A Continuum of Approaches to School Inspections: Cases from Europe

School inspection systems have undergone a transformation in response to the changing social and economic scenarios across Europe. However, two major approaches can easily be identified that also define the two ends of the continuum of the approaches to school inspection. On one end is a high stake sanctions oriented inspection while on the other end is the low stakes advisory inspection. The elements that contribute to the rigour of school inspection include governance arrangements, statutory powers of the inspectorate including powers of sanction, the forms and frequency of inspection visits, the level of emphasis on school self-evaluation and action planning for improvement; and availability of support services for the schools. The current paper presents four cases from Europe: Bulgaria, Ireland, Greece and Spain (Extremadura) describing how school inspection is organised in these countries as defined in the governing legislation and to which end of the continuum their inspection system is tilted in the light of that case’s performance on the above indicators. Towards the end, this paper makes a comparison of the cases and suggests why the relationship of trust and respect between inspectors and the inspected is stronger in some cases and how developing inspection systems can benefit from analysing the established systems.