BMBF-Project "External Evaluation / School Inspection and Quality Development of Schools“ (Project of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research)

Author(s):

Christian Weyer(presenting / submitting)Kathrin Dedering(presenting)Nina Fritsch(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Poster

Session Information

01 SES 9.5 PE/PS, Poster Exhibition / Poster Session

Time:

2011-09-15

12:00-13:30

Room:

Seminarzentrum - Posters

Chair:

Contribution

The school system in the Federal Republic of Germany is currently characterized by a systematical change of the administrative control mechanisms in education. One central element of these mechanisms is school inspection, which aims at ensuring school quality and supporting school improvement. Research on effects and side-effects of external control mechanisms of schools play only a marginal role in international and national studies, moreover their results are mainly ambiguous (Dedering & Müller 2010, Wolf & Janssens 2007).

The above named research project focuses on these effects and side-effects. The project is currently (2010 – 2013) conducted at Bielefeld University. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung).

The research project tries to answer the question, which intended and unintended side-effects have any causal effect on the quality of schools. In doing so, the aim is to generate new findings, which derive from general conclusions concerning the effectiveness of the newly introduced control mechanisms. The findings can also be used to point out new ways to both, support the administration in improving their inspection system and conditions outside school.

Moreover the study intends to identify those factors accompanying the development activities within schools (i.e. internal factors such as the innovation capacity of staff or external factors such as assistance systems). In this context the project takes into account the process level (reception of and reaction to feedback), the content level (measures in consequence of the feedback) and the context level (relationship between the feedback system, (external-) school factors and internal activities in school development).

The two federal states (Laender) Thuringia and Hamburg, both are participating in this study, stand exemplarily for their differing feedback system. Additionally they represent two different federal states in Germany. Hamburg is a federal city state and therefore an urban education area whereas Thuringia is a federal state. These aspects are considered when it comes to the comparison of the impact factors of control mechanisms on school development.

Method

The two German federal states, Thuringia and Hamburg, whose school inspection concepts differ as to the feedback systems, were selected exemplarily. A quasi-longitudinal design is realized with data collections at three times before and after the obligatory school visit has taken place. Each period of time lasts six months. The first approach of this design takes place two weeks before the school visit and it includes a standardized survey of principals and teachers fulfilling functional roles in school development activities. There, the focus is on activities in preparation for the school visit. The second approach is a standardized survey of all teachers that takes place three months after the school visit. At that point, the schools already received feedback from the external evaluations; furthermore it is assumed that during this phase the most important reception processes and reactions either take place or not. For the third analyzis it is intended to examine the schools again. It takes place one year after the school visit and, as during the first stage, includes a standardized survey of principals and teachers fulfilling functional roles in school development activities. We assume that consistent developments can be traced back by the activities at that time.

Expected Outcomes

At that point in time the first phase (Januar – Juni 2011) of the survey is already completed, whereas the second one is almost finished. Hence it will be possible to present first results of school activities that took place as a consequence of the announcement of the school visit. Furthermore it is possible to present very first results of the second approach (April – September 2011). Even though one has to keep in mind that the second phase is not finished at this point in time, it can be assumed that the received data already gives hints on how to handle the feedback-information. Apart from that, we can eventually give information about the relationship between inspectorates and schools and different feedback-characteristics respectively. The data thus obtained will be used for the empirical verification of a theoretical framework of school inspections’ effects at the school level presented by Ehren and Visscher (2006).

References

Dedering, K. & Müller, S. (2010): School Improvement through Inspections? International research findings and first insights from Germany. Journal of Educational Change. Online First Article. 3rd December. DOI: 10.1007/s10833-010-9151-9. Ehren, M.C.M. & Visscher, A.J. (2006). Towards a theory on the impact of school inspectations. British Journal of Educational Studies, 54, (1), 51–72. Wolf, I. de & Janssens, F.J.G. (2007): Effects and side effects of inspections and accountability in education: an overview of empirical studies. Oxford Review of Education, 33, 379–396.

Author Information

Christian Weyer (presenting / submitting)

Bielefeld University

Bielefeld

Kathrin Dedering (presenting)

Bielefeld University, Germany

Nina Fritsch (presenting)

University of Bielefeld

Erziehungswissenschaft

Hannover

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