Introducing Curriculum for Wales is a journey, not just for schools but for the wider education system as it adapts to support curriculum reform. Estyn’s evolving approach to inspection is an important example.
Ceri Richmond, Deputy Headteacher at Morriston Comprehensive School, is a Peer Inspector. She has recently had a week’s refresher training and is the perfect person to tell us more about how the approach to inspection is changing.
Firstly Ceri, why did you become a Peer Inspector?
I started in 2017 because as a senior leader with responsibility for self-evaluation and teaching and learning, I wanted to ensure that I could identify good practice. I wanted to be confident when observing lessons and mentoring departments in self-evaluation procedures. For me it’s about better teaching and learning, although I started by focussing on school self-evaluation.
What’s the essence of the role?
It’s important for Estyn to have practicing professionals in the team for balance and to bring that current perspective. There are usually at least two peer inspectors in each team. I appreciate the fact that we are full members of the inspection team with the same range of responsibilities. On the other side, I have also appreciated that current perspective from the peer inspectors when my own school is under inspection.
Can you describe your recent training?
I really enjoyed it. We were a room of Peer Inspectors, mainly looking at teaching and learning, pastoral (e.g. skills and attendance) and team development. We looked at lots of examples of pupil work and were asked what we could glean. Evidence gathering is always about triangulating and analysing how those work scrutinies would tie in with observations and pupil voice, for example. During an inspection we would share all our observations and notes from different inspection activities in a live document. This means that all inspectors can collate and see the information pertinent to the area they have been allocated to report on. It’s really good as refresher training if you’ve had a gap in inspections, and I can take a lot back to my own school.
As we move firmly into schools delivering the new Curriculum for Wales, I will be very interested to see how these activities and the focus of these activities will develop to take into account differences, for example in the way we use the principles of progression to measure progress and what we are now measuring in terms of progress, as we move to a purposes-driven curriculum, with a new but more equal emphasis on learner effectiveness as well as knowledge and skills.
How different are inspections under Curriculum for Wales?
The biggest improvement in the current framework is the removal of summative judgements. It means we look at both strengths and weaknesses. You can see the needs of a school, and they do come out in that final report, but the feedback is more balanced and far more constructive.
Leaner inspection arrangements are more focused on the most important areas that drive improvement. It’s also more based on the school’s own self-evaluation activity. In that way, we’re also assessing the strength of the school’s own ability to identify improvement.
Interestingly, in a recent House of Lords evidence session, it was said that the Inspectorate needs to respect the decisions taken at local level on curriculum, otherwise there is a risk that schools will try to please inspectors rather than serve the needs of the learners, which makes absolute sense in Wales!
So what style can schools expect from you?
The style has changed. It’s not big brother anymore, it’s working with the schools and it’s more supportive, although I do believe it will be some time before it feels this way by the school being inspected. The report is far more balanced and constructive. Also, there is more regular contact and more frequent visits – engagement visits and thematic visits. These are designed to focus on improvement processes to support stronger evaluations.
On balance it feels better, especially in a time when the curriculum is being introduced year by year in secondaries. We need to acknowledge the amount of change that’s involved and ensure that all tiers and departments within the sector talk to and communicate openly with each other.