Making external school review effective: findings from the 2012 Windsor International Conference on School Improvement through Inspection and External Review

This report considers how learning outcomes can be improved based on findings from the 2012 Windsor International Conference on School Improvement through Inspection and External Review. Following the 2012 Windsor International Conference on School Improvement through Inspection and External Review, Richard Churches and Carol McBride compiled this report which draws out the major conference themes alongside a review of relevant literature. They find that the following characteristics appear to underpin effective school review: • use of a robust review framework underpinned by research evidence • inclusion of parent and student views during review • deployment of a skilled reviewer workforce • objective evaluation and transparency • alignment of evaluations with school internal review processes and development planning. As well as highlighting these themes, characteristics and some further key principles of effective external school review, the report also contains the opening conference remarks of Tony McAleavy, Sir Jim Rose and Neil McIntosh. The second half of the report details every presentation at the conference – including case studies from Bahrain, Dubai, India, Jamaica, South Africa, the UAE federal ministry and the United Kingdom – and the series of workshops that took place.