Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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760.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of whole school evaluations which have been conducted by the inspectorate in the past five years; and the level of take up of self-evaluation tools by schools; if recommendations are emerging from this work for future policy development; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32410/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In the period January 2019 to June 2024, my Department’s Inspectorate completed 466 whole-school evaluations (WSE) in primary and post-primary schools. This comprised 314 WSEs in primary and special schools and 152 WSEs in post-primary schools. During this period, 2,915 school self-evaluation (SSE) advisory visits were completed in primary, post-primary and special schools. These visits included 431 visits to schools participating in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme and 340 visits to schools participating in the Schools Excellence Fund initiative.

In 2020, 2021 and 2022, my Department issued circulars and advice to primary and post-primary schools, about adjustments to the inspection and advisory programme in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools. Inspection activity during the period focussed on priority inspections, including: Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspections (CPSI); urgent Follow-through Inspections; and a limited number of other necessary inspections.

The programme was expanded to include advisory-focussed Sustaining Safe Provision of Schooling (SSPS) visits that were undertaken to monitor the implementation of anti-Covid measures that ensured that schools were safe working and learning environments. A programme of incidental inspections, which was notified in advance was also completed in 2021. Throughout the period 2020-2022 the inspection programme was kept under review in the light of evolving public health advice at the time.

The second cycle of school self-evaluation (SSE) was extended to 2022. In the extended second phase, schools were encouraged to use the SSE process to help them to address challenges arising from the pandemic, to complete remaining work on SSE, and to address areas identified by the school as a priority, including addressing recommendations arising from previous whole-school evaluations (WSE) and other external inspection activity. Research findings gathered from 6,157 advisory sessions to support schools in 2020 and 2021, in addition to surveys conducted with schools, informed the development of the third cycle of SSE which commenced in 2022.

The Inspectorate publication ‘Looking At Our School 2022: A Quality Framework for Schools’ provides a shared understanding of what effective and highly effective learning, teaching, leadership and management practices look like in the Irish school system. The guidelines and tools for quality improvement are used by schools to support their engagement with SSE. Resources to support schools engaging with SSE are available at: gov - Inspectorate - Department of Education (www.gov.ie)

The Inspectorate resumed a typical programme of inspection in 2023. The Inspectorate routinely draws on its findings from inspection to provide policy advice and recommendations to support improvement in schools. These conclusions and recommendations also inform the Inspectorate’s policy advice to the Department and to Government. The Inspectorate regularly publishes reports on the findings from inspections, across a range of themes, including curriculum and assessment reform, inclusion and equity, and other inspection research findings. These reports are available at gov - Inspectorate - Department of Education (www.gov.ie)