Congratulations to Dr Sarah Gardezi on the Successful Defence of Her PhD

We are delighted to extend our warmest congratulations to Dr Sarah Gardezi of the Centre for Evaluation, Quality and Inspection (EQI) at Dublin City University on the successful defence of her PhD thesis, "School Inspection: A Driver of School Improvement? A Comparative Analysis of Quality Assurance Systems in Dubai, Ireland, New Zealand and Pakistan."

Sarah’s research offers a rigorous and timely examination of how inspection systems operate across four diverse educational jurisdictions. Her work engages critically with the intersection of accountability, improvement, and self-evaluation, and has already made a valuable contribution to the international literature on school inspection and quality assurance. Over the course of her doctoral studies, she has published a strong body of peer-reviewed work, including:

• The rise and convergence of school inspection systems: Comparative analysis of school inspection in Dubai, Ireland, New Zealand and Pakistan https://doras.dcu.ie/30871/
• School inspections: A rhetoric of quality or reality? https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1204642
• Exploring the multifaceted nature of school inspectors’ power dynamics: A comparative analysis of four quality assurance systems https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70013
• The development and status of self-evaluation as a component of school inspection and quality assurance: A comparison across four countries https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39321

Dr Gardezi’s work exemplifies EQI’s commitment to rigorous, policy-relevant research and adds a vital perspective to ongoing global conversations around evaluation, accountability and school improvement. We are proud to celebrate her achievement and look forward to her continued contributions to the field.