Introduction (including Rationale and European Context)

Across Europe, the majority of countries have implemented systems of evaluation and accountability in order to ensure quality of education in schools (Eurydice, 2004). These systems (which also include for example testing and the publication of league tables) primarily take the form of school inspections, with most countries having their own Inspectorate. Despite this, there is surprisingly little firm evidence for the impact of school inspections in the literature and about how school inspection promotes school improvement (most of the research has been in England and the Netherlands and findings have been mixed (De Wolf and Janssens, 2007; Rosenthal, 2004; Luginbuhl et al, 2009; Klerks, submitted)). The systems employed by inspectorates to drive school improvement vary across Europe, ranging from punitive systems with governmental control to non-punitive systems based on peer review, and from emancipatory systems involving self-evaluation to bureaucratic systems involving compliance and regulation (Faubert, 2009; Hughes et al, 1997; McGarvey and Stoker, 1999; in Ehren et al, 2012).

The LLP project “Impact of school inspection on teaching and learning”, which this study is part of, aims to fill some of the gaps in this knowledge, by comparing differing inspectorates in six European countries in order to evaluate the impact of inspections and to attempt to identify the mechanisms that maximise a positive impact. In order to do such comparative research there firsts needs to be a clear description of the conceptual model of the inspectorate in each country. This is the purpose of this paper. This paper will develop a conceptual model, describing the mechanisms and assumptions that underpin the inspection system in England – Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education), i.e. it will explain how Ofsted aims to promote school improvement. The model will be developed in a systematic way using a policy scientific approach (Ehren et al, 2005). This is the first time an explicit conceptual model for Ofsted is set out in the literature and it has the advantage that it has been validated by senior personnel at Ofsted.

The paper aims to answer the following research questions:      

1. What are the mechanisms by which Ofsted’s actions are expected to improve the education of children and young people?
2. How likely are inspections to successfully promote school improvement?

Overview of the research

The research presents an overview of the policy scientific approach as the theoretical framework for the research (see methodology section). Evidence is collated by examining official Ofsted documents and legal documents and through interviews with senior Ofsted officials.  This evidence is then put together into mechanisms that are used to form an explicit program theory (Leeuw, 2003; Chen, 1990 in Ehren et al, 2005) /conceptual model describing the mechanisms Ofsted uses to promote school improvement. The model is validated by Ofsted senior officials and the research concludes by analysing the program theory in order to predict its (in)effectiveness. In the discussion there will be a comparison of findings with conceptual model papers in other European countries.

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