Educational systems vary from one European country to another, due to traditions and the way they are organized. Yet, they all face similar problems, highlighted by the the various investigations and assessments they are submitted to. Confronted to a high, persistent rate of failure and early leaving or dropout, ithough different from one country to anothe, yet always too high, the stakeholders need to consider the different ways to improve the quality of education and training. The inspectorate, wherever such a profession exists, is in charge of assessing teachers’practices and implementing new and more efficient ways of teaching. Even though the missions of the inspectorate may vary widely from one country to another, all inspectors have to answer the same questions, namely, how they can can manage the different participants in the educational process, to what extent and using what methods, to get better results both with the students and the different schools and other educational units they are responsible for ? Our project of strategic partnership of school education, entitled « European exchanges of inspection practices (EEIP)» aims at establishing a picture of the different ways and modes of inspection based on the shared experience of inspectors and on common observations of three educational systems in Spain (Canary Islands), Belgium (Wallonia and Brussels federation) and France (académie de Nice). Shared audits, meetings and exchanges with head teachers and teachers, confrontation between different approaches, and possibly reconsidered goals and zones of intervention, will lead to the construction of common tools and levers to promote a high quality level of achievement for all students throughout their school years whether before or after compulsory education. Beyond professional enrichment, stakholders aim at a harmonisation of practices between the three partners, that could show the way to wider European harmonisation in the future . Inspectors taking part in the project belong to the three European regions mentionned. They have varied fiels of action, from individual inspection of teachers, to inspection and assessement of schools. Some work on academic subjects whereas others have a systemic approach ; some have a wide scope of action while others are restricted to one particular level or cycle. From their common observations, and activities and from the comparisons between the different systems, they all mean to get new and wider visions and perspectives as good for themselves as for the schools, teachers and students they manage. Three sessions of professional exchanges, common audits, conferences and meetings with the different educational communities within the three partner areas, will result in the production of oververviews,methodological tools for comparison and reflection and follow up leads of action which will be released and circulated online and during specific meetings and conferences.
• Context of the project Considering : - The global environment in which school training is included, - The absolute necessity to reach a knowledge society in which every citizen will have to involve, - The high levels of school dropout, the 3 partners of the project, in charge of educative systems in the Canary Islands (Spain), in the Wallonia-Brussels federation (Belgium) and in the Academy of Nice (France) decided to engage a strong action at a european level. This action has been given to the inspections units in the 3 partner countries. • Goals In this context, the project goals are defined around 2 main themes : - Discover and analyse the 3 education systems. - Discover, compare and analyse the inspection systems and the evaluation modalities in the 3 countries. - To that one must add the will to begin the harmonization of practices by putting together the most efficient practices in this field. • Number and profile of participating organizations The 3 organizations associated to the project are the Academy of Nice for France, the autonomous community of Canary Islands for Spain and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation for Belgium. Each structure identified and charged 12 inspectors from first and second degrees to create the hard core of the working group, so composed of 36 inspectors from 3 different nationalities. • Description of the main activities implemented The project has been prepared and followed through numerous conference calls, emails and videoconferences. 4 transnational meetings allowed the 12 inspectors to prepare the plenary sessions, the research activities, the readings, the conferences… The last meeting was dedicated to the results and the report of the project. Three common training events in each partner country lead to the implementation of the work prepared by the transnational steering committee : visits in schools, observation of classes, meeting with the management and educational teams, discussions between inspectors, conferences following, round tables, inspection reports, interpersonal relations. • Results and impacts The EEPI project has been an amazing human and professionnal experience. Through the possibilities offered by Erasmus +, the inspectors were able to meet each others, to compare and evaluate (positively or not) their practices, and to have free and transparent discussions concerning their own systems. The results of this work are significant. In particular, each participant noted the various approaches and the lack of universality of its own practice. The French inspector, focused on its discipline and teachers, noted that the spanish inspector was not getting into a class with a disciplinary role, but was observing and evaluating the pedagogical practices whatever was the observed discipline. A salutary shock ! The immediate impact is surprising for a project based on practical exchanges. Each participant became aware of the differences between each country, and was able to work on the implementation and improvement of their practices. The dissemination towards inspectors and trainees management staff (about 600 people), in the ESENER of Poitiers for example, brought similar results. Rules and laws specific for each organization prevent from a radical change of actual inspection practices, but all participants shared the message that diversity was a wealth on a long term period. • Benefits on a long term period It is on a long term period that we should expect all the benefits from this project, because individual spirit transformations remain slow. A continuation of this project is to be considered. It should give the opportunity to apply the fruit of the reflections to reach best practices that would be shared to improve the student results at the European level, which is the main goal in a long term view.