Although many of these distinctions seem to be mutually exclusive in a logical
sense, there are also instances where inspectorates seem to combine different, sometimes
even contradictory, approaches and emphases in the various aspects of their
work. This may be due to the fact that inspections in some countries have been
entrusted not just with evaluative tasks but also with other functions (e.g. personnel
management). It is also related to the fact that the increased emphasis on school
inspection in recent decades is closely connected to the apparently contradictory
policy of making schools more autonomous and self-governing. High levels of school
autonomy are counterbalanced in some countries by systematic evaluations of
schools to assure the quality and effectiveness of school level decisions. Declining
student achievement results, as measured in international surveys such as PISA and
TIMSS, have also often spurred an increase in evaluation and control of schools even
in supposedly decentralized education systems. Gustafsson and Myrberg (in prep) for
example describe how the declining results in national evaluations and international
comparative studies prompted the Swedish government to separate the tasks of
steering and support of schools from those of evaluation and control. School inspections
are now, as a result, largely concerned with stricter control of quality and
ensuring compliance of schools with the law. Overall though it can still be argued
that, even though Inspectorates of Education in Europe vary in their approaches and
in their origins, they generally share a common purpose of improving teaching and
learning (Faubert 2009).