Workshop 2.3: Thursday afternoon
Mary Anne HALTON
DominicanCollege
Griffith Avenue, Dublin
IRELAND
Self-evaluation at school level: The school as a learning environment –
“Self-evaluation in action in our school”
DominicanCollege, Dublin, Ireland
Background
- Established in 1883 at Eccles St., Dublin, as a secondary school for girls
- An enlightened approach to education resulted in the development of diverse educational pursuits at this educational site at different stages, reflecting the changing needs of students as Dominican College responded to the significant changes taking place in Irish society (from primary, secondary, post secondary, teacher training to university education)
- Secondary school (post-primary) transferred to a new site in 1984
- School ethos is concerned with the development of the whole person and through educational activities encourages students to develop self-confidence, self-esteem, self-understanding, a love of learning, an appreciation of others, respect for culture and religious values of all and an awareness of the fragility of the world in which we live
- School motto is “Veritas” - truth
- Students come from a mixed socio-economic background
- Formal state education programmes are offered, students have a five or six year cycle (the optional year is called Transition Year)
Context of self-evaluation
Review has always been acknowledged as important in our school. A written formal commitment to internal evaluation exists in the School Plan. The centrality of the school’s role with regard to development and quality in education has become clearer as more formal approaches to evaluation are developed and implemented. The school operates within a national context and a specific local context, both of which are taken into account when any internal evaluation is being carried out.
At DominicanCollege self-evaluation is an on-going process for investigating, and understanding, the critical issues related to the work of the school. It is an organisational learning activity. As a communal school activity self-evaluation is about the organisational members reflecting critically on what is good, what needs to be modified or changed in order to maintain and assure the quality of education
A.The School Plan
The school’s commitment to internal self-evaluation is formally expressed in the School Plan. Examples of areas identified for internal evaluation include enrolment patterns, induction programmes, new programmes, academic curriculum, duties and responsibilities associated with management posts, staff organisation and development, home, school and community links, school management and administration.
All policies including the school development plan are subject to evaluation at deliberate moments in time and adjustments are made as appropriate.
“Areas for monitoring and evaluation may be subject to formal national review, structured internal review or revisited as need arises…Some areas remain to be examined and others might benefit from revisiting on a whole school basis.” School Plan (Section II)
B.The Education Act 1998 (a legal framework)
“ The Irish education system has been the subject of widespread debate and in-depth examination during recent years. A number of education reforms have been initiated, culminating in the introduction of the Education Act 1998, in which a legal framework was provided for the Irish education system for the first time.”
Ref: Evaluating Quality in School Education at Second Level: Report on the Irish Experience of the European Pilot Project on Evaluating Quality in School Education
Under the Education Act 1998 [Section 7(2) (b)] the Minister of Education and Science is responsible for quality assurance within the education system and is required to “monitor and assess the quality…and effectiveness of the education system provided in the State…”. The associated use of school development planning, internal school reviews and self-evaluation activities is expected to support the changes, which may be required.
C.I-Probe Net (Comenius 3)
As a result of the schools involvement in I-Probe Net the basis for a more formal culture of self-evaluation is emerging with increased time and resources allocated by management to the process. Project partners have acted as critical friends and have provided an alternative support structure when working on self-evaluation frameworks for the various activities.
Evaluation Activities – An Overview of 2002-2003
Approach to Self-Evaluation
Areas for evaluation were identified based on school needs at a variety of levels. Self-evaluation was used as “a catalyst for organisational change, growth and renewal” (Preskill & Torres, 1999). It involved a learning process, which facilitated and demonstrated the different phases of self-evaluation.
The Learning Process (individual and organisational) which facilitated the phases of self-evaluation were identified as dialogue, reflection, asking questions, and identifying and clarifying values, beliefs, assumptions and knowledge. (adapted from Preskill & Torres, 1999). Sharing values, beliefs and assumptions and “making them more transparent for democratic purposes was a key activity within the evaluation process”. (Lakerveld & Bauer, 2003)
The Main Phases of self-evaluation involved focussing the self-evaluation, implementing the self-evaluation and applying the learning. Actions taken over the next school year and in the years ahead as a result of self-evaluation will demonstrate whether or not learning was sufficiently transformative in supporting the school as a learning environment.(adapted from Preskill & Torres, 1999)
Who was involved in the different evaluation activities?
