External review of Isle of Man school processes set to begin

All of the island's 32 primary schools will be reviewed

Schools on the Isle of Man are set to face external reviews as part of a programme of assessment and improvement.

External validations of five facilities will begin this week in a scheme that will take up to eight weeks for each.

The process will then be rolled out to all of the island's schools and other educational settings by July 2026.

Education Minister Julie Edge said it would "pave the way for a new era of education improvement".

Schools on the island are not subject to formal inspections and external validations of the self-reviews and evaluations carried out by each establishment were last carried out between 2017 and 2020.

The process will start with primary schools St Mary's Roman Catholic School, Peel Clothworkers' School, and Kewaigue School, and high schools Castle Rushen and Queen Elizabeth II.

'Growth and improvement'

Tribal Education Services will carry out the reviews to validate the self-evaluation completed by school the schools themselves and education service leaders.

The process will include visiting schools to speak to students and staff, looking at pupils' work and joining lessons.

The firm had already met with the island's school leaders and arranged an introductory meeting for teachers, the education department said.

A spokeswoman for the company said the process had been "embraced" by the schools as an "opportunity to support continuous growth and improvement", which will directly impact on those being taught.

The evaluations will be carried out on a rolling basis every three years for each school.

Ms Edge said they would "form a key element of effective quality assurance within our schools and services" and support schools to "better understand the validity of their own judgements".

It would also provide decision makers in the education service "with the autonomy to understand and implement their own improvement and development plans in innovative ways," she added.

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