The effectiveness of the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspection process in England as an accountability mechanism and its influence upon whole school improvement in English maintained schools

摘要

The research questions addressed in this thesis are: How effective is the OFSTEDudprocess as an accountability mechanism? And, does whole school inspection lead toudschool improvement?udThe literature of school effectiveness and school improvement is reviewed followed byudan outline of the evidence of school improvement offered by OFSTED from 1996 as audcontext for the inspection outcomes and subsequent improvement or not, in four caseudstudy schools. An attempt is made to link the OFSTED mantra of "Improvementudthrough Inspection" to the inspection process as experienced by the schools in theudstudy. In addition, a brief context is provided that outlines the systemic changeudprocesses and accountability processes that were prevalent in the education systemsudof the largely English-speaking world at the time of OFSTED's inception and moreudrecently. A comparison is made between OFSTED and the international examplesudbefore detailing the research on OFSTED's effectiveness and the governmentudresponse.udThe ethnographic methodology used is justified, aware of the potential difficultiesudattached where the researcher is also the headteacher of one of the four case studyudschools.udResults from the case studies allow discussion of the differences in approach from theudheadteachers to the inspection process and the possible consequences of theirudactions. Other issues arising from the case studies include: the relevance of the timing of the inspections within the evolution of the OFSTED process; the situation of theudschools at the time of their inspections; the relationships between stakeholders withinudthe schools, particularly the apparent marginalisation of the governors from theudprocess; the communities' perceptions of the schools and the personal disposition ofudthe headteachers towards the OFSTED process. Inconsistencies in the OFSTEDudprocess as experienced by the study schools were found to include the lack ofudcredibility given to the OFSTED process by some teachers and senior staff in theudschools and the manner in which the schools acknowledged the validity of theudinspection judgements.udThe thesis concludes by using the research evidence from this study to pose tentativeudconclusions about how effective the OFSTED inspection is as an accountabilityudprocess and whether whole school inspection leads to school improvement. It reviewsudthe constraints and limitations of the evidence and indicates areas for furtherudresearch.