Inspectors Disappear in Birmingham Archdiocese

Some lead inspectors on the Catholic Schools Inspection team in the Birmingham archdiocese have disappeared.

During the academic year October 2022 to July 2023, the inspection unit deployed a team of 20 lead inspectors. They trialled the new Catholic Schools Inspection format in 47 primary and secondary schools around the Birmingham archdiocese.

The numbers are as accurate as we can make out from publicly available documents. Experience has taught us that accessing official sources for basic informarkon is mostly treated as subversive, or just ignored.

October 2022 marked the transition away the old inspection service that counted the number of non-Catholics, among other details. In came a national framework. Each diocese had a say in formatting the framework and deciding on the process. It might be assumed the system would be uniformly run in each diocese.

Reading reports from across the country will disabuse you of that quaint idea.

What a shame they didn’t take the next logical step and run the service from the centre instead of delegating the interpretation and operation to each diocese and its director of inspections – if they had one.

A central agency might have been more forthcoming with basic information about how they would run the system, outlining their attitude and approach, with some indication of the level of supervision, editorial quality and clout and to what extent a close interface with the schools being inspected would benefit the school.

God forbid that someone might have suggested that inspections should be of more use to the schools than to the authority ordering the enquiry.

Basing your ‘new’ inspection service on the outdated Ofsted model when so many other better systems were available was unfortunate. How could the creators have known the troubles with the Ofsted system would surface publicly after they had hitched their wagon to that falling star?

Years of complaints, critical reviews, findings from researchers, opposition from a host of schools, academics, advisors and others at the front line had been explained away as the irritating posturing of the disaffected.   

On top of that, Pope Francis was still unveiling his idea about synodality. It was early days for a unified listening inspection system that could be run without local adaptation and interpretation. 

Back to those numbers.

(We would welcome any correction from official sources and will happily publish any adjustments in the cause of accuracy.)

Last year the Birmingham archdiocesan inspection service employed 20 lead inspectors. This academic year between September and December 2024, only seven of the lead inspectors have made the cut and were redeployed. Each of the experienced lead inspectors being used again has now completed at least four inspections. Two of them have five inspections under their belts. Only the inspection director has exceeded that score.

Two unscathed lead inspectors were sent out with the high expectation that they would produce a star-filled performance. Maybe one of the report editors will tell us what that looks like.

The issue of fewer lead inspectors being used is not as simple as saying some inspectors were judged not good enough. That is too simple an answer, true though if might be.

Some will have decided this was not for them. Consultancy on preparing for inspection is always open to them now that they have become experts on the process having done it once, or even twice. Better pay too.

Maybe some were happier doing whatever it was they were doing before they were called to hold up the sword of Damocles in the name of the diocese.

It won't be the first time a saviour has expressed regrets at being called on to meet a challenging demand not of their choosing. When St Patrick was fiddling with fire lighters on the hill of Slane he must have thought longingly of the hearth of his home on the mountains in Wales.

Perhaps there is a blockage in the system reducing the number of available inspections. In the same period in 2022, 17 schools had been inspected but only 11 this time around.

Being an inspector is like being on a zero hours contract. You only work if there is work and you are chosen.

The smaller number of experienced inspectors and the more inspections they lead allows for patterns to emerge in the way they manage the inspection. The quality of their written reports emerges more clearly.

There is more evidence to look at. That is what we do.

We focus mainly on the quality of the written report. But we can't go there until we establish that the content is appropriate, relevant and in accordance with the requirements of the inspection framework.

Some say we are judging the judges.

We don’t see it in terms of judging them. The Diocesan inspection QA team does that.

We want to find out how well they judge what being a Catholic school means so that we can share their insights with all Catholic schools and, dare we say it, beyond.

All in all, inspecting is not an easy job when so many are watching you.

Like Trip Advisor for inspectors only more important.

Longer established inspection platforms estimate it takes four or five inspections for a lead inspector to really get on top of the job. By the fifth inspection the inspection editor will tell you they can see lead inspector’s patterns emerging. You notice the points that interest them. You pick up their writing idiosyncrasies. You find the issue that excite them and know the areas they are uncomfortable reporting on. Above all they are now developing their inspection report writing style that is characteristic of them.

By inspection five you can identify their pattern of approach, their style of writing and the expectations they bring to the task.

For instance, which lead inspector most often uses the word “embedded” to describe some aspect rooted in the school?
 Who likes to give great importance to the link between the school and the parishes?
 Which lead inspector is most prone to use jargon in expressing their judgements? Who puts a stong focus on the work of the principal as the root of the quality of Catholic Life and Mission?

Hopefully no more inspectors will disapear. Some of those who survived are showing a talent for the work.

(c) Ted Dunphy

13.01.2024