Toward a model of school inspections in a polycentric system

• Published in: Evaluation and program planning Vol. 56; pp. 88 - 98
• Main Authors: Janssens, Frans J.G., Ehren, Melanie C.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2016; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Accountability; Educational evaluation; Evaluation Needs; Feedback; Humans; Inclusive education; Inspection; Inspections; Inspectorates; Models, Organizational; Network evaluation; Networks; Networks of schools; Politics; Polycentric governance; Public Policy; Quality Improvement; Quality of education; School inspections; Schools - organization & administration; Schools - standards; Studies; United Kingdom > UK; Scotland; Ireland; Polycentric governance; Networks of schools; Network evaluation; School inspections
• ISSN: 0149-7189; 1873-7870
• DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.03.012

•Many governments around the globe increasingly recognize the limitations of centralized education policy.•These decentralization efforts stimulate schools to collaborate in networks and to improve the quality of the network.•Viewing a network of schools as a social system causes a shift in the position of schools and the Education Inspectorates.•Inspectorates need to develop a method to improve the performance a network by providing all network actors with feedback.•This method starts with an evaluation of a network and a feedback strategy to enhance the effectiveness of the network. Many education systems are developing towards more lateral structures where schools collaborate in networks to improve and provide (inclusive) education. These structures call for bottom-up models of network evaluation and accountability instead of the current hierarchical arrangements where single schools are evaluated by a central agency. This paper builds on available research about network effectiveness to present evolving models of network evaluation. Network effectiveness can be defined as the achievement of positive network level outcomes that cannot be attained by individual organizational participants acting alone. Models of network evaluation need to take into account the relations between network members, the structure of the network, its processes and its internal mechanism to enforce norms in order to understand the achievement and outcomes of the network and how these may evolve over time. A range of suitable evaluation models are presented in this paper, as well as a tentative school inspection framework which is inspired by these models. The final section will present examples from Inspectorates of Education in Northern Ireland and Scotland who have developed newer inspection models to evaluate the effectiveness of a range of different networks.