The school board
The school management
The academic staff
The students
The parents
When were the evaluations carried out?
Regular Board of Management and Senior Management meetings
At the beginning of the year (senior management and staff)
During the year (on-going for some areas, management and staff)
At the end of the year (management and staff, parents, students)
Students (at relevant times depending on what is being evaluated)
What was evaluated during 2002-2003?
A variety of activities:
In school management structures
Aspects of the school plan
Curriculum planning and organisation (programme, subject department)
Quality of learning and teaching in subjects (planning, resources, methodology, learning, outcomes, assessment and achievements) – various approaches used depending on subject areas - evaluation was an on-going process
Quality of support for students (new SPHE education, pastoral care)
Academic research activities involving researcher, teacher, students and parents
How were these areas evaluated – the tools used?
The main methods used included:
Whole staff discussions, group discussion, subject department discussions, questionnaires, surveys, interviews (with students), document analysis, SWOT analysis, data analysis, teacher-pupil evaluation
Tools were selected to suit the individual evaluation plans. Formats were chosen which would provide the relevant information and provide participants with opportunities to express opinions and attitudes in a climate of safety and trust
What Happened to the Findings?
- Findings disseminated to everyone involved
- Data collected was used to plan for the next school year
1
Area of Activity / Aspect and theme / Who? / When? / How?Quality of school management / In school management structure (schedule of duties and responsibilities of post holders) /
1.Principal
2.Deputy principal
- Steering committee
- Whole staff
-Discussions
-SWOT analysis
-Group work
-Presentations
-Critical friends
Quality of school plan / Implementation of school plan (assignment of staff roles and responsibilities) /
- Principal
- Deputy Principal
- Whole staff
Quality of curriculum provision / Curriculum planning and organisation (specific initiatives)
Transition Year Programme
Home Economics Department /
- Transition Year - management, whole staff, students, parents
- Home Economics
(findings to be compiled and analysed)
Quality of learning and teaching in subjects / Planning and preparation
(planning of work, resources, health and safety) /
- Subject Departments
- Home Economics Department
-On-going
-End of year / -Discussions
-Doc. analysis
-Questionnaire
(H.Ec. only)
Teaching and learning
(methodology, learning, outcomes….) /
- Teachers and students (pilot initiative, H.Ec.)
- All subject depts. on a daily basis
-Before practical exams and presentation of state exam project work / -Discussions
-Teacher-pupil evaluation documents (2)
Assessment and achievement /
- Teachers
- Students
-Informal and formal school examinations / -Class tests
-End of year exams
Quality of support for students / Social, personal and health education (NEW programme) /
- Whole staff
- Individual subject departments
Pastoral Care Policy / Whole staff, tutors / On-going /
Discussions
What next for DominicanCollege?
Self-evaluation in the future
New guidelines, prepared by the Evaluation Support and Research Unit (ESRU), Department of Education and Science Inspectorate, Ireland, were sent to schools in May 2003. The school did not have sufficient time at the end of the school year to consider the proposals made in the new guidelines.
From September 2003 DominicanCollege will need to review its internal self-evaluation policy and practices in the light of the new guidelines. We will need to evaluate the:
-School’s philosophy of self-evaluation
-Current self-evaluation policy as stated within the School Plan
-Frameworks for self-evaluations being implemented 2003-2004
-Priority areas for self-evaluation (some changes may be required)
Training for staff may be required at school level in order to implement the new guidelines.
In the new guidelines the Inspectorate emphasises the importance of:
Internal review and self-evaluation as a strategy towards school improvement
The school’s role in quality assurance
The importance of the national and local contexts when designing and implementing review and self-evaluation processes
Using evaluation themes as a framework for school self-evaluations but also adding other themes relevant to individual schools
Basic Structure of the New Self-evaluation Framework (new guidelines)
Areas / Aspect / Components / Themes / Reference Points (stages of development)- Significant strengths
- Strengths outweigh weaknesses
- Weaknesses outweigh strengths
- Significant/major weaknesses
school tel: 353-1-8376080 (main office)
school fax: 353-1-8367253 (main office)
School email:
School website:
email:
Workshop 2.3: Thursday afternoon
Marjolijn Smith
Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum, Dordrecht
THE NETHERLANDS
Evaluation activities at the Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum
Area of activity / Who? / When? / How?The whole school / Staff (middle management, teachers) / June 2002 / Questionnaire, group discussions
Dalton conference / Staff of Dalton schools in the Netherlands / November 2002 / Questionnaire, interviews
Inspection / Inspectorate / March 2003 / Interviews with management, staff, pupils, parents observation,
New subject (lifestyle) / Teachers and pupils / 2002-2003 / Questionnaires, class discussions
In June 2002 the staff of the VMBO department discussed the strong and the weak point of our school. We discussed the items of the questionnaire in groups of 8 teachers.
