Administrator's Corner
THE PURPOSE AND ‘PRINCIPALS’
OF AUTHENTIC SELF-EVALUATION
BY: LESLEY HUNTER AND MAGGIE WRIGHT
I
n this series of articles, we set out
to challenge and disrupt thinking
around the topic of school self-
evaluation. We readily acknowledge
the effort that many schools put
towards this but still advocate that too
many engage in self-evaluation either
because they have to (inspection
driven) or because they know they
should, but often without sufficient
focus and clarity of purpose.
Quite simply, when self-evaluation
is embedded into the day-to-
day life of the school … you are
doing the right things for the right
reasons at the right time.
In our first article (Sept/Oct 2018 issue)
we looked at the process and problems
associated with self-evaluation. Here,
we proposed that many schools
engage in micro and macro evaluation
with insufficient attention to means-
end as a way of focusing the process.
The key question a school should be
exploring through its self-evaluation
activity is:
linking back to the means-end
approach, we focused on the self
aspect of self-evaluation to ensure that
it is school-led and evidence based.
By taking the school’s unique context
into account and focusing on the
leadership decisions that are relevant
to your individual school at the time,
the self-evaluation process begins to
In our second article (Nov/Dec 2018
issue) we built on this message and
introduced the need to have a clearly
defined strategy that aligns the
school’s 3Ps of purpose, process and
people. We stressed the importance
of all stakeholders understanding their
role (responsibilities, expectations and
boundaries) and the critical element of
the principal holding them to account
for their contribution to the school’s
self-evaluation.
Our third article (Jan/Feb 2019 issue)
considered the factors required
to create the right setting and
environment
for
self-evaluation,
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Class Time
have a much clearer purpose and is
more authentic.
Our most recent article (Mar/Apr 2019
issue) reiterated the purpose of self-
evaluation – to measure the impact
of the leadership decisions taken and
the subsequent actions that have
been implemented in the school.