3.4 - HOW - Approaches to embedding
There are at least four different kinds of follow-up to ESR
- To breathe a sigh of relief that it's over and carry on as before (complacency)
- To reject ESR findings as not applicable to this school (denial)
- To dutifully carry out suggestions made by the ESR team (compliance)
- To reflect critically on suggestions and evaluate future development (pro-activity)
Which comes closest to your own experience, or anticipation, of review?
Approaches to embedding
The ultimate goal of SSE is to embed it in the daily work of the school and classroom, to help staff reflect critically on suggestions made by ESR report and to plan how to infuse classroom learning and teaching, school culture and leadership with a process of ongoing inquiry and evaluation.
Purpose of SSEPurpose of SSE (QuickTime)
Ms Veronica Ma, Principal, Marymount Secondary School
"To me, SSE can help the school self improve continuously..."
Impact Study: Approaches to embedding
The strongest strand of opinion, however, particularly from senior leaders, was that the experience had been a positive one and had brought tangible improvement to school management, to uses of data, and strengthening of self-evaluation. In response to the questionnaire item "We now have a well established self-evaluation culture in our school" 60.0% of staff in 2005 agreed/strongly agreed to that proposition (a very similar figure for primary, secondary and special schools). This is a surprisingly positive response given the time it takes for such a culture to grow. While focus groups interviews cast some doubt on how deeply embedded a reflective critical inquiry culture really is at classroom level, the indications are that the seeds of change have been sown.
(Impact Study, p.36)
It had, in many cases, brought a sharper focus on issues of major concern.
"After ESR, SSE would focus on the major concerns. We had more thorough discussion and staff have built up a greater sense of ownership and involvement."
(Secondary school principal)
In some cases there had been not only relief that the school had come through it unscathed but with a greater team spirit and pride in what had been achieved together, affirmed and celebrated by an external authority. It was said in one school that within five days of the visit morale had visibly increased and that conversations among staff were now more frequent, more informed and more self critical. Other principals spoke of developing a more reflective culture, a willingness to confront weaknesses and address areas for improvement with a stronger evidence base.
After ESR, the school year plan was more self-reflective and we identified the weaknesses and more focused on improvement. Throughout these years, the data analysis skills of the teachers have improved. (Primary school principal)
(Impact study p.43)
Group activity
The Table below compares the views of principals and front line teachers.
How would you interpret:
- Differences in viewpoint?
- Differences by school phase?
Table 8.2 Comparisons of principals' and front line teachers' views by school phase on ESR impact
Number of post-ESR questionnaires collected in 2003/04 from 94 principals and 2,381 teachers
|
ESR has helped to promote
continuous development through ESR |
Principals | Teachers |
|---|---|---|
| Primary schools | 93.2 | 65.6 |
| Secondary schools | 84.1 | 55.6 |
| schools | 85.4 | 70.3 |
(Impact Study, p.44)
International views
Self-evaluation from the bottom upSelf-evaluation from the bottom up (QuickTime)
Isobel Duff, Primary Headteacher, Angus, Scotland
"I think mainly it's full staff involvement in decision making, as far as possible, so a collegiate approach. Really make great efforts to insure that everything we do there's staff ownership of it. So it's not a talk down model by any means and its certainly not even a management structure that talk down, not just myself, but to depute and so on..."
Cycle of self-evaluationCycle of self-evaluation (QuickTime)
Elisabeth Morris, HMI, Scotland
"Schools should audit all areas of their provision on a systematic basis. They should scan across all the QI's perhaps once a year, or so, and ensure that all areas of the school are kept under regular scrutiny..."
Schools are Built by PeopleSchools are Built by People (QuickTime)
Jerry Starratt, Professor and Chair, Educational Administration and Higher Education, Boston College, USA
"We get socialised into "this is the way schools are run; this is the way you play the game of 'school'..."
Feedback
These data tell us something important about the roles people play in the process of SSE/ESR and the degree of "density" of impact within a school. In other words, it raises the question of how far down through the hierarchy of the school is the impact seen and understood?
What emerges clearly from the Impact Study is that in the most effective schools there was a depth of permeation through the whole staff in understanding and commitment to the embedding of change.