Established in 1992, Ofsted is championed by government ministers as the guardian of educational standards in schools and colleges. Ofsted has never produced any research on the validity of its inspection judgements. Ofsted has no evidence, other than rising percentages of schools being awarded positive Ofsted grades, to support its assertion that…

This paper examines the role of school inspection in the early (1861-1910) professionalisation of Swedish elementary school teachers. International research on school inspection has focused on educational reform, but rarely on the role of inspection in teachers' theoretical and practical development. The paper's theoretical assumption is that…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) annual plan identifies the audits, inspections, and other activities that the OIG intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's citizens and students. The FY 2023 Annual Plan details the assignment areas and resources…

In 2004, a new form of inspection was introduced to post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland. It represented a complete change from the previous light touch pattern and reflected the New Public Management approach to policymaking and implementation then becoming fashionable in the jurisdiction. Around the same time, a new policy for…

Despite the developmental perspective of school inspections, teachers in inspected schools are not always willing to accept the school inspection's feedback for their further improvement of teaching and learning processes. Literature distinguishes several aspects of feedback that stimulate or hinder the acceptance of feedback, such as recipient's…

Trends towards the marketisation of the schooling sector have led to suggestions that state-funded schools in England will soon be allowed to operate on a for-profit basis. This article has two aims: to contribute to understanding of the regulation and characterisation of existing for-profit schools in England; and to assess the claim that…

The approach of modern educational supervision aims to create self-improvement opportunities which are suitable for each teacher by considering their individual differences and personal traits. The aim of this study is to present the effect of teachers' genders and seniorities on their perceptions with regard to Education Inspectors' levels of…

Educational stakeholders generally assume that inspection feedback directly contributes to school improvement through the mechanism of feedback acceptance. Feedback research in general distinguishes between cognitive and affective responses as significant factors for feedback acceptance, but it also focuses on cognitive responses as antecedents of…

As Chap. 1 explained, the factors at play in the implementation of public policy are not limited to the complex, confounding and often competing values that jostle with one another when education policy is formulated, but may also variously come to light depending upon the lens through which the process is viewed. In this the final chapter I move…

The inspection program is a crucial element of the education system and has a significant role in improving education quality. In Turkey, there may be a need for reform in the education inspection program to upgrade an efficient inspection. The Ministry of Education (MoNE) does not employ inspectors anymore. The duties of inspectors are undertaken…

The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBG Act, as amended) is the main federal law governing child care programs for low-income working families. The CCDBG Act authorizes discretionary appropriations to support grants to state, territorial, and tribal lead agencies. Lead agencies use these funds to subsidize the child care…

In this article, we seek to expand our understanding of the micropolitics of school life by drawing on data generated from a one-year ethnographic study of a physical education (PE) department at a high school in the North of England. Specific attention is given to the structured demands placed upon the Departmental Head in the face of an imminent…

This chapter explores the issues of reliability and validity of inspection frameworks and methods, and challenges and tensions in inspection frameworks and methods. Validity is an important aspect of thinking about effective inspection system as invalid inspection systems may lead to flawed judgments which will misguide administrative…

This paper explores power bases and power tensions among education bureaux, inspection offices, and schools in China. The six bases of social power were applied as the analytical framework to scrutinize 13 policy documents and eight interviews with inspectors. The study uncovered three types of power tensions: education bureau's informational…

This study intends to demonstrate the opinions of school administrators consist of principal, senior assistants and inspectors working in primary schools on the guidance roles. Inspections improve the quality of education; hence, inspectors need to concentrate on assessment and other functions. The study aims to emphasize the value given to the…