Selfevaluation:
A question of
voice
A STORY IN
THREE
CHAPTERS
CH. 1 THE GLOBAL CONTEXT
CH. 2 HEARING VOICES? The new
leadership
CH. 3 MAKING SELF-EVALUATION
WORK
A GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Government intervention
Power down
Accountability up
School based management
A GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Government intervention
Inspection/review
Self-evaluation
School based management
A GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Government intervention
The accountability improvement interface
Local school management
MISTAKES WE HAVE MADE
1. Big cats
2. Naming and shaming
3. Snoopervision
4. Destruction of trust
5. Lack of respect for professionalism
6. Overprescription
7. Pre-empting and narrowing quality
8. Raising the stakes
9. The rhetoric gap
10. Deafness to voice
CHAPTER 2
HEARING VOICES
THE NEW
LEADERSHIP?
The Leadership Quartet
Authoritarian
leadership
Distributed
leadership
Strategic
leadership
Invitational
leadership
silenced voice
THE ACOUSTIC OF THE SCHOOL
It is in the counter weight and balance of
the fluctuating acoustic of teachers’, pupils’
and parents’ voices that cultures either
flourish or diminish. The ability to listen
and tune in to harmonies and discords
marks out effective leadership and it is in
the management of the blend that school
improvement is realised.
MANAGING THE ACOUSTIC OF THE
SCHOOL
Student voice(s)
Teacher voices(s)
Principal’s voice
Support staff voice(s)
Parents’ voice(s)
External voices
Media voice (s)
HOW MUCH CONSENSUS?
Organizations require a minimal degree of consensus
but not so much as to stifle the discussion that is the
lifeblood of innovation. The constant challenge of
contrasting ideas is what sustains and renews
organizations. Schools that play safe, driven by
external mandates and limiting conceptions of
improvement set tight parameters around what can be
said and what can be heard. They are antithetical to the
notion of a learning organisation which, by definition, is
always challenging its own premises and ways of being.
Adapted from Genady and Evans (1999, p. 368),
HOFSTEDE’S TEST OF CULTURE
Power Distance – demand for egalitarianism as
against acceptance of the unequal distribution of power
Individualism-Collectivism - interdependent roles and
obligations to the group as against self-sufficiency
Masculinity-Femininity - endorsement of modesty,
compromise and co-operative success as against
competition and aggressive success
Uncertainty Avoidance - tolerating ambiguity as
against preferring rules and set procedures
100
Japan
Mexico
UAE
75
50
25
0
USA
UK
Rank
Area
1
Agreement on Principles.-The ability and goodwill of all groups of people at school to
agree on their own ground rules.
2
Vision Creation and Process of Aiming at it. -All stakeholders (management, teachers,
pupils, other employees) work to create a shared idea of school future.
3
School Openness.-Cooperation and communication of the school with parents, municipal
authorities and ministry of education.
4
Management and Administration Styles.-. From management based on extrinsic
motivation (rewards, formal rules) to intrinsic motivation.
5
School Development and Change.-Gradual and systematic change .Freedom to
experiment with new approaches.
6
Support from Colleagues.- Experience exchanges, professional dialogue and cooperation
with colleague-teachers. Using the feedback from colleagues.
7
School Physical Environment.- School's location, buildings, equipment and its optimal
use.
8
Professional Growth Support.- for the school employees' personal and professional
growth, creation of conditions for employees' further training and development
9
Informal School Life.-People identify themselves with the school's symbols, they are
proud of their school. Customs and traditions are carried over at communal meetings.
10
Working with Conflicts.-Ways of solving conflicts, working with "problem" people.
LOCUS OF CONTROL
The fact that I am telling you what to do requires:
(a) that I know what to tell you to do
(b) that you are willing to consent to my telling you
what to do
(c) that you actually know how to do what I’m telling
you to do
If any of these conditions fails, control loses its power
to produce collective action.
