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Method and instruments:  3 Phases in the Inspection Process

1. Preliminary Enquiry

When an inspection team investigates a school, centre or academy, the team will first make an estimation on the institution’s quality.

This estimation takes place during the Preliminary Enquiry which contains:

• A Data Analysis:
  • a first source are the data from the government’s operational data bases. These are the data that institutions send in to the administration in Brussels.
  • a second source are the data which the Inspectorate gathers by means of the Information File. This Information File is a short, written questionnaire filled in by the institutions.
  • a third source is all the information from previous inspections: inspection reports, succession reports, GOK-reports (Equal Opportunities in Education), etc.
• A Local Visit for refinement by means of observations, interviews and document analysis. A team of two inspectors visits the school, centre or academy during 1 day.

By interpretation and deliberation the inspectors will finally come to an audit focus: which area of learning, subjects or other aspects will be examined more thoroughly during the Audit phase?

When determining the audit focus, the inspectors make a stable, representative selection of strengths and weaknesses of the school’s operational aspects.

2. The Actual Audit

During this phase the inspectors visit the school, centre or academy for a couple of days. Interviews, document analyses and observations are held during the audit.

This phase takes 3 to 6 days, depending on:

• the school size
• the scope of the audit focus
• the composition of the inspection team

3. The Inspection Report

The final conclusion of the inspection team together with the advice will be written in the Inspection Report. This Inspection Report is discussed with the school board during a verification discussion.

As soon as the school board, the organizing authority and the inspector-reporter have signed the definitive report, the Inspection Report will be placed online on this website (in Dutch only).

This public nature of Inspection Reports has certain consequences on the way of reporting. Therefore the Inspection Report contains one chapter written for a larger public, namely the Quality Profile. This is a brief and concise text with:

• the results of the audit;
• the motivation;
• the strengths of the school;
• possible challenges for the school.