Rolf Lander

Inspections of Swedish schools: A critical reflection on intended effects, causal mechanisms and methods

The article outlines a programme theory for the Swedish school inspection. The theory has a format of ‘if … then … because’, whereby the last term states one or more generative mechanisms behind the reactions to inspection, and the former terms imply what the inspectorate does and which reactions it receives. The assumptions of the theory are tested regarding their precision of definition, consistency and empirical status. No research has as yet confirmed a general positive effect of the Swedish inspection on learning and school development. Programme theory, however, suggests that such effects are mostly context-dependent, and thus will vary between schools and school authorities. A complicating feature of the present inspection is its objectivist ethos, which is at odds with the Swedish tradition of a transactional ethos in inspections.

School Evaluation and Improvement: A Scandinavian View

Rolf Lander’s and Mats Ekholm’s account of school improvement in Scandinavia is centrally concerned with the implications of a national policy that links together evaluation and development. Using an established framework for integrating evaluation and school improvement, Lander and Ekholm use a series of case studies to explore the impact of such national policies on educational development. Despite national differences, the style of educational reform employed in Scandinavia is generally less invasive than that of many other Western Educational Systems. In common with other systems however Lander and Ekholm argue on the basis of their data that too great an emphasis on goal based accountability results in a reduction of professional commitment and autonomy. Following their review of research and analysis of Scandinavian policy initiatives, Lander and Ekholm conclude that policy makers’ view of evaluation is more as a means of gathering information and achieving control, rather than as a tool for school improvement. Schools in Scandinavia that are striving to use evaluation as a means of school improvement are on the basis of this evidence likely to have their efforts negated by the predominant ‘evaluation as management’ orthodoxy.