Feedback by Dutch Inspectors to Schools

Due to national and international policy drivers The Dutch Inspectorate of Education is reforming its supervision with a mission to promote school improvement in all Dutch schools. One of the chosen mechanisms to achieve this is the provision of feedback by inspectors to school leaders, special educational needs coordinators, and teachers following the inspection process. In this chapter we take a closer look at feedback by inspectors and the factors that can influence the effect of this feedback. We begin by reviewing the literature on the effects of inspection feedback, factors mediating the impact of inspection feedback and responses to inspection feedback. Following on from this we discuss the results of two pilot studies by the Dutch Inspectorate on provision of feedback by inspectors. These provide more information about the quality of the feedback, the training of inspectors and the perception of the recipients. Whilst both pilots suggest that school leaders, teachers and special educational needs coordinators are positive about inspection feedback, the challenges of providing this on an individual basis are outside of the inspector remit. For this reason the Dutch inspectorate has chosen not to provide suggestions on how to improve during the feedback conversation, but rather focus on discussion as to how a school aims to develop from the current performance to the desired one.