Can Inspection Improve Efficiency Of The System Of Education?
By Swaleha.A.Sindhi
01 October, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Introduction
For a very long time the focus in secondary education has been on quality. A unified effort is consistently being made in this direction by the centre, the state and the institutions. Here emerges the vital role of the inspection system as an evaluator and an encourager at the school level. The inspection system evaluates progress of educational programmes planned according to the policies, deviations, hindrances, problems or errors that must be rectified from time to time. School Inspection aims to continuously monitor the optimal utilization of the sanctioned government grant, the following of rules and regulations amongst other functions. It is not only the administrative area but the academic area also that brings improvement in quality of education. Continuous evaluation is an essential need to overcome hindrances and to maintain minimum quality. Inspection is the very important bridge between school and the Education Department, working as evaluation machinery. Kochhar (1981) states “It is an opportunity for seeking good work done in schools by pupils, teachers and parents. The education officers can help in the dispersal of the good practice and improve material and the intellectual tone of the school”. It evaluates the macro level policies implemented at the micro levels. I nspection is a process of formally examining and evaluating a school's functioning, results and progress with a view to identify weakness and bring about improvement on the basis of advice embodied in a report.(Pandya,2001). The old concept of inspection is to some extent authoritarian and rigid with element of professional guidance to teachers not significantly presented. So with passage of time in inspection, the concept of supervision was added. The recommendations of Kothari Commission (1964-1966) were to separate administrative and academic inspection so that inspecting officer can pay more attention to supervision of the class. Secondary Commission (1952-53) describes contemporary condition of those days and remarked that “It was pointed out that inspectors were perfunctory that the time spent by the inspector at any particular place was insufficient that the greater part of his time was taken up with routine administration” Indian Education Commission (1964-66) put stress on dynamic inspection system for accelerating educational reform while analysing the reason for weaknesses of programme of supervision states “A sympathetic and imaginative system of supervision and administration can initiate and accelerate educational reform. On the other hand a rigid, beaurocratic approach stifle all experimentation and creativity and make any educational reconstruction almost impossible”. There is dearth of properly trained inspecting officers and they were loaded with administrative work, the major complain of the teachers is that the inspecting officers do not communicate to teachers what they observed in classes to make them aware of the issues and to give them solutions and promote professional growth of teachers. Another side of the story is that the inspectors and supervisory staff are considered to be insufficient for a large number of schools.
Benefits of Inspection
Inspection, as a mode of monitoring education, offers the following major benefits (Wilcox & Gray, 1994):
• It gives inspectors an opportunity to observe classrooms and, thereby, a better basis for discussing the development of the school with head teachers;
• It gives school inspectors an opportunity to learn about the schools, the principals, the teachers, the curriculum, and the students and indicates which way forward;
• It can be a potential learning experience for those involved;
• It should provide useful information for parents in their choice of schools;
• It leads to a better understanding of schools;
• It enhances staff cooperation and public recognition that the school is basically on the right track; and
• It boosts staff morale;
Also, as noted by Hargreaves (1995), inspection is a powerful way of monitoring the education system, tracking standards and performance levels over a period of time, and of identifying schools' failures. Furthermore, in Mc.Glynn and Stalker's (1995) view, findings of inspection are used to identify aspects requiring attention and improvement in individual schools; to clarify performance of education system as a whole; and to inform national and regional educational policy, practice, and development. In addition, they argued, inspection findings are important in view of the government's guidelines on school development planning and should provide the basis for national evaluation of education.
Problems with the Current Inspection Practices
Numerous problems are associated with the present system of school inspection the major areas are:
• Lack of sufficient time ; Time given to inspection of each school is not sufficient when a comparison is made between total numbers of secondary schools and number of inspecting staff members. There is a rapid increase in the number of recognized secondary schools but the same is not the case with inspecting staff members from District Education Officer (DEO) office, each member of inspecting team is overloaded with excess work load and thus they are not able to give sufficient time to each school.
• Lack of government support ; Government is not taking proper remedial actions to improve academic performance in public examination of school having 0-10% result, the only action taken by the Government is to stop grants given to these schools and withholding salary of principals which is not the solution and sufficient. Another problem arises when schools have to admit students from corporation primary schools in class IX, which affects their public examination performance in std. 10 th . Government not providing any remedial coaching for them.
• The unprofessional behaviour of some school inspectors has had the serious negative consequences of poor relationship between inspectors and teachers (Masara, 1987); it has also become a tendency for teachers to mistrust school inspectors, they regard inspection as a stressful experience due to fear of the unknown. The private high achieving schools have a well set self evaluation system, which is much more progressive then what is conducted by the government machinery. Such schools are forced to follow policies of inspectors, which may be very traditional.
• School inspectors Perceptions are used to evaluate teachers performance, teacher involvement on matters regarding school inspection has been very minimal (Wanga, 1988). Opportunities for meaningful dialogue between teachers and inspectors, especially after inspections are missing or are highly limited. It is observed that the school inspectors are secretive, concentrating on their business and not able to communicate adequately with teachers to put them at ease.
• Inspection system is highly bureaucratic and shares with all other aspects of the education bureaucracy, a top-down, hierarchical, and authoritarian character between school inspectors and the higher education authorities. Inspectors sometimes cannot take decisions on matters regarding inspection of schools before consulting the higher authorities who may have little or no knowledge about the situation on the ground.
• Inspection reports school inspectors are expected to prepare inspection reports with detailed recommendations and to avail the reports to the school authorities' and District Education Officer to take any necessary action. However, there is no clear indication regarding accessibility of the reports by teachers, parents, and any other interested parties. Furthermore, there seems to be a deliberate neglect of school context in the process of inspection as well as in the inspection reports. There is a general lack of appropriate post-inspection evaluation by school inspectors at the conclusion of each inspection to determine the views of principals and other school personnel regarding the practice and process of inspection.
Proposed Solutions
Several strategies may be employed to improve system of school inspection. School inspectors should endeavour to be as professional as possible in their inspection practices. This includes an attempt to provide objective judgments of teachers and principals performance. School inspectors must change with the times, shift from their traditional image and do their work objectively, professionally, and with courtesy. The provision of feedback regarding findings of inspection, especially to schools inspected, should be ongoing during the process of inspection. This should include providing oral feedback to principals to teachers, and to other school personnel, with opportunities for discussions and reflections with the key stakeholders. For evaluation in curriculum development to be carried out effectively, the teacher has to be involved in the process throughout the exercise. Teachers should provide data on the progress of the pupils and on the materials.
Conclusion
If the intent of the current educational reforms is to provide high quality education, then an attempt must be made to address the present shortcomings in the practice of school inspection. These should include, monitoring the conduct of school inspection and the quality of its reports; facilitating ongoing consultation with the key stakeholders on matters regarding quality assurance; keeping education quality and the quality culture at the top of educational agenda, developing the right attitudes to the “quality culture” to secure the most effective education possible and the best value for public investment, Thus, all the stakeholders should regard inspection system as an important means to improve the efficiency of the system of education; as an instrument for realizing the goals of educational development; and as a tool of supervision. When all the key stakeholders are participants in the inspection process, there is likelihood of facilitating quality and accountability. Quality inspection must mean a better basis for school improvement. The one question that the Inspectors need to address is: Will the inspection practices and procedures put in place help to facilitate standards of education in general and teaching and learning in schools in particular?
(Ms.Swaleha.A.Sindhi is Assistant Professor at the M.S.University of Baroda , she can be mailed at [email protected])
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