Jersey School Review Framework (FOI)

​​​Request

Education: Independence of reviewers for the Jersey review framework 

The EVALUATION OF THE JERSEY SCHOOLS REVIEW PILOT 2016-2018 published on gov.je recommendation 3 states “We consider independent expert leadership of school peer-reviews in Jersey to be essential to the quality, rigour and probity of the process.”

A

How many new external reviewers have been appointed since September 2022?

B

In which publications, open recruitment site and so forth, have the reviewers’ posts been advertised?

C

What is the process in which these reviewers have been selected and appointed and subject to open recruitment policies?

D

In which ways is the independence of these reviewers evaluated and guaranteed?

E

How is the performance management of these external reviewers managed?

F

What is the daily rate paid to these consultants for each review plus expenses?

Response

A

Since 1 September 2022 the services of a total of eight external reviewers have been engaged. 

B

Reviewers are not employees of the Government of Jersey, they are expert independent educational inspectors. Consequently, recruitment is not subject to Government of Jersey recruitment procedures, and the positions are not advertised. They are engaged on the basis of their qualifications and experiences as described below in response to question 3.

C

Targeted recruitment of a variety of individual inspectors / agencies is coordinated by Children, Young People, Education and Skills department (CYPES) to meet its need for planned schedule of reviews over each academic year. Government of Jersey procurement rules around contracts for services are followed and all interested parties are required to sign a standard Government of Jersey Professional Service Contract with CYPES.    

CYPES leaders consult with senior inspectors working for Ofsted to seek recommendations for serving inspectors with a successful track record of leading school inspections and the capacity to act as reviewers. 

All lead and Off-Island  team reviewers have had several years’ experience as Her / His Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools (HMI) or as Ofsted Inspectors working in England for Ofsted as well as teaching and senior leadership experience in schools.    

D

Prior to signing the annual Professional Services Contract reviewers are required to declare any potential conflicts of interest in line with Government of Jersey policies.  

E

As these independent inspectors are not employed directly by the Government of Jersey, their performance management is not the responsibility of CYPES.

An ongoing programme of quality assurance has been led by CYPES. This includes regular training for all reviewers, onsite quality assurance visits during a Jersey Schools Review Framework, deployment of Senior Advisors to the review teams to support reviewers new to the Island, evidence base reviews when necessary and quality assurance of lead reviewers’ reports. All these quality assurance processes follow the models used by Ofsted in England.

F

Lead Reviewers are paid a standard fee of £750 per day for a five-day review process (one day preparation, three days onsite in the school and one day for collating all the evidence and writing the report). Travel and accommodation are also paid.

Lead reviewers typically get three nights’ accommodation.  Travel and accommodation costs may vary dependent on fees at the time.   This information is not held in a recorded format that can be reported on. It has been estimated that to search files to produce the data would take in excess of 12.5 working hours therefore Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.   

Information on the Government of Jersey Schools Review Framework including the latest reports arising from all Government of Jersey schools where the review has been completed is available on www.gov.je in the following link:

Jersey Schools Review Framework (gov.je)

Article applied 

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.​