Schools are facing wait of 14 years for a full inspection
SCHOOLS may spend up to 14 years without undergoing a full-scale quality evaluation.
The gap means that a child could go through the entire primary and second-level education system without their schools being subject to a thorough inspection.
The long delay between such evaluations in Ireland is more than twice the international norm of about once every six years.
Only one-third of primary and post-primary schools have been subject to a Whole School Evaluation (WSE), which was introduced in 2004.
WSE-style inspections are now regarded internationally as key to improving the performance of schools and aiding the development of teachers.
Their importance was stressed in a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) , on the state of education around the world.
The number of WSEs conducted in primary and post-primary schools has built up gradually in Ireland since2004.
But new figures suggest the frequency has peaked and, at the current rate, a primary school could expect one once every 14 years, and, at post-primary, once every 12 years.
And the public service embargo, which has seen inspector numbers drop from a high of 166 two years ago to 149 last week, could see that gap widen.
Since 2004, there have been a total of 933 WSE inspections in the country's 3,300 primary schools, including an average of 239 for each of the past three years, when inspector numbers were at their peak. Inspector numbers are now back to where they were in 2004, when 148 were employed.
In the same five-year period, there were 240 WSEs in the 730 second-level schools, including an average of 59 for each of the past three years.
As well as WSEs, there are inspections of the teaching of individual subjects in second-level schools -- of which there were 668 last year.
Fine Gael education spokesperson Brian Hayes, who received the figures in a parliamentary reply from Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe, has attacked the WSE as a way of providing meaningful information.
"These figures from the department call into question the validity of the WSE and highlight the lack of information available to parents from schools," he said.
WSEs were introduced to monitor and assess the quality, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the system.
They replaced the old style school inspections, which had a narrower focus of teaching and learning in the classroom. The WSEs take a broader whole-school approach and , in line with demand for greater transparency, they are published.
The new process is in line with a growing international trend to use the inspection system to have a greater focus on school accountability and school improvement .
A recent OECD report noted that Ireland was one of a number of countries with a low rate of evaluations in the five years up to 2007/08, but recognised that a new system was being rolled out.
"Evaluation can play a key role in school improvement and teacher development. Providing feedback can help teachers better understand their respective strengths and weaknesses, which, in turn, can be an important first step towards the improvement of classroom practices," it stated.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said its inspectors used a range of models to evaluate and monitor the quality, including incidental visits, subject inspections, thematic evaluations, programme evaluations and whole-school evaluations.
- Katherine Donnelly
Irish Independent
