Opening Classrooms and Improving Teaching: Lessons from School Inspections in England

Abstract

Classroom observation is one mechanism for making teaching visible and enhancing instruction. In Great Britain, different methods of school inspection based on observations have been in place since 1839, and they provide information about how such instruments of school reform could work. This paper examines English school inspection prior to 1993 reforms, inspection since 1993, the observation procedures that a few individual schools have adopted, and those of further education colleges (like our community colleges)—all quite different in their procedures and consequences. In particular, the balance of accountability (or control) and support for improvement varies depending on the details and culture of inspection. In the United States some experiments with inspection are now taking place, and several school reforms depend on the quality of teaching. In these cases the lessons from England can help in developing appropriate methods of observation.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Archer

(1999, February 17). California bill rekindles debates over teacher peer review. Education Week 18 (6), 1, 31.

Cuttance

(1995). An evaluation of quality management and quality assurance systems for schools. Cambridge Journal of Education 25 (1), 97–108.

Darling-Hammond

, and McLaughlin

(1995, April). Policies that support professional development in an era of reform. Phi Delta Kappan 76 (8), 597–604.

Finkelstein

, & Grubb

W. N.

(1998, April). Making Sense of Educational Markets: Lessons from England. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association. Berkeley: School of Education, University of California.

Further Education Funding Council. (1993, September 22). Assessing Achievement. Circular 93028. Coventry: FEFC.

Further Education Funding Council. (1996, June). Humanities. Coventry: FEFC.

Gardiner

(1998, March 6). Schools to get inspection referee. Times Educational Supplement, p. 1.

Gray

, & Hannon

(1995). HMI's interpretations of schools’ examination results. Journal of Educational Policy 1 (1), 23–33.

Gray

, & Wilcox

(1996). Inspecting Schools: Holding Schools to Account and Helping Schools to Improve. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press.

10.

Grubb

W. N.

, & Associates. (1999). Honored Even in the Breach: An Inside Look at Teaching in Community Colleges. New York and London: Routledge.

11.

Hargreaves

(1990). Accountability and school improvement in the work of LEA inspectors: The rhetoric and beyond. Journal of Education Policy 5 (3), 230–239.

12.

Hyde

(1983). The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property. New York: Vintage Books.

13.

Jeffrey

, & Woods

(1996). Feeling deprofessionalized: The social construction of emotions during an OFSTED inspection. Cambridge Journal of Education 26 (3), 325–343.

14.

Lieberman

(1995, April). Policies that support professional development: Transforming conceptions of professional learning. Phi Delta Kappan 76 (8), 591–597.

15.

Little

J. W.

, & Bird

(1987). Instructional leadership “close to the classroom” in secondary schools. In Greenfield

, ed. Instructional Leadership: Concepts, Issues, and Controversies. Pp. 118–138. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

16.

Melia

(1995). Quality and its assurance in further education. Cambridge Journal of Education 25 (1), 35–44.

17.

Merton

(1957). Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

18.

Office for Standards in Education. (1995). Guidance on the Inspection of Secondary Schools. London: HMSO.

19.

Olson

(1994, May 4). Critical friends. Education Week 13 (32), 20–27.

20.

Olson

(1999, January 11). Moving beyond test scores. Education Week: Quality Counts ‘99 18 (17), 67–73.

21.

Payne

(1997). “I don't want your nasty pot of gold”: Urban school climate and public policy. Working Paper WP–97–9. Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University.

22.

Portner

(1997). Once status symbol for schools, accreditation becomes rote drill. Education Week, March 26, pp. 1, 30–31.

23.

Spours

, & Lucas

(1996, July). The Formation of a National Sector of Incorporated Colleges: Beyond the FEFC Model. Working Paper No. 19. London: Post–16 Education Centre, University of London.

24.

Wilson

(1995). Notes on the American fascination with the English tradition of school inspection. Cambridge Journal of Education 25 (1), 89–97.

25.

Wilson

(1996). Reaching for a Better Standard: English School Inspection and the Dilemma of Accountability for American Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

26.

Wilson

(1999, March). Foundations of the Catalpa School Visit. Third Edition. Providence RI: Catalpa.

27.

Wragg

E. C.

, & Brighouse

(1995). A New Model of School Inspection. Occasional Paper. Exeter, UK: School of Education, Exeter University.