgement about leadership. Focus was mission, documentation, leading spiritual life, ethos.

2003

Management of Catholic life: the school undertakes rigorous self-evaluation of all aspects of its Catholic life and religious education

and uses the findings effectively


Change to 2009Change to 20092005

How effectively the Catholic life of the school is monitored and evaluated (just the fifth of 5 elements in judging leadership and management)

2009How well leaders and managers promote, monitor and evaluate the provision for the Catholic life of the school and plan and implement improvement to outcomes for pupils

2012

Inspectors should review the school’s evaluation of (outcomes for pupils, CW, etc): and

Inspectors should evaluate: how effective the school’s self

evaluation is


2012 changes: why?2012 changes: why?

• Reports tell us little about what constitutes good or better quality of Catholic life/RE, why quality and standards are or are not as they should be, or how good schools achieve their outcomes

• Inspections of individual schools increasingly repetitive – good schools 3 years ago are generally good schools now: reports read the same

• Self-evaluation now strong in many schools – we need to reflect this in the way we inspect

• As self evaluation is now strong, inspection often reduced to telling the school what it already knows; rarely any surprises as there were in 1990s


Purpose of inspectionsPurpose of inspectionsAn effective inspection system has at least four important outcomes:

• Good inspections provide the school with a clear independent evaluation of its strengths and the areas in which it needs to improve. This is now focused upon the school’s self-evaluation of its strengths and development needs;

• The diocese obtains valid evidence of the quality of the Catholic life and religious education in its schools;

• Inspection reports provide useful information for parents;

• the school’s response to an inspection leads to better quality Catholic education.

The central purpose is to make inspection unnecessary


What change?What change?Ofsted: two forms of inspection –

a. inspection of standards and quality which tell us about individual schools

b. Surveys of themes or subjects which tell us about standards & quality and about successful and unsuccessful practice across a range of schools

Diocese: at present one form coinciding with Ofsted’s (a) above


What change (2)?What change (2)?

• S48 inspection 2012 in the diocese will seek to blend the two forms of inspection used by Ofsted

But first:

• Framework 2012• Nationally agreed guidelines for

inspection – not yet wholly finalised

• Diocesan variations


Framework 2012Framework 2012

Looks and is significantly similar to 2009 framework – 3 main judgements

Ofsted s48

Achievement Outcomes

Quality of teaching Provision

L&M L&M

Behaviour & Safety

Overall effectiveness Overall effectiveness


Schedule and GuidanceSchedule and Guidance

• Schedule sets out what must be inspected

• Guidance and descriptors are to assist schools and inspectors in making judgements – they are advisory

• Descriptors are generic and cannot fit any individual school


Main changes to inspection scheduleMain changes to inspection schedule

• More emphasis on pupils’ spiritual, moral and vocational development

• No separate judgement about governors

• Separate paragraph on community cohesion removed

• Curriculum requirements re-defined

• No separate judgement about capacity for sustained improvement

• Key judgement about the effectiveness of the school’s self evaluation included


Additions to Outline GuidanceAdditions to Outline Guidance

Leadership and Management• the robustness of the defence of Catholic life and RE

in relation to current context and policies in education

• the extent to which the school is committed to Catholic partnerships and collaborations especially in its local area

• the extent to which leaders foster and draw upon the gifts, qualities and competencies of the staff and pupils to contribute to the good of the whole school


The new inspection processThe new inspection process


Read through the extracts from the pilot reports


Two parts to inspectionTwo parts to inspection

• Inspection – effectiveness of the school judged by validation of the school’s self evaluation

• Survey – gathering of thematic and subject evidence


Pre-inspection: validationPre-inspection: validation• School provides its self evaluation in advance of

inspection (diocesan SEF or one of school’s own design)

• Inspector reviews the SSE (school self evaluation) together with other documents – RAISEonline, school and subject improvement plans, performance data where appropriate

• Inspector identifies two areas to validate during the school visit, one of which should always be an aspect of Catholic life. Teaching and learning in RE will always be one of the areas to be validated. The areas for validation will be either where the SSE looks strong or where the commentary by the school raises questions or doubts for the inspector


ReportingReporting

Report will be written with two sectionsa. Quality of the school self evaluation

b. Judgements about the rest of the required elements in the framework in conformity with the school’s own judgements if the self evaluation is judged to be reliable


Exempt schoolsExempt schools

• Schools judged by Ofsted to be outstanding will be exempt from further inspection – they will not be exempt from s48 and canon law inspection

• A proportion will be inspected in each of the five years of the inspection cycle, normally three years after the s5 inspection which judged them to be outstanding


ExceptionsExceptions

• The Diocesan Education Service reserves the right to inspect schools according to the regulations and framework January 2012 under the following circumstances:• A school fails to provide satisfactory evidence of self

evaluation• Complaints about RE or the Catholic life of the school from a

significant number of parents, governors or other stakeholders

• Persistent and major weaknesses in Catholic life or religious education

• An inspector’s visit raises major concerns about a school: following support and advice, a full inspection would be undertaken at a later date.


Validating self evaluationValidating self evaluation


School Self EvaluationSchool Self Evaluation


Inspection and self evaluationInspection and self evaluation• In order to write a report the inspector must have a clear

understanding of the process of self evaluation that the school has used:• What monitoring has taken place?• Are different forms of monitoring (eg lesson observations, work

scrutiny, pupil interviews used to check findings)• Does monitoring identify both strengths and areas for

development?• Does it happen at appropriate times and intervals?• Have findings been drawn out and evaluated?• Have the findings and evaluation been shared with staff? How?• Has the evaluation contributed to the school and subject planning

for improvement?• Do plans have manageable targets for improvement and success

criteria?• Have plans been implemented and reviewed?• To what extent have governors been involved in the process?


Inspection and self evaluationInspection and self evaluation

• The task for inspectors is to judge the reliability of the self evaluation:• the school’s process of monitoring, evaluation, improvement

planning, implementation and review• the accuracy of the judgements made at all stages of the

process• the appropriateness of the priorities emerging from

monitoring and evaluation• the awareness and involvement of staff in the

implementation of plans• The impact of planning on improvement of outcomes for

pupils through improved provision


Reporting on the rest of the FrameworkReporting on the rest of the Framework

• If the self evaluation has been validated, the rest of the report should conform to the school’s views of itself, but written in the inspector’s words

• If the self evaluation is not validated, the inspector should make own judgements where possible.


Thematic surveyThematic survey


SurveySurvey• Themes will be decided in advance by the DES and

will last for a half term for primary schools but will be individual to the school for secondary (numbers issue)

• s48 will happen in the half term after s5 inspection & schools will be told what the theme will be following their s5 inspection

• Themes in secondary may differ from those in primary

• Detailed brief will be provided by the DES for each theme

Documents

DIOCESAN EDUCATION SERVICE Inspection 2012 The new inspection process