The governance of European education systems is changing. The adoption of new public management ideas led to an emphasis on monitoring, performance targets and performance measurement of schools (Hopmann 2008). School inspection is one policy measure that has been introduced or modified in the wake of this new governing paradigm. Additionally, in some European countries models of school self-evaluation (SSE) became obligatory. The (re-)positioning of school inspection and SSE within education systems means that other actors had to adjust in response. Both of these developments create potential tensions for actors and conflict between actors (Kussau & Brüsemeister 2007). Such frictions are fuelled by high expectations associated with reforming school inspection by political actors and other stakeholders. Furthermore, the underdetermination of inspection policies and follow-on procedures leaves room for interpretation. It requires inspectors, headteachers, teachers and others to transform associated uncertainty into action. How school inspectors, school principals and teachers respond to and enact school evaluation policies is the focus of this symposium.

Analytically, the aforementioned phenomena are captured by analyses of policy instruments and actors’ perceptions and practices. The focus is on the coordination of action among actors within the education system. Thereby, this symposium contributes to the little yet growing research on processes of school inspection within multi-level school systems. It does so by focusing on the interface between ‘objective’ structures and regulations and ‘subjective’ interpretations and (inter‑)actions of actors. The empirical studies presented in this symposium expand the knowledge of these processes.

Empirically, this symposium addresses the question how differently positioned actors within education systems interpret and enact their roles against the backdrop of perceived expectations by other stakeholders. Furthermore, the implications of policy changes for the overall constellation of actors due to (re-)formed school inspection is central to this symposium (see also Baxter et al. 2015).

Theoretically, different suitable approaches for the analysis of these phenomena, such as the governance perspective (Altrichter 2010; Kooiman 2003), institutionalism (Scott 2014) or theory of practice (Bourdieu 1977), are applied in the papers of this symposium. Each theoretical lens highlights specific aspects of the relationship between school evaluation policies and practices and thus contributes to a multi-faceted understanding of the phenomenon.

Each paper of this symposium addresses school inspection from a different yet related angle:

One paper shows how Norwegian school inspection policy has changed during the last decade. The emphasis on auditing schools' legal compliance has become supplemented with a concern for learning outcomes. Additionally, he discusses how school inspectors implement inspection policy via regulatory tools such as fixed templates.

Another focuses on how school inspection team members enact school inspection policies locally in two German states. They carry out their evaluation work by drawing comparisons that tap into heterarchical orders of worth.

The interpretation and enactment of school inspection (results) by school-based actors – headteachers and teachers – is addressed by by a third paper. It shows the subtle ways how they manage to maintain control of school development measures in the aftermath of being inspected.

Based on a mixed method design, including qualitative interviews with principals, another paper points out, how school evaluation in Ireland has changed and this has been perceived by school principals.

Altrichter, H. (2010). Theory and evidence on governance: Conceptual and empirical strategies of research on governance in education. European Educational Research Journal, 9(2), 147–158. http://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2010.9.2.147 Baxter, J., Grek, S., & Segerholm, C. (2015). Regulatory frameworks: Shifting frameworks, shifting criteria. In S. Grek & J. Lindgren (Eds.), Governing by inspection (pp. 74–95). London: Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hopmann, S. T. (2008). No child, no school, no state left behind: Schooling in the age of accountability. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40(4), 417–456. http://doi.org/10.1080/00220270801989818 Kooiman, J. (2003). Governing as governance. London: Sage. Kussau, J., & Brüsemeister, T. (2007). Governance, Schule und Politik. Zwischen Antagonismus und Kooperation. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Scott, W. R. (2014). Institutions and organizations: Ideas, interests, and identities (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.