THE PROCESS AND PROBLEMS OF
SELF-EVALUATION IN SCHOOLS
BY LESLEY HUNTER AND MAGGIE WRIGHT
S
elf-evaluation is not simply a
process, or an event sparked
by an external stimulus, but
should be the core ingredient
of continuous improvement in every
school where the teachers and school
leaders are the key agents of change.
Get self-evaluation right … and the
school functions like a well-oiled
machine where everyone knows and
understands their own roles and
responsibilities, expectations and
boundaries are defined and clearly
articulated, and activities have a
purpose. When this happens, the
evidence collected makes a meaningful
contribution to the school’s evaluat ion
of its own performance and feeds
into a cycle of leadership decision
making to drive improvement.
Unfortunately, in recent years, the
term ‘self-evaluation’ has become
synonymous with inspection, audit
and accreditation for too many people.
As a result, the power and potential
of true self-evaluation is often lost in
translation, especially when used as a
management tool rather than a driver
for strategic thinking and action.
In our experience, too many schools
put a lot of focus on micro and macro
activities with the result that self-
evaluation often becomes an onerous
process that is perceived as a burden
with the resulting impact of overload
on teachers and leaders. Every school
should use their valuable time and
energy to make self-evaluation a
meaningful process that works for
them in their own unique context. If
this doesn’t happen then monitoring
processes are often carried out without
a clear purpose and the collection of
more and more evidence starts to take
over from other important activities
and functions in the school.
Sep - Oct 2018
|
|
This approach focuses on the
detail of what is happening in
individual classrooms and is
typically characterised by a high
volume of lesson observations,
work scrutiny and student voice
activities.
MACRO
Your school’s self-
evaluation should
be driven internally
and should not be a
reaction to external
factors and influences.
06 |
MICRO
This approach focuses on the
whole school taking the school
improvement plan as the big
picture to drive self-evaluation
and
usually
concentrates
on analysis of data from
assessments and examinations
but can also involve parental and
local community evaluations.
MEANS-END
A means to an end is something
that is done only to produce a
desired result and is therefore
any action (the means) carried
out for the purpose of achieving
something else (an end). This
approach focuses on how
well the school’s evaluation
strengthens its improvement
planning and has an impact on
the quality of students’ learning.
Class Time
Schools are living dynamic organisations
that can change very quickly and it is
so important to remember that one
small change, whether in staffing or the
composition of an individual class of
students, can have a significant ripple
effect throughout the whole school. The
biggest mistake for any school leader is
to assume that one size fits all and that
what has worked for them previously,
will automatically transfer into a new
context. This means that school leaders
need to develop flexibility in both the
process of self-evaluation and the
behaviour of their people towards self-
evaluation. Therefore, one of the first
things any school leader must do is to
accept responsibility for setting the
tone through the way they themselves
choose to behave towards self-
evaluation.
We have identified six main ways that
school leaders often behave – which
of these metaphorical characters
best describes your behaviour at the
moment and what does this mean for
your school?