How are our inspectors preparing for education reform?

Getting together as a team of inspectors is an important part of our professional learning, but it’s not always easy or practical to do. With so many inspectors living and working right across Wales, we have to be quite creative with opportunities to meet and not a second is wasted.

For the past few years, many of you will know that we have been working closely with the Welsh Government, local authorities, regional consortia and schools as everyone prepares for wide changes in education. It’s important that all our inspectors understand the journey that providers are making as they prepare for these reforms. We’ve been using these professional development weeks for just this purpose.

For example, inspectors who have worked closely with pioneer schools to develop the areas of learning and experience of the new curriculum update us regularly. They encourage us to talk about the new and exciting things we are beginning to see happen in schools so that we know the sort of things we might expect to see when we are out-and-about inspecting schools around Wales.

Other colleagues have been involved in new or different ways of working, including carrying out some pilot engagement visits. They share their experiences with wider groups of inspectors, and together we consider the pros and cons of any changes. As you might imagine, people who spend their working lives being evaluative bring a wide range of ideas and opinions to the table. This encourages energetic discussion, which helps to shape decisions about how we inspect and about how we might work in the future. Senior leaders here expect and welcome contributions to decision-making from all inspectors and this keeps us all interested and engaged in our work.

Professional learning goes beyond the times we meet as a whole group. Throughout the year we shadow inspections in sectors we are less familiar with and go on paired visits with a specific focus. For example, a group of primary and secondary colleagues visited a secondary school in England that has a particularly imaginative and innovative approach to the curriculum. It was a real eye-opener, and made us think carefully about how we can encourage schools to think differently and be braver with the curriculum. On our return, we shared our experiences, which inspired others to do further reading and research on its philosophy and success, but nothing can quite replicate the understanding we gained by being there, meeting the teachers and engaging with the pupils.

Earlier in the blog, I talked about learning from others outside the organisation. Regular updates from a wide range of partners and stakeholders on a broad range of topics are a regular and crucial part of our professional learning. A recent session learning more about Adverse Childhood Experiences and the training currently being carried out with schools around Wales served as a timely reminder that education reform needs to improve the experiences and outcomes of all learners. If it doesn’t, why are we doing it?

All inspectors are carrying out a focused professional enquiry linked to our changing approach and their own interests. It’s early days, but colleagues have welcomed and valued the opportunity to participate in this type of professional learning activity. Personally, I’ve chosen to look more closely at how we evaluate provision to develop pupils’ digital competence in secondary schools. I’ve used our inspection reports and other publications to gather a baseline of the evidence we currently capture, and I’ll try out some new approaches over the next few months. After my research I’ll share my findings with my colleagues and will begin making amendments to our inspection toolkits.