Graham Donaldson
Dublin March 2013
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School evaluation can serve many purposes
and takes different forms in different
contexts
Key competences represent radical change
for many education systems and will require
well-targeted change strategies
School evaluation can be a powerful driver
but needs to be aligned with the other
elements in the change strategy
Issues of accountability and improvement
must be resolved if it is to be fully effective.
Governance
Inside Ministry
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Distant from
Ministry
Purpose
Focus
• Accountability,
control, compliance
• System monitoring
• Improvement –
capacity building,
market
• Teacher
• School
Culture/trad
itions
Political
environment
Quality of
education
Resources
Policy trends
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Enforcer
Assurer
‘Best buy’ guide
Mitigator of risk
Catalyst/driver of change
Capacity builder
Agenda setter
Increasing:
 reach and scope – alignment
 use of data – benchmarking, value added,
qualitative data
 use of self-evaluation
 openness and transparency about criteria
 attention to proportionality and risk
 focus on learning and teaching and
pedagogical leadership
 focus on follow-up and impact
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Alignment and articulation
Impact on teaching and learning
Consistency without uniformity – common
criteria
High stakes and improvement
Power of quantification as against quality
criteria
Risk / opportunity cost / maturity
Failing schools or coasting schools
“..many of today’s schools have not caught up as they continue
to operate as they did in the earlier decades of the 20th
Century.
“How can learning within and outside schools be reconfigured
in environments that foster the deeper knowledge and skills
so crucial in our new century?”
“To succeed in this is not only important for a successful
economy, but also for effective cultural and social
participation and for citizens to live fulfilling lives.”
OECD 2008
Leadership
Teaching
Evaluation
Key
competences
Challenge
orthodoxies
Winning
hearts and
minds
Implications
Structural
Pedagogical
Assessment
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Package and push?
Sticks and carrots?
Hearts and minds?
If “the quality of education cannot exceed the
quality of its teachers” (McKinsey 2007)
then the prime task is to build the capacity of
and maximise the impact of those teachers,
individually and collectively. That requires
changes in culture, leadership and in the nature
of the teaching profession itself.
“We now know that the teacher is the most
powerful influence on how much a student learns
and that teachers can continue to make
significant improvements in their practice
throughout their entire careers”
“For commitment to flourish and for teachers to
be resilient and effective, they need a strong and
enduring sense of efficacy…They need to work in
schools in which leadership is supportive, clear,
strong and passionately committed to
maintaining the quality of their commitment.”
Day et al ‘Teachers Matter’ OUP 2007 quoted in Hargreaves
& Fullan ‘Professional Capital’ Routledge 2012
Hattie ‘Visible Learning ’ 2009 Routledge
Situation
Intuitive
Chance
bound
Tacit
Wikman ‘Teacher Education Policy in Europe’ 2010
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Vision and purpose – quality of learning
Relentless focus on capacity-building
Extended professionalism/discretionary effort
Flexible, impact-focused, collegiate culture
Professional learning as key dynamic of
innovation
Talent spotting and coaching
Mentoring as role of experienced teachers
If teachers and leadership are the key
variables in establishing key competences,
then school evaluation must
 focus on the classroom
 help to identify what is happening in
learning and teaching
 look for pedagogic leadership
 identify capacity issues
 be formative as well as summative
Accountability
Improvement
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Compliance with statute and regulations
Policies and structures
Procedures
Quality of teaching and its impact on learning of all young
people
Learning context
Data on outcomes
Ethos
Etc etc
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Student outcomes – key competences
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Quality of teaching and its impact on learning of all young people
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Learning context
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Nature of the teaching force
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Arrangements for and effectiveness of professional growth
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Role of leadership in teacher quality and development
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Collegiate culture of professional growth and respect for evidence
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Alignment with wider educational and professional policy
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How far a school’s self evaluation focuses on the impact of teaching
on learning
School evaluation: a two-way
partnership
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schools evaluate the quality
of their own provision
backed up and validated by
external evaluation
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Does it serve clearly understood purposes?
How well aligned is it with wider educational and
professional policy?
What is the balance between self evaluation and externality?
Are those involved competent?
Is there a common language and are there agreed
indicators/criteria?
Does it focus on what matters? (if it’s not happening in the
classroom it’s not happening – Elmore)
Does it make a difference? (in the capacity of the school to
serve its young people)




School evaluation can serve many purposes
and takes different forms in different
contexts
Key competences represent radical change
for many education systems and will require
well-targeted change strategies
School evaluation can be a powerful driver
but needs to be aligned with the other
elements in the change strategy
Issues of accountability and improvement
must be resolved if it is to be fully effective.
Graham.Donaldson@glasgow.ac.uk