SEMLAS Project

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SEMLAS Project

• The role of middle leaders in self evaluation

Towers Conference Centre 12 January 2006
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Aims of the SEMLAS project

• What do we do already?
• Why do we do it?
• What can we celebrate and share and what might we
  want to challenge and improve?
• How can we work together to develop our
  approaches to self-evaluation to improve pupils
  learning and school experience?
• How can we use evidence more powerfully to engage
  teachers and other members of the school
  community in the process of improvement?

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LIVING WITH PARADOX- the pressures on middle
leaders
apply given criteria avoid mistakes deliver
results now follow the rules compete retain
control assess individuals
self evaluate take risks/innovate think long
term be flexible collaborate share
leadership encourage teamwork
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DOING SCHOOL
Imagine yourself on a ship sailing across an
unknown sea, to an unknown destination. An adult
would be desperate to know where he is going. But
a child only knows he is going to school...The
chart is neither available nor understandable to
him... Very quickly, the daily life on board ship
becomes all important ... The daily chores, the
demands, the inspections, become the reality, not
the voyage, nor the destination. (Mary Alice
White, 1971)
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(No Transcript)
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The new approach

• The schools self-evaluation, as summarised in
  its self-evaluation form (SEF), is a central part
  of the inspection.
• Introduction of integrated inspections for
  extended services.
• There is a strong focus on the well-being of
  pupils in the light of the Green Paper Every
  Child Matters and the subsequent legislation
  based on this.
• Notice of inspection is short, typically in the
  week before, and the time spent in a school is
  not usually more than two days.

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Self Evaluation Form (SEF)

• Characteristics of the school
• Views of learners, parents/ carers and other
  stakeholders
• Achievement and standards
• Personal development and well-being
• Quality of provision
• Leadership and management
• Overall effectiveness and efficiency

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Features of effective self-evaluation

• A shared understanding that self-evaluation is an
  integral part of the process of improvement
• A good understanding of what constitutes good and
  unsatisfactory provision and performance
• High expectations of the schools improvement and
  achievement, eliminating complacency but
  recognising when success has been achieved
• Systematic and rigorous monitoring and evaluation
  of t and l.
• Comprehensive analysis and searching questioning
  of a wide range of performance data, resulting in
  honest and rigorous interpretation, and accurate
  identification of areas for improvement
• Full involvement of all members of school
  community in the process
• A school culture in which staff can both give and
  receive constructively critical feedback, and in
  which all staff are committed to improvement.

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Features of weak self-evaluation

• failure to distinguish monitoring the completion
  of actions from evaluation of their impact
• inadequate monitoring and over-generous
  evaluation of the quality of teaching
• superficial and/or complacent analysis of
  performance data used to justify rather than
  challenge the schools performance
• lack of involvement by governors, middle managers
  and class teachers
• Defensive approach not used to plan improvement

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Pupil Voice

• How do you involve pupils in self evaluation?
• How do you share the findings?
• What do the findings tell you?
• What action have you taken and what was the
  impact?

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Pupils decide. Adults support.
The ladder of participation (from Shultz in
Democratic Learning, MacBeath and Moos.)
participation
Adults and pupils decide together
Adults consult and take pupil views into account.
consultation
Adults consult pupils then decide.
decoration
Adults use pupils as decoration
manipulation
Adults decide. Inform pupils.
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Personal development and well-being / Every Child
Matters

• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
• Behaviour
• Achievement and enjoyment
• Staying safe
• Staying healthy
• Positive contribution to the community.
• Workplace and other skills that will contribute
  to learners future economic well-being

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Quality of provision

• How effective are teaching, training and
  learning?
• How well are individual needs met?
• Does provision meet course and programme
  requirements?
• Do programmes match learners aspirations and
  potential?
• Is curriculum responsive to local circumstances?

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Leadership and management

• How effective are LM in raising achievement and
  supporting all learners?
• How effectively leaders and managers at all
  levels set clear direction leading to improvement
  and promote high quality of care education and
  training
• How effectively performance is monitored and
  improved through quality assurance and self
  assessment

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A Place for Learning...

• people are natural learners and learn through
  social interaction
• development and change come from within
• feedback is crucial to individual learning and
  organisational development
• people have a commitment to that which they have
  created themselves
• based on Macbeath, 1999105

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THE LEARNING WEDDING CAKE
System learning
Professional learning
pupil learning
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How good is our team?

• What do we know?
• What do we not know?
• What would we like to know?
• How might we find out?

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TOXINS

• ideas rejected or stolen
• constant carping criticisms
• being ignored
• being judged
• being overdirected
• not being listened to
• being misunderstood

Southworth, 2000
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NUTRIENTS

• being valued
• being encouraged
• being noticed
• being trusted
• being listened to
• being respected

Southworth, 2000
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Some procedural guidelines

• Start with the end in mind
• Be selective - what really matters?
• Be inclusive and ethical - every person matters
• Create the climate
• Ask hard questions
• Embed self evaluation into everyday life
• Make use of naturally occurring evidence
• Engage a critical friend