This article presents findings from a longitudinal case study of academic audit as enacted at a typical New Zealand university between 1994 and 2019. Academic audit is a higher education quality assurance methodology applied to New Zealand universities. The longitudinal study yielded findings that could not have been detected in a single,…

This article presents a study that aimed to understand the contributions of self-evaluation (SE) processes towards the development of curricular and social justice and educational improvement. The study focuses on data collected from the schools' external evaluation (SEE) process and from the TEIP programme (Educational Territories of Priority…

The English higher education (HE) system is deeply stratified, with younger students from more privileged backgrounds comprising the majority of the student population. Over the last 15 years considerable investment has been made to widen participation but attempts to evaluate these initiatives and demonstrate impact have presented a major…

Most countries across Europe now have their own Inspectorate as part of a school improvement and accountability system. However, there has been little research on the impact of school inspections or on the aspects of school inspections that maximise the positive effects and minimise the unintended consequences. As a precursor to further research,…

A framework based on research on bullying and on educational effectiveness was offered to schools to assist them in developing strategies and actions to improve their learning environment, their policy for teaching, and their evaluation mechanisms in order to reduce bullying. At the beginning and end of the intervention, the Revised Olweus…

External quality audits have been introduced in many countries as part of higher education reforms. This article is based on research on 30 Australian universities to assess the extent to which audits by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) have improved quality assurance in the core and support areas of the universities. The article…

Performance measurement in the public sector is largely based on objective metrics, which may be subject to gaming behaviour. This paper investigates a novel subjective performance evaluation system where independent inspectors visit schools at very short notice, publicly disclose their findings and sanction schools rated fail. First, I…

This paper compares and contrasts the program theory of the reenacted Supervision Act to the Supervision Act of 2003. We describe how the expectations about how schools should be inspected, the effect such inspections are expected to have, and how these effects should be realized have changed over the past years as a result of changing paradigms…

This project investigates the impact of the dynamic approach to school improvement (DASI) aiming to help schools face and reduce bullying through integrating research on bullying with educational effectiveness research (EER). A network of approximately 15 schools in each participating country (i.e., Belgium, Cyprus, England, Greece, and The…

External quality audits are now being used in universities across the world to improve quality assurance, accountability for quality education and transparency of public funding of higher education. Some countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark have had external quality audits for more than a decade but there…

This article seeks to establish what impact external quality assessment had on universities in Estonia between 1997 and 2009. It is based on a study of the analysis of experts' reports of curricula accreditation and interviews with university and programme managers, undertaken between 2007 and 2009. The study included an analysis of 12 curricula…

This article presents a way in which the innovative Nature Therapy conceptual framework coupled with creative therapeutic methods can help children develop resilience and support their coping with uncertainty and stress. It refers to the Safe Place programme that took place in 110 Israeli kindergartens, helping over 6000 children after the Second…

After more than two decades of external quality assurance, there is an increasing interest in questions concerning the impact and effects of this activity. Following an external evaluation of NOKUT--the Norwegian quality assurance agency, this article studies the impact of external quality assurance in detail by analysing quantitative and…

External diagnosis is recommended when schools lack the capacity to assess their needs. This qualitative study of one Ontario district compared 33 elementary schools that conducted external diagnosis with 47 schools that used internal diagnosis. External diagnosis created pressure for change, helped schools develop a plan that included previously…

In Europe, national quality assurance systems of higher education have begun to be established. In Finland, this development has had the consequence of forcing universities to take notice of assessment procedures. However, little is known about the procedures taking place in individual academic departments as a result of this pan-European trend.…