Estyn’s guidance toolkit for assuring the quality of inspections through IEFs
The purpose of the Inspector Evaluation Form (IEF) is to enable Estyn to collect information about the quality of its inspection work. We analyse the outcomes and use the information to promote inspection work of high quality, to follow up instances where there are concerns about inspection quality and to inform our training and development work for inspectors. We may use the outcomes when considering tenders and the award of inspection contracts.
On all inspections, Reporting Inspectors are required to complete an Inspector Evaluation Form (IEF) on the work of any contracted Team Inspector (TI), Peer Inspector (PI) and Lay Inspector (LI). The IEFs are available to inspectors in the Virtual Inspection Room (VIR) for each inspection. Normally, a reporting inspector should address comments in the form directly to the peer inspector or contracted inspector, i.e. in the 2nd person (for example, you did this well, or next you need to work on…). This ensures that the IEF is personal and supportive. However, in being personal, RIs hould take care not to water down difficult messages, as these always need to be conveyed clearly to the inspector.
The Team, Peer and Lay Inspectors first have the opportunity to complete a self-assessment of their own work and to indicate the quality grades (A-D) they think are appropriate on the IEF. They have five days to do this after the end of the inspection. We encourage all inspectors to be reflective and identify areas for future focus which can help us tailor support and training. After that, Reporting Inspectors then complete their part of the IEF and award quality grades. If the self-assessment part is not complete after five days, the Reporting Inspector can complete the form without any self-assessment by the Team, Peer or Lay Inspectors. The Reporting Inspector should normally consider the comments from Estyn’s Quality Assurance process (QAR and QAI) before completing the IEF grades and providing feedback for their team.
Reporting Inspectors may also need to take into account the experience of the Team, Peer or Lay Inspector when coming to make judgements. An inspector on their first inspection may require more support than a more experienced inspector.