Calls for annual school reports to replace inspections system

THE country’s school inspectors should be deployed to oversee school performance on a regular basis instead of writing reports on each school every 12 to 15 years, Fine Gael has claimed.

The party’s education spokesperson Brian Hayes said the system of whole school evaluations (WSEs) carried out by Department of Education inspectors – at an average annual cost of €1.5 million in travel and expenses – should be replaced by annual reports from each school giving the kind of information parents really want.

“The WSE system is so flawed that an entire family could go through their primary and secondary education without schools they are attending ever being inspected,” he said.

Between 2005 and 2008, an average of 220 of the country’s almost 3,300 primary schools underwent a WSE each year, at which rate it would take almost 15 years for every school to be inspected. At second level, 57 WSE inspections took place each year suggesting it would take nearly 13 years to inspect all 730 post primary schools.

All WSE and subject inspection reports have been published on the department’s website since 2006 but Mr Hayes said they are not even read by parents because they are written in coded and diplomatic language.

“It’s pointless trying to assess or compare schools based on reports done at 14-year intervals. Each school should be required to publish a report annually, telling everything from exam results to the number teams they put out every year, the activities like debating, and the number of pupils getting additional help for special needs or English language tuition,” he said.

“The inspectors should be given responsibility for a group of schools in their own area, so they know what’s happening on the ground and can be available to go in if and when issues arise in any school,” Mr Hayes said.

He said a system of annual school reports would slash costs and enable parents, teachers and students to quickly evaluate a school.