Evaluation of a school peer review model in England. Its relationship to external accountability

This paper reports on a case study that was part of an EU project comparing cases of network-focused inspection and review practices in Bulgaria, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland and England.The focus of the case study in each country was to analyse how ‘polycentric inspections’ have an impact on the functioning and quality of networks of schools and/or service providers.

Moving to a polycentric system suggests the need to evaluate school networks as a whole rather than as single schools, and to employ a more agile and de-centralised approach to accountability, including acknowledging school internal evaluations (e.g. Janssens and Ehren, 2016).

The findings from an informal networkof three primary schools, put together as part of the National Association for Head Teachers’ (NAHT) peer review programme are presented here. In this programme, headteachers took turns to visit and evaluate each other’s schools, facilitated by a trained lead reviewer from outside the network

The research questions were:

  • How do internal evaluation, peer review and school inspections/inspections of networks contribute to network functioning (e.g. collaboration, exchange of good practices, network-level outcomes, preventing dysfunctional effects)?
  • What is the interplay between internal evaluation, peer review and school inspections? And how can it be more effective in supporting network evaluation and improvement?

The methodology was influenced by literature on research on effective networks (e.g. Kenis and Provan, 2009). Interviews with the Headteachers and other staff were conducted before and after the review visits, emails exchanges were tracked, the review reports and external inspection (Ofsted) reports were also analysed. Data were coded on: the external context of the peer review; relationships, collaboration and structure of the network; inspection and evaluation practices; school and network level outcomes and dysfunctional network level effects. The results showed the pervasive influence of Ofsted on the case schools’ internal evaluation and peer review practices. While data were openly shared in a trusting and effective professional dialogue, the focus was on helping school leaders ‘rehearse’ for a future Ofsted inspection. Few network level effects were found but rich collaboration was valued by the Headteachers in a context in which the inspectorate is seen as increasingly narrowly driven by externally published data. Schools felt the need to find their own ways to collaborate in a context in which they were concerned that a policy agenda might force them to enter a network that was not chosen by them. Implications for effective peer review networks and for their place in a polycentric accountability system are also discussed.

References:

Janssens, F. J., & Ehren, M. C. (2016). Toward a model of school inspections in a polycentric system. Evaluation and program planning, 56, 88-98.

Kenis, P., Provan, K.G., 2009. Towards an exogenous theory of public network performance. Public Administration 87 (3), 440–456.