‘Drive-by inspection’ motion defeated at teacher convention

Teachers decided they would prefer some inspections of their work to continue unannounced than to have the worry of a week’s notice that some of their colleagues were proposing.

The motion before the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland convention sought to lobby the Department of Education for a minimum advance notice of a week before inspectors could call on so-called ‘drive-by’ inspections of teachers’ work. Incidental inspections only began for second-level schools in 2011. There were 342 such inspections in 2012.

Many aspects of the inspection regime were widely criticised by delegates, but the motion asking the union to seek a minimum one-week notice period was defeated substantially. Robert Chaney from Kilkenny said he had no problem when someone knocked on his door and said they were sitting in on his lesson.

“I don’t mind them seeing that it’s not a perfect world in the classroom and we can’t do everything we’re expected to do. I didn’t change a jot in my lesson.”

Dermot Brennan of the Carbery branch in Cork said if the inspectorate agreed to a week’s notice, people will be going around worrying about their upcoming inspection. “I don’t need a science teacher to tell me how to teach history,” he said, reflecting many delegate’s views of having inspectors who previously taught different subjects to theirs assessing their work.

Another criticism from speakers to both sides of the debate was the lack of recent classroom experience among many inspectors. It was claimed they do not appreciate the increased expectations on teachers under laws, guidelines and regulations introduced to schools in the last five years alone.

President-elect Philip Irwin, who proposed the defeated motion, said the proposal was about courtesy and respect for teachers’ professionalism.