School Inspection & Self-Evaluation: Working with the New Relationship

Around the world, school inspection is subject to critical scrutiny. It is too cumbersome? Too expensive? Too disruptive to the normal flow of school life? Does it actually improve schools? And, what does the new relationship between inspection and self-evaluation mean for schools? School Inspection and Self-Evaluation: Working with the New Relationship addresses these issues, and unpicks the legacy of an Ofsted regime widely criticised as invasive and disempowering to teachers. In this book, John MacBeath: examines in turn each aspect of the 'new relationships', its potential strengths and some of its inherent weaknesses; debates issues that confront school leaders and classroom teachers, including Every Child Matters; offers advice on now schools can marry ongoing self-evaluation with Ofsted's expectations; describes how to deal with PLACS, PANDAS and 'other beastly inventions'; shows how to use web sources to best advantage; explains how to reconcile the tensions between accountability and improvement; provides a guide to a repertoire of tried-and-tested approaches to help teachers embed self-evaluation in day-to-day classroom practice. The book also contains case studies from schools that have adopted innovative approaches to self-evaluation. While of immediate practical interest for school leaders, managers and teachers in England, the book also speaks to an international audience, as the issues raised here have resonance in every country where quality assurance and standards are at the forefront of policy and practice. Book jacket.

John MacBeath is Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Cambridge, UK