External specialist support for school self-evaluation: Testing a model of support in Irish post-primary schools

What is it about?

In recent years many education systems have sought to improve the quality of teaching and learning by restructuring their accountability practices and structures. One of the most common innovations has been the introduction of processes of self-evaluation into schools. In essence these approaches ask schools to develop a narrative about quality for their own school and use this as a starting point for an engagement with statutory bodies such as schools inspectorates. While there are various perspectives on the efficacy and suitability of this approach one of the ongoing challenges is preparing schools and teachers to work with various sources of data to present in their self-evaluation report. This paper presents one way of working with schools to improve their capacity in this area - an approach that concentrates on external facilitation and specialist support.

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Why is it important?

Schools and teachers are being asked to extend themselves professionally and quite of the consequences of not engaging with processes such as self-evaluation can be significant. This paper provides a blueprint for an approach to support members of school communities in a vital area.