Transforming inspection: What can teachers expect?
Date published:
Over the past four years, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) have focused on a complete transformation of the inspection process. The key objectives are to: rebuild trust with the education system; reduce the workload for staff around inspection; and create a more supportive and empowering inspection accountability process.
ETI have worked extensively with all education stakeholders, including the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC), through a process of consultation, co-design and piloting, to “lower the stakes and raise the impact” of inspection. The aim has been to ensure that inspections are learner-centred and grounded in the practical realities of life and work in schools and other education and training providers.
The Chief Inspector has said that inspectors: “want school leaders, teachers and other staff to handle confidently the process of inspection in a way that is beneficial to them, so that inspection complements the ongoing internal self-evaluation work and acts as a catalyst for further improvement, rather than an event to be managed, overcome or endured.”
This short leaflet explains the key changes in the new inspection process with a particular focus on what is different for teachers.