2.4 - Dealing with documentation
Over-preparation of documents is one of the biggest failings among schools in preparing for ESR. It arises out of anxiety about being "found out". Yet it is very often counter productive because evidence of effective SSE is shown by the ability to select out the evidence that best tells the school's own story.
In these two excerpts a primary school principal talks about how they streamlined the process of documentation.
Consider (or discuss):
- Is this good advice?
- What would it mean for your school to adopt these practices?
Using IT to manage the process
Documentation for ESRDocumentation for ESR (QuickTime)
Mr Lam Heung Sing, Principal, PLK Fung Ching Memorial Primary School
"Many schools spend immense time on preparing for documents..."
Filling the gaps, but keeping it to a minimum
Documentation: no making up documentsDocumentation: no making up documents (QuickTime)
Mr Lam Heung Sing, Principal, PLK Fung Ching Memorial Primary School
"I clearly told teachers that we would not produce documents that were not already prepared in the past..."
Impact Study
The paper chase
Over-preparation was generally due to confusion over number, type and quality of documents and a fear that some important items might be missed and so reflect badly on the school. Over-investing in documentation might be taken as an indication of lack of confidence or failure to discriminate what is and isn't of importance in self-evaluation. It was widely accepted that in future schools would be more selective and discriminating in using documentation as evidence, in part due to further clarification in EDB circulars and public announcements.
(Impact Study, p.16)