The incentive task comprises the furthering of the development of the education system, particularly in the area of quality management. Schools must be encouraged to solve their problems independently, practise continuous improvement and monitor, and where possible improve, the underlying quality of education and its organisation on a continuous basis. Because it is an expert organisation, the Minister may also ask the Inspectorate for advice on policy-related issues. The Minister uses this Report to justify his actions in Parliament. Complaints of sexual harassment are dealt with on a confidential basis by the Inspectorate's special mediators.
School visits One of the main tasks of an inspector's work is taken up by visiting schools.
Such visits are usually announced in advance, to enable the school to make the necessary preparations, although unannounced visits may be made to schools which are suspected of serious matters, such as fraud or cancellation of lessons on an inadmissibly large scale. On average, each inspector visits his or her schools once a year. Of course it is impossible to perform a comprehensive check of the entire curriculum during such a visit. This is why the Education Inspectorate annually prepares a list of priorities for each educational segment, which is dispatched to the institutions to be visited. The subjects to be assessed are also dealt with by rota.