Conference Contribution Details
Mandatory Fields
O'Hara, J
American Educational Research Association
Converging for Quality? The Changing Landscape of European School Inspection
Toronto, Canada
Invited Oral Presentation
2019
()
Optional Fields
05-APR-19
10-APR-19
In recent years the issue of school quality and the processes by which it can been improved has dominated popular and policy discourse in many European education systems (Brown et. al. 2016). Driven in part by the emergence of international comparitor surveys such as PISA and by an increasing identification of the centrality of education to social and economic development many European education systems have attempted to modernize the control and monitoring of schools through evidence-based governance (Altrichter et al. 2016). Such regimes are usually built on two dominant arrangements, achievement standards and performance tests and school inspections (Ehren et al., 2016). This presentation will focus on the latter aspect, aiming to describe the main features of recent changes in European inspection regimes. It will argue that there is evidence of some systemic convergence and identify emerging common elements. The presentation will conclude with some reflections on changing school inspection modalities and will explore some of the emerging challenges and opportunities in a global context.