These items included:
Education : exam results, activities, language policies, Dalton, being a multicultural school, International department with a group of refugees.
Staff, management: relationship, how good are our teachers, are we a good team
Pedagogical 'climate': experience of pupils, bullying, do pupils take responsibility, do they feel 'at home', do they get sufficient support
School premises, equipment
PR how do we 'sell' our school?
Apart from just ticking answers ranging from 'fully agree' to 'fully disagree' we were also asked to explain why we ticked these boxes and to give our ideas on the way to improve the weak points and to strengthen the strong points.
The results were recorded in an evaluation report.
The Dalton Conference
Dalton schools in the Netherlands organised a meeting for all the teachers in the city of Deventer. There were two main groups, teachers of ICT and science and teachers of general subjects.
First there was a plenary meeting for both groups and after this we were divided into subgroups of about twelve people.
The result of the evaluation of this day was the recommendation (for a future conference) to form groups of subject teachers as this was seen to be much more effective if you want to exchange different approaches for Dalton assignments for a specific subject. Now too much time was wasted on comparing the various ways in which the Dalton plan can be executed in primary and secondary schools.
The inspectorate
Two government inspectors visited the school for some days. They attended some classes, interviewed the school management, the board of directors, the teachers, pupils and some parents.
The report covered the following items:
Results (exams, how many pupils must repeat a form)
Curriculum
Homework
Teachers (didactic skills, attitude towards pupils)
Involvement and stimulation of all the pupils
Taking into account the different capabilities
Involvement of parents
Special care for pupils who need extra help
Quality control
Team building
Use of equipment
General atmosphere
PR
The evaluation report was very positive. Our strongest point is the friendly atmosphere in the school, pupils get lots of support and extra attention when needed.
Most of the items mentioned above were given the indicator: strong in most respects.
Lifestyle, a new subject
This subject was evaluated by pupils of the first year and their form teachers.
Lifestyle is about developing social skills and it involves a lot of group work and discussions.
The pupils answered questions about their experience with this new subject. Most of them were very enthusiastic and said they are more aware of their behaviour and its effect on other pupils now.
Some of the questions they got:
Number of lessons a week (sufficient or not), did they like the assignments, the workbook, the energizers, discussions, did they take part in the discussions, did they like working in different groups (not always with your friends).
The form teachers teaching this new subject also received a questionnaire about their experience: did the lessons meet their expectations? Do they think that lifestyle must become part of the curriculum for all year groups? What about the preparation time?
Result of the evaluation:
Include this subject in the curriculum, train more teachers to teach this subject.
Evaluation planned for 2003-2004
Introduction of the Dalton plan to new colleagues
Extended teaching periods (from 40 or 50 minutes to 70 minutes)
Introduction of 'homework-free' education to the junior pupils. (on three afternoons there is a special period at the end of the school day - 70 minutes- when the pupils can do their homework with the assistance of teachers and there will be some computers with an internet connection in these classrooms.)
Evaluation of a Comenius project
WORKSHEET
Workshop 2.3
Evaluation of the whole school (How good is our school?)
What do you understand by evaluation in your school / your country?
Is evaluation a common practice in schools in your country? Who is/are responsible?
What do you want to evaluate (think of the weak points and the strong points
of yourschool, the main objectives)
When keep in mind that evaluation is an on-going process, drawup an evaluation schedule
Who try to involve, for example, colleagues, pupils,parents
How what instrument(s) are you going to use (seeMICE manual)
Draw up an evaluation plan for the evaluation of your school (select only one or two items)