Title: Quality Assurance through School SelfEvaluation: the role of External Review and Inspection
1Quality Assurance through School Self-Evaluation
the role of External Review and Inspection
- David Taylor
- Formerly Director of Inspection, Ofsted
2Structure of presentation
- Quality Assurance and Self-Evaluation
- Working with schools on self-evaluation
3Quality Assurance (QA) and School Self-Evaluation
(SSE)
- Quality
- Assurance and control
- The place of SSE in a QA system
4What is school self-evaluation?
- Self-evaluation is the process by which a school
is able to look critically at itself in order to
improve further the quality of its provision and
its performance.
5SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION the 3-step process
6 Promoting School Improvement (1)
- Self-evaluation aims to promote school
improvement by seeking - To inform improvement planning
- all staff are, or should be, involved in
improvement planning - improvement planning must have standards of
achievement, quality of teaching and quality of
learning as high priorities - monitoring and evaluation are indispensable parts
of the improvement planning cycle - schools need to integrate a programme of
self-evaluation into their improvement planning.
7 Promoting School Improvement (2)
- Self-evaluation aims to promote school
improvement by seeking - - To promote effective learning and raise
standards - all pupils are learners and should take part in
self-evaluation - good teachers are good learners they continually
ask questions of their own practice to improve
provision - different people learn best in different ways
- teachers need to know how their pupils learn
best - school managers need to know what makes members
of staff effective learners and therefore
effective professionals - parents/carers and governors have a key role in
supporting learning
8 Promoting School Improvement (3)
- Self-evaluation aims to promote school
improvement by seeking - - To encourage a climate of professional trust
- self-evaluation is most effective when the
process is transparent - everyone is part of the self-evaluation process
no-one hides behind status - positive outcomes for teachers and pupils are
evident and people have faith in the process - good practice is celebrated in more than one way.
9The Improvement Cycle
10 Improving schools self-evaluation
- Improved training in leadership and management
- More available data
- Growing use of external performance indicators
- Effective use of classroom observation
- Understanding how to carry out self-evaluation
11Involving all staff in planning and
self-evaluation
- Staff should
- Understand the planning and evaluation process
- Have ownership of it
- Focus on pupils attainments and experiences
- Engage in appropriate professional development
- Review their approaches to teaching and
learning
12Internal and external complementary roles
- SSE event or process?
- Which comes first?
- Frameworks and criteria
- Training and development
13Working with schools on self-evaluation
- Preparing for self-evaluation
- Data collection and data analysis
- Understanding how to evaluate
- Collecting evidence
- Securing trust
- Self-evaluation and staff appraisal
14Six acid tests for effective SSE
- Is the SSE based on a good range of convincing
evidence? - Does the SSE identify the most important
questions about how well the school serves its
pupils? - How well does the school compare with similar
schools and use such comparative data? - Does the SSE include the views of key groups,
especially parents, pupils and wider community? - Is SSE integrally linked to key management
systems? - Does SSE lead to action to achieve he schools
longer-term improvement goals?
15A focus on learning outcomes (1)
- Taking responsibility for learning
- Good features
- Learners
- Know their most effective ways of learning
- Can apply themselves to learning effectively
- Sustain concentration
- Appreciate what they need to do to make progress
16A focus on learning outcomes (2)
- Learners
- Plan sensibly how they will achieve their
learning goals - Seek appropriate help in working towards their
goals - Show initiative and take responsibility
- Work well without supervision
- Review their progress and adjust their learning
as necessary
17A focus on learning outcomes (3)
- Taking responsibility for learning
- Shortcomings
- Learners
- Have limited awareness of how they learn best
- Plan inadequately to address deficiencies
- Rely too much on others for assurance and support
- Are easily distracted
18A focus on learning outcomes (4)
- Learners
- Do not work well without direct supervision
- Are too compliant and passive
- Work too slowly
- Seek the direction of the teacher too readily
- Are uncertain about their own progress.
19A focus on effective leadership action (1)
- Leadership has consistently been shown as the key
factor in determining the success of a school. - Leaders who seek to transform their schools tend
to - Have self-knowledge and clarity about values and
commitment - Focus on developing people, and empowering them
to bring about a shared vision which produces
good learning outcomes for pupils - Be found operating at all levels in the school,
not just the senior management team
20A focus on effective leadership action (2)
- Leaders who seek to transform their schools tend
to - Encourage, manage and sustain school improvement
- Manage the organisation well, respond to change
effectively and welcome greater school autonomy
and innovation - Ensure that there is an unvarying focus on
improving teaching and learning
21A focus on effective leadership action (3)
- Take early, firm intervention to secure effective
leadership and management - Establish and implement systems to identify key
priorities for improvement through effective data
management, ie - Gathering, analysing and presenting data on
pupils achievement - Using the data to identify good practice
- Surveying the opinions of staff and students
- Gaining the commitment of staff
22A focus on effective leadership action (4)
- Focus on dealing with issues in a staged manner,
with measures to ensure early success, eg - Developing pride and self-esteem
- Targeting specific under-performance, while
developing long-term improvement strategies - Improving attendance, punctuality,
uniform-wearing
23A focus on effective leadership action (5)
- Focus on teaching and learning
- Establishing a set of core behaviours
- Re-skilling teachers in their repertoire of
teaching methods - Implementing a firm and consistent policy on
behaviour (around the site as well as in
classrooms) - Supporting and building on models of excellent
teaching - Establishing collaborative working as a way of
improving teachers practice
24A focus on effective leadership action (6)
- Introduce models of leadership and teaching
quality - Building effective leadership teams throughout
the school - Bringing in new staff with developing teaching
skills (eg Advanced skills teachers) - Coaching staff to develop their teaching skills
251. Characteristics of the School
- Context of school and learners
- School aims
262. Views of Learners, Parents/Carers and other
Stakeholders
- How are views gathered?
- What do they say about provision?
- How are findings shared?
- What action is taken?
273. Achievement and Standards
- What are the standards achieved? Are there
significant trends? - Are there any underachieving groups?
- How do you know?
- What action do you intend to take?
284. Personal development and well-being(Every
Child Matters outcomes)
- Learners should
- Be healthy
- Be safe
- Enjoy their learning and achieve
- Make a positive contribution to the community
- Be prepared for the future and for their economic
well-being
295. Quality of provision
- How effective are teaching and learning?
- Do the curriculum and other activities meet the
needs and interests of learners? - How well are learners cared for, guided and
supported?
30Example Teaching and Learning
316. Leadership and Management
- How effectively do leaders and managers set a
clear direction? - How effective is performance monitoring?
- How well are equal opportunities and inclusion
promoted? - What is the adequacy of staffing, resources and
accommodation? - How effective are links with other providers and
agencies? - How effective are Governors?
327. Overall effectiveness and efficiency
- The extent of improvement since the previous
inspection? - Is there sufficient capacity for further
improvement? - What steps are being taken to improve provision?
33Some key questions for discussion
- Suppose you were a person such as a school
improvement partner, how would you set about
working with a school on SSE? - How does a school inspection/review gain evidence
of the effectiveness of SSE? - What should happen if the inspection/review
disagrees strongly with the results of the SSE? - How far should SSE go in incorporating the views
of students, parents and the wider community? - How should schools develop the skills of
evaluating lessons and outcomes for students?
34Some conclusions
- Inspection/review and SSE should complement each
other and dovetail closely, using related - Frameworks
- Criteria
- Data sources
- Effective SSE has clear goals, clear evaluation
of teaching and learning and of leadership and
management - The whole school community should be involved in
SSE - Inspection has much to offer in developing and
improving the quality of SSE.