The inspection of education places the emphasis on persuasive supervision: it encourages schools to continually improve the quality of education. In the future, inspectors will not only have to encourage, but also take firm action.
11 February 2006
Educational institutions are more autonomous than ever before. They have more freedom in which to shape their education. At the same time, parents, pupils and teachers need to be certain that the education is of a good standard and meets certain minimum quality standards. Similarly, the tax payer wants to know that public spending has produced results: diplomas must have a certain value, and pupils need to have certain knowledge and competencies. If the results are found to be wanting, action will be needed. Encouragement should be tactful, but in some cases also powerful and vigorous.
Inspectors should establish and enforce standards
The Education Council believes that the Inspectorate can do more in its role as the enforcer of quality. Apart from an information role, the Inspectorate is also responsible for clarifying the norms for good education in the various educational sectors. Schools need to know what standards they need to meet, and the inspectors should make sure they meet them. These standards include, for example, the number of weeks teaching pupils should receive each year, the number of fully qualified teachers in a school, or the minimum standard children should attain in language or maths at a given age.
Give the inspectors more powers
If a school is found not to meet the agreed standards, possibly repeatedly, the Inspectorate's recommendations need to be more than ‘encouraging'. Inspectors need to be able to act. To do more than simply give school governors a stern talking to or a public warning, inspectors need to be given more powers. The Education Council believes that the power to impose fines or the power to force schools to catch up on missed teaching time could prove beneficial.