Lesson observations involving judgements of teaching quality are a regular feature of classroom life. Such observations and judgements are made by senior and middle managers in schools and also, very significantly, by Ofsted inspectors as a major component of their judgement on the quality of teaching in a school. Using the example of Ofsted…

This study uses a school-level longitudinal control-group design to examine how teachers and principals of inspected versus uninspected schools perceive school improvement at their schools. During the phasing in of school inspections in the states of Berlin and Brandenburg (Germany), both inspected and uninspected schools were surveyed with…

This study looks into the effects of school inspection in the context of Flemish education. Respondents in five primary case schools were interviewed before inspection, immediately after inspection and four months later (totalling 45 interviews with 15 respondents). Our results indicate that the inspection incites reflection amongst school staff…

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,…

In this article, the author, a former Senior Inspector at Her Majesties Inspectorate (HMI), United Kingdom, presents the historical activities between 1968 through 1991 surrounding HMI and the government agencies and persons who influenced how the inspection of school activities have evolved over that time period. Bolton reports that the HMI was…

This paper analyses the political motives that underlie the increased educational control exercised by reinstalling and reinforcing school inspection during the periods of 2001-2003 and 2006-2008. These periods cover both social democratic and non-socialist governments, with different parties in office. The paper draws on an approach to scrutinize…

During the 1960s and 1970s, "traditional" secondary educational systems in various Western European countries made way for comprehensive education curricula. In contrast to the reforms within the "intellectual" subjects, the field of physical education (PE) remained largely underexposed in research. This study focuses on PE…

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine how school districts have implemented food safety programs based on HACCP principles. Specific objectives included: (1) Evaluate how schools are implementing components of food safety programs; and (2) Determine foodservice employees food-handling practices related to food safety.…

Recent changes in the English education system have resulted in the September 2012 Inspection framework. To a far greater extent than its predecessors this schedule looks to create a stronger relationship between the inspection agency Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education), and to extend the agency's already substantial reach and…

Since its inception in 1992 Ofsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) has inspected schools under Section 9 of the Education (Schools) Act 1992; Section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996; and Section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Pressure on England to improve its system of education has not only…

The advent of a new inspection system in January 2012 has created new challenges for both the teaching profession and for the inspectors of education given the task of implementing it, as the new framework demands increased involvement by serving teachers and head teachers as part of the inspection process. This paper draws on evidence from a…

This article explores the school inspection as a political ritual for the management of tensions between competition and equality inherent in neo-liberal educational regulatory regimes. At the centre of the article is a case study of how teachers in an allegedly failing working-class English primary school coped with issues of social class,…

This paper draws on the first, completed phase of a research project on inspection as governing in three European inspection systems. The data presented here draw attention to the rather under-researched associational activities of European inspectorates and their developing practices of policy learning and exchange, and highlight their…

This study is about transformation that has been happening in the field of management and in relation to it in inspection that has been recently taking place both in Turkey and all around the World. The transformation as "School Based Administration" (SBA) in educational administration and "School Based Evaluation" (SBE) or…

This paper focuses on the dual dependencies apparent at the intersection of the media society and the audit society by empirically exploring and discussing the relationship between Swedish local newspaper coverage and school inspection activities. The research questions pertain to the Inspectorate's media strategy, how inspection is…