DISTRIBUTED
LEADERSHIP
formally
pragmatically
strategically
incrementally
opportunistically
culturally
DISTRIBUTED
LEADERSHIP
formally
pragmatically
strategically
incrementally
opportunistically
culturally
THEORIES OF CHANGE
External
accountability
or
Internal
accountability
THEORIES OF CHANGE
Big cats
or
Small butterflies
THE WHO OF CHANGE
THE EPIDEMIOLOGY
1. The rule of the vital few: A few exceptional people
doing something different start and incubate an
epidemic.
2. The stickiness factor: Some attribute of the epidemic
allows it to endure long enough to "catch", to become
contagious or "memorable".
3. The power of context: The physical, social and group
environment must be right to allow the epidemic to then
suffuse through the population.
(Gladwell, 1999)
CONTROL
CO-ORDINATION
The principal assumes
responsibility for
telling teachers and
students what to do in
such a way that the
result of the work of
individuals in
classrooms aggregates
to a coherent result at
the level of the school.
Individuals and groups
assume responsibility
and agree to coordinate
their behavior with an
agreed goals in such a
way that it produces a
coherent and sutainable
result.
WEAK INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Wide variability among teachers in classroom
practice
Low agreement on whether the school can actually
affect student learning in the face of community
influences
Little understanding of conditions which affect
motivation and learning
Limited ways of finding out what is actually
happening in classrooms.
STRONG INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY
High agreement among teachers on what good
learning looks like
Identification of conditions which support and affect
learning
High agreement on the aims of the school in
influencing student learning
Visible norms and practices for evaluating the work
of teachers and students.
LEADERS AS
• Mediators
• Learners
• Followers
• Vulnerable
The Yang of
leadership in
action
Can you lead your people
without seeking to control?
Can you open and close the gates
in harmony with nature?
Can you be understanding
Without trying to be wise?
Can you create without
possessiveness?
Accomplish without taking credit?
Lead without ego?
This is the highest power.
Tao, 10
CHAPTER 3
MAKING
SELF-EVALUATION
WORK: the challenge
to leadership
THREE MODELS
 Parallel
 Sequential
 Collaborative
Self-evaluation as the focus
Shorter period of insepction
Sharper focus
Little or no notice for inspection
Appointment of critical friend
Public reporting of results
Special measures for failing schools
Light touch for successful schools
INGREDIENTS OF SUCCESSFUL
SELF-EVALUATION
purpose
framework
criteria
tools
process
product
?
framework
criteria
tools
process
product
purpose
?
criteria
tools
process
product
framework
?
tools
process
product
purpose
framework
criteria
?
process
product
purpose
framework
criteria
tools
?
product
purpose
framework
criteria
tools
process
purpose
?
A QUESTION OF PURPOSE: ENGLAND
response capacity
12.2%
hearing pupil views
2.4%
tools for evaluation
staff sharing ideas
32.9%
4.9%
to raise attainment
47.6%
Views from Hongkong
Purpose of School Self-evaluation
Tools for trs
25.0%
capacity
40.0%
raise standards
15.0%
pupils' views
5.0%
share ideas
15.0%
Norway
Purpose of Sel f-Eval uation
capacity
12.5%
Tools for trs
12.5%
ev idenc e for ofsted
12.5%
raise standards
12.5%
shar e ideas
50.0%
Netherlands
Netherlands-Purposes
Purpose of Self-evaluation
capacity
36.4%
Tools for trs
31.8%
raise standards
31.8%
THE COMPONENTS OF SELF-EVALUATION
performance -KS test
2.4%
school factors
value added
25.6%
20.7%
pupils' attitudes
school background
2.4%
2.4%
Tr-pupil relationship
8.5%
pupil motivation
37.8%
COMPONENTS: HONG KONG
Im portant Components in Sel f-Eval uation
K- S tests
5.0%
sc hool c onditions
20.0%
value added
10.0%
pupils' attitudes
Sc hool bac kground
10.0%
5.0%
tr- pupil r elationshi
10.0%
pupil motivation
40.0%
INHIBITING OF SELF-EVALUATION: HK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Time, heart
Schools not prepared
Staff do not have the skills
Staff do not have the time and energy to do all this
Work load and documentation
Reform and continual organisation development
Self complacency, pride and prejudice
Dead wood among the staff
Beliefs of teachers
How to use data
Resistance from teachers due to misconceptions
Anxiety over school self-evaluation
PROMOTING OF SELF-EVALUATION: HK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mutual trust among teachers
Teachers’ reflective thinking
Self motivation for continuous improvement
Time for preparation
Attitudes, culture
Skills and attitude of being a reflective practitioner
Confidence in facing ‘changes’
A school culture which promotes learning
A principal who facilitates changes
Collaboration and trust among the staff
Workshops for teachers
Training (to realise the value of self-evaluation)
Security leading to improvement rather than a final verdict
Ownership and
External
Ownership
but only
internal
comparability
Internal
and
compliant
External and
compliant
Ownership
Ownership and
External
Ownership
but only
internal
comparability
Internal
and
compliant
External and
compliant
Ownership
FIRST AND SECOND ORDER LEARNING
Transformational leadership seeks to
generate second-order effects.
