Sir, – Teacher's Pet (Education Today, October 25th) refers to "the lack of a robust inspection programme for teachers, especially at second level". This statement is based on the report OECD Economic Survey of Ireland, 2011which cites information on school inspections dating from 2008 and previous years.
I wish to point out that since 2008 two new forms of inspection have been introduced in second-level schools: whole school inspection – management, leadership and learning (WSE-MLL) and, most recently, incidental or unannounced inspections. These two new forms of inspection are in addition to whole school inspection and subject inspection which have been in use for a number of years.
What this means is that all second-level schools are subject to rigorous and thorough inspections which normally involve a team of inspectors attending for a number of days during which they inspect teachers in the classroom, evaluate school planning, examine teachers’ teaching and learning plans, and conduct interviews with teachers.
The resulting inspection reports are published on the Internet and are available to any member of the public. In the case of WSE-MLL parents and students are surveyed as part of school inspections. Since 2006, nearly 5,000 primary and second-level school inspection reports have been published on the Department of Education and Skills website. Does this sound like a veil of secrecy?
The column also refers to information on schools’ “performance”. The ASTI is in no doubt that were students’ Leaving Cert results to be made public, they would be used by newspapers to construct league tables of so-called “top performing schools”.
The ASTI believes that such “performance” tables provide an incomplete picture of schools, are socially divisive, distort the work of schools and exacerbate social inequalities. The UK league tables, which were a product of the Thatcherite raw market philosophy, are recognised as having damaged the education system there and have not led to improved educational outcomes.
Irish second-level schools aim to deliver a holistic education service which caters for all young people, regardless of ability, needs, socio-economic status or family background. Previous OECD reports have remarked on the success of the Irish second-level education system in negating social inequalities amongst students by offering a quality and consistent standard of education across all types of schools. This is one of the reasons why Ireland has one of the highest school completion rates in the world. However, this good news story remains sidelined by the press. – Yours, etc,