30 Mar 2000

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What's INCE?

Page contents

• INCE
  
• Nature of INCE
  
• Scope of INCE's action
  
• Functions of INCE
  
• Organisation of INCE
  

INCE

A significant educational reform process was initiated in Spain in October 1990 by the Law for the General Regulation of the Education System or LOGSE (Ley Orgánica de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo). This educational reform involves a commitment to Spanish society to attain better teaching quality in all its forms and methods.

LOGSE's Article 55 refers to the commitment that public powers should adopt to improve education. Article 62 of LOGSE directly tackles the subject of the evaluation of the education system, a task which is entrusted to the National Institute for Quality and Evaluation or INCE (Instituto Nacional de Calidad y Evaluación). INCE's aims are stated below:

1. The evaluation of the education system shall be directed towards its continuous adaptation to social demands and educational needs. It shall be applied to students, teaching staff, schools, educational processes and the Administration itself.
2. The regional education authorities shall evaluate the education system within the scope of its responsibilities.
3. A general evaluation of the education system will be carried out by INCE, which in particular shall be enabled to perform the following tasks:
1. to create evaluation systems for all the different regulated teaching methods and their corresponding schools.
2. to perform research, studies and evaluations of the education system and in general to recommend initiatives and suggestions to the regional education authorities which may contribute to improve the quality of education.

In order to develop the provisions of LOGSE, on 18^th June 1993 a Royal Decree was passed. It regulates INCE and outlines in greater detail its functions and composition as well as the powers of its governing bodies and the basic principles of its organisation.

Nature of INCE

In the context of the educational system as a whole, multiple and simultaneous evaluation processes take place, at times systematically and formally while at other times asystematically and informally. Awareness and evaluation of the education system's achievements and failures, both in the system as a whole and on each of its levels, provide the necessary basis for a new direction towards development and improvement. Evaluation provides information about the condition of the system and enables the most suitable decisions to consistently be made.

It is necessary to distinguish between the different evaluation processes that occur inside the education system. Some of them have essentially individual aims, as well as singular effects, such as evaluation for certification and promotion of students, the development of teaching and learning methods in the classroom, improvement of the running of individual schools. Others, concerned with a general evaluation of the education system, focus on a search for indicators concerning the global running of the system as a whole.

The results obtained by the latter evaluation processes are then utilised to discover which elements contribute to achieving an improvement in the quality of teaching standards and which should be focused upon. Regional education authorities must:

• be aware of the operation of the education system in order to know the extent to which the aims of the education system are being achieved and its principles are respected;
• to provide information about the system's current state and its evolution so that all necessary steps may be taken towards development and improvement of the system.

As far as diffusion of the project is concerned, the social nature of education means that every participant in the process is able to learn about and, therefore, evaluate the different aspects of the Spanish education system.

So the fundamental purpose of the general evaluation of the education system is to provide applicable information to the regional education authorities, to relevant institutional organisations, to individual participants of the system (students, parents, teachers, etc.) as well as citizens in general about the quality of the system at any particular moment in its development.

Scope of INCE's action

The evaluation of the education system operates in two spheres, that corresponding to the State and that of the regional education authorities with full responsibility over educational matters. INCE belongs to the first sphere and it is in charge of evaluating the aspects of the curriculum that make up the minimum education requirements as set out in LOGSE's Article 4. INCE should also contribute to designing assessment systems, investigations, research, and evaluations, besides offering original proposals and suggestions that may contribute to the improvement of the quality of education.

These entrusted tasks are carried out in a collaborative and co-operative way between the different regional education authorities that, in turn, are represented on the Institute's Governing Board.

INCE also co-ordinates Spain's participation in the international studies of educational evaluation, as the international representation of our country is an obligation of the State. INCE is responsible for harmonising the tasks of these two spheres, although the authorities of the Autonomous Regions also contribute.

Functions of INCE

Respect and equity, the right to education and educational quality demand implementation by the various education authorities and educational institutions of the legally established minimum teaching standards. Therefore INCE must evaluate the extent of acquisition of these minimum requirements at each different level, stage and degree of the education system.

The main functions of INCE are:

• to analyse the efficiency and efficacy of the education system
• to design evaluation systems for the various teaching methods regulated by LOGSE
• to design a state system of indicators
• to co-ordinate Spain's participation in international studies of evaluation processes
• to collaborate and co-operate with the regional education authorities on evaluation matters
• to provide and exchange information with regional education authorities for the purpose of decision-making
• to provide information to the State School Council
• to inform society about the operation and results of the education system
• to pass on the results of its evaluations and research

Organisation of INCE

The Royal Decree 928/1993 outlines the basic organisation of INCE which is established by a Governing Board with decision making concerns, a Director, a Scientific Committee with a consultative role and a staff of personnel necessary for the performance of these functions.

The Governing Board

This board is chaired by the General Secretary of State for Education and Vocational Training and is composed of the General Director of Education Schools, the General Director of Co-ordination and Inspection, the General Director of Vocational Training and Educational Promotion from the Department of Education and a representative of each of the Autonomous Regions which have complete authority on educational matters. The Director of INCE acts as Secretary.

The functions of the Governing Board are:

• To make the necessary decisions for devising the performance plans of INCE in accordance with the criteria and priorities of the Education Sectorial Conference.
• To report on the performance of INCE's plans, which must be subject to passing by the Education Sectorial Conference.
• To submit INCE's plans to the Sectorial Conference and to put forward the criteria for their publication and release.
• To agree the necessary measures for the fulfilment of the agreements that the Education Sectorial Conference makes relating to the evaluation of the education system.
• To ensure that the criteria that enable the attendance and participation of Spain in international studies and conferences are carried out in the educational evaluation field.
• To inform about the agreements that should be subscribed to by other bodies and institutions in the performance sphere of INCE.
• To propose the execution of studies and reports in the sphere of INCE's functions to the regional education authorities.
• To inform about and, if appropriate, to include in the plans of INCE's performance, the evaluation proposals of the education system that the State School Council instructs.

The Director

The Director is responsible for the representation of INCE and, at the same time, guides its daily running. He/she is responsible for the development of the plans of action. The Director's functions figure in Article 7 of RD 928/1993. It is important to note that, although the Director is responsible for the implementation of the Institute's activities and drawing up the working proposals, the Director's capacity to decide must be kept within the terms of the agreements taken on this matter by the Governing Board.

The Scientific Committee

INCE must guarantee that its entrusted tasks meet and fulfil certain scientific and technical requirements. The Scientific Committee exists for that purpose in a consultative capacity and is made up of teachers and researchers of recognised scientific and professional prestige. The Committee comprises a President and six members. Its functions are to assist and advise the Director and Governing Board in the design of the performance plans and their development and evaluation.