Transformational leaders increase
the capacity of others in the school to
produce first-order effects on
learning
(Hallinger, 2003)
LEARNING AS INVISIBLE
…..to get that far, one has to get past the
problem of invisibility. A large part of the
challenge is that the very invisibility of
thinking is itself invisible. We don't notice
how easily thinking can stay out of sight,
because we are used to it being that way.
As educators, our first task is perhaps to
see the absence, to hear the silence, to
notice what is not there.
(Perkins, 2004, p6)
MAKING LEARNING VISIBLE
The task of leadership is to make visible the how of
learning. It achieves this by conversations and
demonstrations around pupil learning, professional
learning and organisational (or systems) learning.
Leadership nurtures the dialogue, extends the practice
and helps makes transparent ways in which these three
levels interconnect. It promotes a continuing restless
inquiry into what works best, when, where, for whom and
with what outcome. Its vision is of the intelligent school
and its practice intersects with the wider world of
learning.
THE LEARNING WEDDING CAKE
school learning
teacher learning
pupil learning
MEASURED
ATTAINMENT
REPRODUCTION OF
THE CURRICULUM
INDIVIDUAL
PUPIL
WHAT
PASSIVE
CONUMPTION
WHY
WHO
WHERE
HOW
THE
SCHOOL
DAY
WHEN
LEARNING
HOW TO
LEARN
OPPORTUNSTIC
LEARNING
WHEN
WHERE
THE NATURAL
AND SOCIAL
WORLD
THE
CLASSROOM
SEAT
WHAT
HOW
WHO
MULTIPLE
AVENUES OF
INQUIRY
WHY
COMMUNITY OF
LEARNERS
LIFELONG
LEARNING
SMALL THINGS THAT MAKE A BIG
DIFFERENCE
• Wait time
• No marks
• No hands up
• No right answers
• No praise/ nor criticism
• Tests devised by pupils
Middle
Heads
Authority
Pedagogic
knowledge
Community
networks
Organisational
knowledge
Self-evaluation
expertise
Change
champions
Vision for
the future
managers
Teachers
Support
staff
Pupils
Parents
System learning
Building
capacity
System learning
Building
capacity
TOXINS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ideas rejected or stolen
constant carping criticisms
being ignored
being judged
being overdirected
not being listened to
being misunderstood
Southworth, 2000
NUTRIENTS
•
•
•
•
•
•
being valued
being encouraged
being noticed
being trusted
being listened to
being respected
Southworth, 2000
PRINCIPLES OF SSE/ESR
1. Clarity of purpose
2. Starting where teachers are
3. The important rather than the urgent
4. Transfer of agency
5. Reciprocity – ‘the me-too-you-too principle’
6. Listening with intent to understand
7. Putting learning centre stage
8. Celebrating diversity
9. Diminishing the power distance
10.Demonstrating trust
« Tu te jugeras donc toi-même, c’est le plus difficile. Il est bien
plus difficile de se juger soi-même que de juger autrui. Si tu
réussis à bien te juger, c’est que tu es un véritable sage. »
Est-ce ça l’autoévaluation?
If you think
you’re too
small to
make a
difference,
you’ve never
been in bed
with a
mosquito.