DEVELOPING A SELFEVALUATION CULTURE Geoff Barton Andy Puttock

DEVELOPING A SELFEVALUATION CULTURE Geoff Barton & Andy Puttock

Developing a self-evaluation culture Achievement and standards Based as far as possible upon an interpretation of the data agreed with the school, include: the standards learners reach, including an assessment of whether they meet challenging targets learners’ progress in relation to their capabilities, based upon a clear evaluation of their prior attainment an assessment of whethere is any significant underachievement, for example between groups of learners such as looked after children and those with learning difficulties and disabilities. Grade: 1 - 4

Developing a self-evaluation culture Personal development and well-being Include: learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development learners’ attitudes, behaviour and attendance, and how much they enjoy their education the extent to which learners adopt safe practices and a healthy lifestyle, make a positive contribution to the community and develop skills that contribute to future economic well-being. Grade: 1 - 4

Developing a self-evaluation culture Whole-school culture: Some opening assumptions Michael Fullan: “ 20 years in teaching is … 1 year, repeated 20 times”

Developing a self-evaluation culture Whole-school culture: Some opening assumptions • Good teaching is a set of learnable skills, not a God-given gift • Performance management is about performance • We should encourage experimentation and occasional disasters • We should be intolerant of mediocrity • A genuine evaluation culture builds improvement • Real change comes from within

Developing a self-evaluation culture Whole-school culture: Some opening assumptions 1 Map out the essential skills of teaching / tutoring / behaviour management are for your own context 2 Build everything else around them 3 Use evaluation to monitor impact 4 Use self-evaluation for teachers to reflect on their own improvement

Developing a self-evaluation culture THREE GURUS Carol Fitz. Gibbon (Durham): Get data into school life, without necessarily doing anything with it

Developing a self-evaluation culture THREE GURUS John Mac. Beath (Cambridge): “We should measure what we value, not value what we can measure”

Developing a self-evaluation culture THREE GURUS David Reynolds (Exeter): “Within-school variation”: Aim to be a ‘high-reliability’ organisation …

Developing a self-evaluation culture Such complex social organizations as air traffic control towers continuously run the risk of disastrous and obviously unacceptable failure. The public would heavily discount several thousand consecutive days of efficiently monitoring and controlling the very crowded skies over Chicago or London if two jumbo jets were to collide over either city. Through fog, snow, computer-system failures, and nearby tornadoes, in spite of thousands of flights per day in busy skies, such a collision has never happened above any city, a remarkable level of performance reliability …

Developing a self-evaluation culture … By contrast, in the U. S. , one of the most highly educated nations on earth, within any group of 100 students beginning first grade in a particular year, approximately 16 will not have obtained either their high school diploma or a General Education Development certificate 12 -13 years later. In Britain, just under half of all 16 -year-old pupils will not have the benchmark of 5 or more high grade public examination passes in the national system. Obviously, many nations have even lower levels of educational performance.

Developing a self-evaluation culture Creating a self-evaluation culture: Tools for school evaluation: • Student performance data - results, targets, etc • Staff, parent, governor feedback • Ethos data • Questionnaires and focus groups • Faculty reviews - inc observation sheets • Self-evaluation

Staff Evaluations …

Routine monitoring …

Planners

Book sampling…

Focus groups run by Governors… What is it like to be a tutor here? Good bits of the job: Frustrations: Good Year Teams Good communication with Year Team Trainees are helpful Role will be strengthened by learning plans / target-setting days Lack of time Amount of admin Always dealing with the same students

What is it like to be a tutor here? What impact do you have on students and how do you know? • Informal feedback from students – eg a disruptive student who admitted privately that he wants to do well • Seeing decreasing number of referral slips • Can feel a sense of progress How would we improve? • Year 12 mentoring can be inconsistent – role of mentors not always clear – but principle of them is good • Small minority – importance of planners not recognised by students/parents

Heads of Year … What are the key ingredients in an effective tutor? • Know and care about students in their tutor groups • See monitoring and target-setting as a core part of their job • Understand the need to work with students on skills beyond the classroom – emotions, motivation, social skills, courtesy, how to speak appropriately in difficult circumstances • Are well organised and manage time well • Listen actively • Pay attention to small details – courtesy, thanks, etc • Treat poor behaviour as simply a choice and good behaviour as a characteristic • Apologise when they do something wrong or inappropriate • Catch students being good far more than they catch them getting it wrong • Have genuine interest in students’ lives and experiences

