In my days as a headteacher, the school self-evaluation was always something which intrigued me. My key questions were always:
- Where do you start?
- What do you review?
- How do you know if this the right thing to look at?
- What is it telling you?
Having now moved into the edtech sector, I have found there is much we can learn from the world of business when it comes to self-evaluation. In this article, I will share what I have learnt from business leaders and new literature that is out there to support your school evaluation approach.
The review process used in business focuses on key performance indicators. One approach is to consider the desired outcomes for the end of the academic year. We might identify where we hope to be in August and then track back from there.
Step 1: Start with the end in mind
The first stage of this process is to look at key performance indicators. This should be a collaborative process with key leaders in the school in conjunction with a wider school community voice. All of which should be aligned with a clearly defined vision and set of values.
In schools, key performance indicators should relate to what you desire your curriculum to look like and the desired impact on outcomes, both in terms of knowledge and skills acquired alongside academic attainment.
You can also break this down to your financial position, site position, facilities situation and, of course, other student-based metrics such as attendance and behaviour indicators.
Step 2: Break it down
With the goals clearly set out, they then need to be articulated to the wider team. This should be shared via the means that are most impactful with the various audiences. For instance, use of staff meetings can support sharing goals with teaching staff while support staff may have meetings that focus on their particular area.
When it comes to the wider community, beyond the school gates, newsletter, and visual media such as YouTube recordings can help share the direction of travel efficiently.
It is important to reflect the varied voices that have been considered when sharing these messages while still reflecting strong leadership by linking the goals to the vision and values of the school.
Step 3: The starting blocks
Having set the course of travel, your self-evaluation form (SEF) should then make it clear where a school currently lies against these goals and metrics. Once again, a range of opinions and viewpoints can help create a comprehensive and shared view of the current position the school finds itself in.
This can then be formalised into a SEF which reflects each aspect of the school. For example, many support staff would argue that the focus is often on the teaching staff rather than considering the crucial role of support staff. The SEF should be clear, concise and give a starting point for every member of staff in the school to start from.
Step 4: Assign roles
For a school SEF to truly be impactful, it must lead to action from each member of the school through the improvement planner. Each member of the school team should be clear on their roles.
These roles can be discussed and decided upon within the various teams within the school but must be clearly related to the starting point – the SEF – and the direction of travel relating to vision, values and overarching school priorities.
The roles and actions should be targeted, timed, and have a clear success criterion. The evidence for this might be quantitative or qualitative. Whichever method is chosen, there should be trustworthy evidence provided that accurately reflects the impact of the actions taken. For the evidence to be reliable, a culture of trust and collegiality should be commonplace so that there is a sense of collective responsibility with individual responsibilities assigned.
Step 5: Do it and review it
Action is then required to implement the plans that have been outlined. This should follow a SMART model – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed. This process will offer the best chance of a process which supports a wider school culture of team, ambition, and focus.
Some further reading
A new book by Tracey O’Brien – School Self-Review: A sensible approach (John Catt Educational, 2022) – would be a brilliant addition to your professional bookshelf. Tracey lays out a simple usable approach to effective self-review.
The book explains how the principles of effective self-review are based on clarity of purpose. This is fundamental to an organisationally cohesive approach that is centred on the reason for the school’s very existence. The purpose should also relate to the situation the school finds itself in so that it is responsive to the current climate rather than solely the big picture.
The book describes how self-review should reflect the audience. If a school decides to share a review with students, staff, and parents, it should be worded in such a way so it is understandable for all.
As mentioned earlier, schools can choose a variety of ways to communicate this. The use of social media, videos, presentation evenings and mail shots should all be considered. Whichever medium is used, the language should allow for the audiences so that they can see their position in this review and, hopefully, see where they can contribute to the improvement plans for the school.
Tracey O’Brien does a great job in her book of describing how such work should involve leaders and all stakeholders. Her descriptive language and helpful diagrams go on to give ideas as to how a more dialogic approach can be taken.
In the book, there are plenty of tools provided to aid the work of leaders in producing a meaningful review. I would recommend this book for leaders looking to get a reliable view of their schools which can help you to create a powerful improvement plan to support whole school development.
Conclusion
Don’t let your SEF work be an after-thought. Make them central to your annual calendar and you will find that your school operations and efforts will become more streamlined and cohesive throughout the academic year.
- Phil Denton is a former secondary school headteacher who is now CEO at Evaluate-Ed, which supports the measuring, tracking and reporting of school improvement. Read Phil’s previous articles for SecEd at http://bit.ly/seced-denton or visit www.evaluate-ed.com