Under the Westminster system of governance all Ministers of the Crown need to assure the tax-paying public that they discharge their responsibilities as expected. The toughest assignment is handed to the Minister for Education, since the future of each country’s progress lies squarely in his or her hands. Governments force children to go to school to ensure the country’s future. Ministers cannot be everywhere at once, but they need to know that the teaching and learning enterprises in all schools maintain as high a standard as possible and that conditions are appropriate for the pursuit of excellence. Such demands entail a need for constant surveillance by experts. Who are they?
The only reliable experts to be the eyes and ears of the Minister in the pursuit of such requirements are those who have ‘been there and done that’ in their own field of endeavour, especially in primary and secondary schooling. Such professional people have, from earliest times, been called Inspectors of Schools.
For primary education, they were Principals of schools, who, after a long, arduous, developmental career, had achieved a level of competence judged to be at least the equal of the best in the service. A few attempts to place square pegs have produced pitiful outcomes. In Queensland, the appointment of Teachers College lecturers and TAFE personnel as Inspectors of Schools as well as primary/secondary interchanges are examples. Decision-makers at the time had not thought through the consequences of incongruous selection. Plumbers don’t service motor vehicles.
In the very early history of Queensland education, Inspectors were often seen as authoritarian, domineering, stern, unjust, arbitrary, uncaring and rigid. They stood apart and mirrored their British counterparts of popular literature. Their role ossified as they became testers of achievements in subjects that lent themselves to formal testing; and they seemed to relate teacher competency to the results, indifferent to local circumstances. There was a distinct change to this modus operandi during the early 1960s. Inspectors observed classroom activities, suggested ideas and gained first-hand impressions of teacher ability, based on their own experiences.
They came to be seen as evaluators and advisers, and it became commonplace for critics to decry the incompatibility of such roles. Their hierarchical clout and power was appreciated as were their new foci, but there were well-entrenched suspicions that their inclination to hector Principals and Teachers had not dissipated with the changes. Union members and academic critics in particular were suspicious; and master parodist, Ray Kelley, had his say.
Hector, the School Inspector
[Tune: "Sadie, the Cleaning Lady"]
Hector, the School Inspector -
Your skill is flawless as a flaw-detector;
We salute you, super-sleuth,
For you always learn the truth -
You haunt the craven guilty like a spectre!
Oh, Hector, the School Inspector -
No-one could be urbaner or correcter;
Underneath that polished shell
What is hidden? Who can tell?
There well may lurk a Regional Director!
PUT YOUR NEW CLEANER THROUGH, MR. HECTOR;
EVEN IF YOU’LL ALWAYS BE A SCHOOL INSPECTOR,
IN THAT SCHOOL YOU’RE NO FOOL, MR. HECTOR:
TO EXPECT, IS TO RESPECT A SCHOOL INSPECTOR.
Hector, the School Inspector -
The Departmental policy protector;
From the Syllabus divine
You have quaffed official wine,
And bid us share with gratitude this nectar!
Oh, Hector, the School Inspector -
The pep-talk-man and vitamin-injector
Any time the slacker errs,
You dig in your sharpened spurs,
And giddyap! There’s one less toil-neglecter.
TURN THE SCREW IF IT’S DUE, MR. HECTOR:
PLAY IT ROUGH AND BE A TOUGH OLD SCHOOL INSPECTOR:
SPARE NO ROD – BE A GOD, MR. HECTOR:
THOSE ABOUT TO DIE SALUTE THE SCHOOL INSPECTOR.
Hector, the School Inspector -
Promotion-seekers know you as selector;
When they score a brilliant try
They are sure to catch your eye,
And hold themselves that little bit erecter!
Oh, Hector, the School Inspector -
The expert time-allotment chart dissector;
You can spot it like a streak -
Art and Craft, one hour a week -
The mark of a professional suspecter!
FIND THOSE GAPS – ISSUE RAPS, MR. HECTOR:
YOU’RE TOO SMART FOR US, YOU ARTFUL SCHOOL INSPECTOR:
ON THE LAX WIELD THE AXE, MR. HECTOR -
WE’D DO JUST THE SAME IF WE WERE SCHOOL INSPECTOR!
The change in 1970 from the annual compulsory assessment of every teacher in every school in the state to one of assessing the quality of applicants at strategic times in terms of service and staff promotion was a welcomed introduction. There was a saving of time, which provided a better opportunity for schools to be more interactive with their mentors. The nature of the inspectorate’s mentoring role changed even more as they became closely allied with curriculum development, linking teachers with change and improvement. Until then, curriculum change and development had been a distant thing, but the post-Ahern Primary Curriculum Committee, whose structure was designed by the Primary Division, intimately involved key Inspectors in charge of syllabus committees and relied on critical commentary from all other District Inspectors as to effects on schools.
Hopes were high for a positive future in teaching and learning and curriculum improvement. The proper people were playing their proper roles. An ideologically compatible cohort of Inspectors and school personnel became proud of each other in professional terms; and concerned for each other in human terms. In many districts there were social gatherings of all involved in school activities: Principals, Assistant Teachers and District Inspectors. An enthusiastic esprit de corps evolved and all became professional friends….maybe not as close as Ray suggests, but…close…
BUDDIES [Tune: ["The Farmer and the Cowman" from "Oklahoma".]
Oh, the teacher and inspector should be friends -
The teacher and inspector should be friends -
D.I. calls to say hello -
Teacher loves to see him go -
But that’s no reason why they can’t be friends.
H.T. shouts the D.I. whisky,
D.I. shouts the H.T. beer,
A.T. watches both get frisky
On this one night of the year!
The teacher and inspector should be friends -
The teacher and inspector should be friends -
Teacher’s class is window-dressed -
D.I. isn’t much impressed -
But that’s no reason why they can’t be friends!
D.I.. shouts the H.T. whisky
H.T. shouts the D.I. beer,
A.T. risks a joke that’s risqué
On this one night of the year!
The teacher and inspector should be friends -
The teacher and inspector should be friends -
D.I. writes a lousy card
If teacher doesn’t work too hard,
But that’s no reason why they can’t be friends!
A.T. shouts the D.I. sherry,
D.I. shouts the A.T. rum,
When you’re feeling rather merry
Everybody is your chum.
The teacher and inspector should be friends -
The teacher and inspector should be friends -
Doubters ask, Can D.I. do
What he asks the teacher to?
But that’s no reason why they can’t be friends!
D.I. shouts the A.T. sherry,
A .T. shouts the D.I. rum,
When you’re feeling rather merry
ANYBODY is your chum!
So all was going well, with clear anticipation for a positive future for schooling in all corners of the State. The 1990s looked promising.
However, a most peculiar non-school re-structure of the State department was proposed in the mid-eighties in a blatantly Machiavellian manner. This gave the Director-General an opportunity to get rid of Inspectors as part of the proposal. It had been his leitmotif for some years.
The operations of all Government departments were perceived by external management and organisational theorists, hired to review the operations of state public service, to be much the same. They failed to appreciate that the administration of school operations, especially of those aspects that apply to compulsory attendance is clearly a unique kind of business. They should have known better.
So, as a major part of this disassembly, the lynch-pin role of school inspectors was eliminated in 1990. The promising potential for curriculum progress and school improvement that had been positively developing was eviscerated. It was a monumental mistake.
