Evaluating schools has become a contentious issue in many countries. There seems to
be a broad and growing consensus that some form of evaluation can on the one hand
play a significant role in school improvement efforts, and on the other is also
required to provide a reasonable level of public accountability appropriate in
democratic societies. What is less clear is how the balance between these goals can
be best achieved. In the context of this wider international debate, the article
describes the manner in which the approach to the evaluation of the work of schools
is evolving in the Irish setting. In so doing, it is hoped to contribute to some key
elements of the debate, particularly the interplay between external evaluation and
internal self-evaluation and the relationship between evaluation and evidence.
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