Responses to positive and negative feedback on organizational aspects of school quality. Teachers’ and leaders’ views on a Swiss traffic light approach to school inspection

Abstract

In social contexts, feedback by observers, participants, or recipients provides information on performance and products, thereby creating an opportunity to learn and improve. In education governance, many countries rely on school inspection by professional observers to convey feedback on organizational and pedagogical processes and outcomes. This article examines the reactions of teachers and leaders to a Swiss inspection approach that uses a traffic light system to evaluate process features of school quality. Using SPSS and Mplus, the multilevel analysis distinguishes between individual and collective effects. On the individual level, school leaders respond to the traffic light inspections in general slightly more positively than teachers. On the collective level, feedback that flags organizational disturbances or failures of local schools does not evoke a sweeping rejection. Overall, the results indicate a rather high acceptance of the traffic light approach.