LEA FRAMEWORKS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF SCHOOLS - AN INTERRUPTED PICTURE

There have been major changes and developments in recent years in stra tegies for monitoring and evaluating schools. This paper is based on a survey of chief inspectors and describes the extent and variety of lo cal education authority (LEA) approaches to the evaluation of schools during 1990/91. This was an important year because it immediately prec eded a major shift in government policy on inspection. Results from th e survey showed that only a small number of LEAs had substantial progr ammes of whole-school inspections, or 'full inspections', in place. Ho wever, when other forms of inspection were taken into account a much m ore extensive picture of LEA evaluation activity emerged. This represe nted a substantial increase compared to the situation in the pre Educa tion Reform Act period of the mid-to-late 1980s. The extent to which L EAs were pursuing vigorous policies for monitoring and evaluating scho ols based on 'inspection' modes is shown to depend on what exactly is counted as examples of such activity. The majority of LEAs had opted f or an approach based on 'inspection in [several] forms'. Although insp ection of some kind was the dominant approach, a few LEAs also maintai ned some measure of support for school self-evaluation. The findings o f the survey are considered in the light of the government's current a nd previous policy on school inspection.