PhD Profile: Winnifred Jelier

During the Covid-19 pandemic, serious measures were taken to stop the spread of the virus. Some affected the education sector immensely: schools were closed, national tests were cancelled or postponed, and in-person meetings were discouraged. During this time, education inspectorates had to shift gears. In normal circumstances, these inspectorates will oversee whether schools are following the rules, while in many cases also providing support to improve education quality and gathering information for the government on how education policies are working out. In that way, they contribute to the government’s duty to ensure a high quality of education for everyone. When the pandemic started, many inspectorates were faced with a unique situation. What was their response? How did they make sure that they could nevertheless fulfill their responsibilities?

Regulatory bodies like education inspectorates have a special place in modern governance structures. Their role is complex. While it is expected that they are stable and trustworthy institutions, they are part of dynamic network of actors, in which balancing their different responsibilities can be very challenging.

For my research, I draw on institutional theory, and work with central notions like ‘organizational resilience’ and ‘expert influence’. I am using a cross-national case study to find out how education inspectorates managed to keep their head above water, while also fulfilling their important role in society.