When leaders adopt the caterpillar behaviour towards self-
evaluation, they wait and expect others to come and tell them
what is happening. A lot of time, energy and effort can be wasted
because everything becomes fragmented and reactive with no
clear strategic purpose.
This behaviour towards self-evaluation is typically associated with a
flurry of activity where staff are involved in a constant cycle of lesson
observations, work scrutiny, data analysis and other monitoring
activities. Leaders ‘buzz around’ in circles like a busy bee trying to
collect as much evidence as possible but what purpose does this
serve and at what point does it stop telling you anything new?
Ninja behaviour is when the school’s most senior leaders take on
the mantle and responsibility of self-evaluation personally and start
to believe they have to do everything themselves if they want to
achieve results. This is dangerous because it can create fractures in
the school and affect its capacity to improve.
Behaving as the all-seeing owl, leaders realise the importance of
getting as broad a picture as possible of the school’s performance
and start to develop a 360-degree view of what is happening.
This requires joined-up thinking and processes with clear lines
of accountability to bring middle leaders into self-evaluation and
make sure they do not miss something important.
Stepping outside the school will give an external perspective on
its performance. By behaving like a wolf, leaders will get a more
balanced view and are more likely to recognise potential threats and
weaknesses, although the danger is that they develop a predator/
prey relationship with staff that can undermine relationships.
If leaders don’t like what they see, they may decide to retreat back
into their shell for a period of time. This turtle behaviour provides
an opportunity for self-reflection but continued withdrawal from
active participation is not sustainable and will create confusion and
instability across the school.
The way all stakeholders behave
towards self-evaluation is a critical
factor in its success in driving
improvement in any school. When
self-evaluation is accepted as an
integral part of daily school life, it is
a process with meaning and purpose
that becomes a force for development
and improvement. In this scenario,
self-evaluation will always start with
the key decisions that have been taken
by the school’s leadership, set in the
context of their individual school. Put
simply, the school will be collecting
the right evidence – for the right things
– at the right time – to measure and
evaluate the impact of their leadership
decisions and actions on students’
outcomes.
Self-evaluation is not –
and never should be –
a replica for inspection!
This all sounds great in principle but,
given the reality of school life and all
the challenges that schools face every
day, is it really possible to embed self-
evaluation so that it brings meaning
and purpose without overloading
staff and creating mountains of
additiona