Evaluation of schools providing compulsory education in Europe

The evaluation of education systems and schools is assuming major significance in ensuring quality education for all at a time when decentralisation is becoming increasingly widespread in Europe, whether in relation to the management of staff, resources or aspects of education in its own right. Focused on the evaluation, as entities, of schools that provide compulsory education, this study describes the situation in 2000/01 in the countries covered by the Network. Besides situating this specific type of evaluation with respect to overall arrangements for evaluating education (evaluation of the education system, teachers, etc.), Eurydice compares both external and internal methods and procedures for evaluating schools. Who are the people involved in these different types of evaluation and how have they been trained? In what ways are internal and external evaluation related and how is each form of evaluation organised? What are the aims, criteria and procedures of evaluation and what use is made of its findings?