4. ProceduresThe frequency of external evaluation is determined by the Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Skills. The Inspectorate has moved from cyclical evaluation in schools to ‘smart regulation’ of schools. A risk-based approach is used to support planning for inspection. At primary level, the inspection planning process involves risk assessment based on data from a significant number of unannounced incidental inspections that will be conducted each year and a range of other data, including school size, for example. At post-primary level, data from stand-alone subject inspections, incidental inspections and other school evaluations facilitates risk-based assessment in the selection of schools for WSE or other forms of inspection. Other data available to the Department of Education and Skills such as performance in state certificate examinations, student attendance and student retention data is considered as part of the risk assessment process.Whilst the programme of inspection includes schools identified through the Inspectorate’s risk analysis procedures as likely to benefit from external evaluation, schools at all levels of quality performance are also randomly included in the annual programme of inspections.The procedures employed during an external evaluation are determined by the Inspectorate, following extensive consultation with the school partners, including representatives of management bodies, patrons, parents, students, and teachers.As inspection approaches have developed in Ireland, the emphasis on documentation has reduced in external evaluations. Depending on the particular model of inspection deployed, inspectors may request to see all or any of the following:• strategic documents on school's policy in various areas (admission, child protection, code of behaviour, pupil assessment); • school self-evaluation reports and improve-ment plans; • administrative or descriptive documents on timetables and calendar, minutes of the board meeting and assessment records. Visits to primary schools for whole-school type evaluations typically extend from two to four days, depending on the size of the school. Similar evaluations at second level are conducted by an inspection team over three days. All external evaluations typically include classroom observation.Inspectors make judgements based on evidence from a range of sources, including meetings with school leaders, management and other relevant personnel, including parents’ representatives and student representatives (at post-primary level); observation of teaching and learning; review of documents; and surveys of parents and students.A sample of parents and students is surveyed by a questionnaire to gather their views on certain aspects of provision in their schools. These are paper-based and anonymous. A confidential, online questionnaire for teachers is currently being piloted for whole-school evaluations.Boards of management, officers of the parents’ association, and the student council in post-primary schools, are consulted by inspectors during a WSE.Following the in-school phase, inspectors prepare a draft report which is sent to the school for factual verification. If errors of fact are reported, the report is amended and a final version is sent to the school, inviting them to provide a school response. The final report is then issued to the school principal, chairperson of the board of management, chairperson of the parents’ association, chairperson of the students’ council (at post-primary level) and the school’s patron/trustee.Systematic follow-up procedures enable the Inspectorate to monitor how well school communities had responded to inspection recommendations. These procedures include both dedicated follow-up inspections on a sample of schools and a focus during whole-school evaluations on the actions a school has taken to implement recommendations made in previous inspections. Inspectors also advise the school on strategies and actions to enable them to fully address recommendations. Any school in which an evaluation has been conducted may be subject to a follow-through evaluation.In schools where external evaluation has revealed serious weaknesses, inspectors collaborate in regard to follow-through with officials from the School Governance Section of the Department of Education and Skills on the Department’s School Improvement Group (SIG).
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