Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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108. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary and post-primary schools in which departmental inspectors carry out inspections on a yearly basis; the nature of such inspections; his views on the concerns expressed by teachers regarding excessive paper checking associated with his Department's supervision of schools; and the number of schools at each level which are in the school improvement programme. [25183/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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In 2016, the Inspectorate carried out a total of 779 inspection visits and 197 school self-evaluation advisory visits in primary schools and 752 inspection visits and 77 school self-evaluation advisory visits in post-primary schools and centres for education.

Since 2010, the Inspectorate has developed a range of inspection models varying from short one-day, unannounced inspections to more detailed and thorough inspections of schools. All of these models were developed following extensive collaboration and consultation with schools and the education partners. The full range of new and revised inspection models came into effect on 1 September 2016. A key issue that was addressed in the development of these inspections was to ensure that a greater focus is placed on classroom observation and less attention paid to the examination of documentation. In response to comments from the education partners, a single simplified guide to inspections was published for primary schools and a similar guide prepared for post-primary schools. These guides provide full details of the range of inspections used in schools, and they contain a list of the small number of documents that are required of schools during inspections. The majority of the documents required should be readily available in schools as they are part of the normal planning that would be expected in schools.

The range of inspection models in use includes the following:

Short, unannounced “incidental” inspections are carried out in a large number of primary and post-primary schools each year. They focus on the quality of classroom work and provide an opportunity to offer advice and feedback to individual teachers and to the school principal. These inspections are also used to collect information about the school, and the Inspectorate uses this information to plan a proportion of its other inspections.

Subject inspections/curriculum evaluations evaluate the quality of teaching and learning of a curriculum area in primary schools or a subject in post-primary schools.

DEIS evaluations evaluate the quality of action planning for improvement in both primary and post-primary schools included in the DEIS scheme, and the impact that this has on the learning of students.

Inspections of Special Educational Needs (SEN) Provision are conducted in primary and post-primary schools. Specialised inspections are also conducted in schools attached to High Support Units, Special Care Units and Children detention Centres.  

Programme evaluations examine the quality of programmes such as Transition Year, the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme, the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and the Junior Certificate School Programme in post-primary schools.

Whole-School Evaluations evaluate the quality of teaching and learning, and the quality of the leadership and management in primary and post-primary schools.

Evaluations of Centres for Education are conducted mainly in Youthreach centres that provide “second-chance” educational opportunities for young people who have dropped out of mainstream schooling.

Follow-Through inspections take place in a proportion of schools in which inspections have occurred previously. These inspections, introduced in 2012, seek to establish the extent to which earlier recommendations have been implemented and act as an encouragement to boards and teachers to advance improvement in schools.

The current suite of inspection models means that short inspections occur more frequently in schools; schools in which there is a greater risk to the learning of students are identified more quickly; and a proportion of more intensive inspections can be conducted where the need for improvement is likely to be greatest. Follow-through inspections also provide added flexibility that helps to increase the impact of inspection for improvement.

In addition to the inspection models listed above, inspectors currently carry out inspections of the work of conditionally registered teachers at primary level on behalf of the Teaching Council. These inspections help to inform the Council’s decisions on teachers' registration. In the school year 2015/16, a total of 3 222 inspection visits were made to conditionally registered teachers for this purpose.

There are currently 26 primary and 7 post-primary schools in the school improvement process.