Faculty reviews

Student Evaluations …

Student …

Attitudes to learning

What for you is the most important ingredient in a good lesson? Enthusiasm of teacher Fun Good class control No disruptive students Practical activities Teacher interested in the subject Sitting with a friend Clear instructions and expectations

What do teachers do that helps you to learn well? Talk less and let us get on with work Teaching us techniques for learning and revising Practice papers Explain things clearly Acknowledge different kinds of learners Praise us Basic ideas about how to do things Providing lunchtime sessions Teach me in a way that I understand

What one thing would you do to improve this school? Longer breaks More trips Don’t give coursework at the end of term Tougher line on disruptive students More guidance with coursework Stop giving detentions for trivial reasons Smarter uniform Regular teacher evaluations by students Clone Mr Green Be more relaxed about uniform and jewellery New headteacher Hotline to support students who are struggling Shorter lessons Bus to Newmarket Longer lessons Fewer questionnaires! Don’t have such high expectations of students

1: Think of people in music, media, sport, politics. Who do you see as positive role-models? Michael Jordan; Johnny Wilkinson; Richard Branson; Marcus Trescothick; Gary Lineker; David Beckham; Paul Merton; Tiger Woods; Slash; Thierry Henry; Bob Geldof; Rolling Stones

2: Think of teachers who motivate you most successfully. What do they do? Mr G - funny; tells us what we need to know; knows his stuff Mr W - teaches well; encouraging; takes no rubbish from anyone Mr W - honest; encourages everyone, not just the best Mr P - energetic; makes lessons active Mrs C - lively; fun Mrs W - explains clearly; not patronising.

3: How could we encourage you to take on leadership responsibilities around school? • Give everyone in Year 11 someone to look after in Year 9 • Give us more responsibility • Get us teaching younger students - eg how to play the guitar • Better rewards policy • Extra privileges • Give us more say • Rewards - eg non-uniform • Let us run clubs.

4: Put these in rank order: • Lessons • Breaks / lunchtimes • Extra-curricular activities • Weekends 100% like weekends best 79% like lessons least (98% in bottom two) 50: 50 split between breaks / extra-curricular

Parent Evaluations …

Developing a self-evaluation culture The essential skills of good teachers Developing a self-evaluation culture What do you think are the 3 most important ingredients of good teachers / tutors …?

Developing a self-evaluation culture The essential skills of good teachers / tutors • Establish expectations based on school evaluation • Build into school systems - observation sheets, performance management, Faculty reviews • Build differentiated training around them • Add self-evaluation opportunities

Eg: Essential Literacy

Effective tutors … • Know and care about students in their tutor groups • See monitoring and target-setting as a core part of their job • Understand the need to work with students on skills beyond the classroom – emotions, motivation, social skills, courtesy, how to speak appropriately in difficult circumstances • Are well organised and manage time well • Listen actively • Pay attention to small details – courtesy, thanks • Treat poor behaviour as simply a choice and good behaviour as a characteristic • Apologise when they do something wrong or inappropriate • Catch students being good far more than they catch them getting it wrong • Have genuine interest in students’ lives and experiences

Good practice in tutor time … • One student collecting register • One student sorting register box, giving you announcements • One student each week reading out the “Thought for the Week” and briefing students on assembly arrangements that week • “ 4 -minute limelight”: One student per week talking about an interest / passion / hobby they have. Other students asking them questions • End of each week: One thing I’ve learnt this week that I didn’t know or couldn’t do on Monday” • Discussion of something in the news • Rapid planner signing • Informal conversation between tutor and individuals / small groups

Steps to success. . 1. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well 2. Start with the end in mind: how will you know how well you’re doing 3. Don’t underestimate the power of ‘tin-opener’ evaluation 4. Drip-feed self-evaluation information constantly into the public domain 5. Be public about strengths and (most) weaknesses

DEVELOPING A SELFEVALUATION CULTURE Geoff Barton & Andy Puttock