Background and aim of the project Although significant improvements have been made in many European countries over the last five years, many countries still need substantial improvements to meet the 2020 benchmarks from the EU strategic framework for Education and Training. Education outcomes need to be improved according to the 2013 monitoring report, and schools need to continuously improve their provision and quality of teaching to meet these goals. Our previous work shows that Inspectorates of Education have an important role in driving school improvement, particularly in schools performing below inspection targets. Inspectorates of Education are however less well equipped to contribute to innovative and localized problem solving; their centralized top down approach enhances and legitimizes a ‘one size fits all’ strategy for success to national standards, encourage risk averse behavior in schools and window-dressing of successful rituals (see O’Day, 2002). Also inspection feedback is often distant (in time) from the behavior the feedback is related to and therefore does not contribute to the trialing and testing of new solutions. Many countries recognize the need to reshape their inspection systems and redefine the role of Inspectorates of Education to better fit localized decision-making and local structures and networks for improvement. These models are described as polycentric school inspections. Polycentric school inspections evaluate and assess the quality and functioning of networks of schools and/or their stakeholders, with the purpose of validating and supporting school to school improvement and cooperation at the local level. This project aims to develop and test these polycentric models of school inspections and specifically look at the mechanisms and context of their impact. Number and profile of participants A preliminary scoping exercise identified examples of polycentric school inspections in the Netherlands, England and Northern Ireland and examples being developed in Bulgaria. In each of these countries, researchers, Inspectorates of Education and a network of schools they will inspect are included as participants on this project. The extended project summary includes a description of each case and participating partners and how polycentric inspections will be evaluated in each country. Methodology and description of activities In the study we will use a case study approach to collect qualitative social network data in four countries about the knowledge exchange and interactions between schools and inspection organizations before, during and after an inspection visit and to learn about the role of school inspectors and the working methods they use, how these methods impact on improvement of schools and facilitate innovation and dissemination of knowledge. Additionally we will survey Inspectorates of Education across Europe (through the SICI network) to find good examples of polycentric inspections in other countries and use a literature review to evaluate their potential effectiveness for improvement of schools. The project will include the following four phases: • Phase 1: mapping four existing examples of polycentric school inspections • Phase 2: literature review and ex ante evaluation • Phase 3: scoping good examples across Europe (survey and document analysis of SICI profiles) • Phase 4: studying impact of four examples of polycentric inspections Description of the results and impact envisaged The results include scientific papers, written and video narratives on a website, data collection instruments, presentations to SICI and scientific conferences, a MOOC and an international symposium. Target groups for these results are the network of schools, their stakeholders and school inspectors in the four case studies in our project, as well as representatives of primary and secondary schools, teachers and head teachers, school boards, departments of Education in the countries in our project, and the European Association of Inspectorates of Education (SICI). Potential longer term benefits Long term impact is ensured through open access and active dissemination of our results to stakeholders (national Inspectorates of Education, SICI, OECD, researchers), participation of the researchers in a new Special Interest Group on ‘Educational Evaluation, Accountability and School Improvement’ of EARLI, and project partners’ role in editing a new book series on educational accountability.
• Context/background of the project and objectives This study looked at four countries (England, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria) which have, in various ways and degrees, seen the establishment of networks to coordinate educational quality and improvement, such as through Multi-Academy Trusts in England, networks for inclusive education in the Netherlands, area learning communities in Northern Ireland and a peer review network in Bulgaria. This study analysed the ways in which educational networks can be held to account effectively; it provided an overview of models of inspections of educational networks across Europe and reported the findings of four case studies which provide evidence of effective ways to hold networks accountable for their performance and functioning. • Number and profile of participating organisations; This project included a research team from the Netherlands, England, Ireland and Bulgaria who closely worked with Inspectorates of Education in these countries, and with SICI, the European Association of Inspectorates of Education to implement the study and disseminate outcomes. • Description of undertaken main activities; The project was implemented in four phases as outlined in our application: Phase 1: mapping four existing examples of inspections of educational networks (also called ‘polycentric school inspections’) Phase 2: literature review and ex ante evaluation to understand potential effects and mechanisms of impact of inspections of educational networks Phase 3: scoping good examples of inspections of educational networks across Europe (survey and document analysis of SICI profiles) Phase 4: studying impact of four examples of inspections of educational networks (or: polycentric inspections) in the Netherlands, Bulgaria, England and Northern Ireland. • Results and impact attained and long-term benefits; Each of the four phases had specific outcomes and results, such as blogs, scientific papers, written and video narratives, data collection instruments, presentations to SICI and scientific conferences, a MOOC and an international symposium; all our outcomes and results were published on the project website: www.schoolinspections.eu. Our project website provides a complete overview of results attained, both main project findings as well as country-specific findings. Our findings are also published in journals, conference handbooks, and incorporated in teaching (Mas in the respective countries, as well as in a short course, taught at the UCL Institute of Education to an (annual) cohort of 30 inspectors from various countries. The study improved our understanding of 1) how educational networks are being developed across Europe and how these form part of a larger trend of network governance, and how they can potentially contribute to improvement of education, 2) how Inspectorates can effectively inspect networks and conditions for doing so (including roles and responsibilities, trust, involvement of stakeholders, specific methodology). In Northern Ireland, our findings indicate that horizontal arrangements for the evaluation and inspection of the West Belfast ALC improved learning outcomes across the area; in Bulgaria the school network improved parental involvement in schools across the network, while both schools and the Sofia Inspectorate of Education developed their evaluation literacy and capacity through jointly engaging in self-evaluation, peer review and a thematic inspection. In England, our findings indicated how our case study MAT developed internal structures for quality control in response to Ofsted (school) inspections and monitoring of RSCs and we worked with Ofsted in developing their new framework for MAT reviews. In the Netherlands our findings suggest a lack of impact of inspections of cooperatives for inclusive education, where the framework increases bureaucracy and a preoccupation with the setting of internal organisation of the network and monitoring structures, instead of ensuring inclusive education across the region. Ongoing conversations with the Dutch Inspectorate of Education inform the further development of a more effective inspection framework. Our findings suggest that inspections can have a positive impact on the development, functioning and performance of educational networks, but only when using bottom-up subjectivist approaches to inspection, focusing on network-level outcomes (instead of those of single schools), where stakeholders are involved in setting the agenda for the inspection and inspections are implemented in an environment of high trust and continuing support. Examples of effective inspections have been shared through our interactive map (http://www.schoolinspections.eu/interactive-map/), presentations at SICI (the European Association of Inspectorates of Education), the project leaders’ involvement in the OECD’s SEG (strategic education governance) advisory board, as well as through the aforementioned publicatio