IN BRIEF
Learning involves action and reflection, so evaluation and review of all school processes can be helpful. Opportunities to review 'the way we do things around here' (the ethos of the school) are already available in the existing management processes. Identifying the appropriate partners in each area of school life to particiapte in evaluation and review is important. Audit tools are available and can be developed further.
Evaluation and review
Evaluation and review is standing back and reflecting on what we've been doing. This reflection is a critical part of learning, both for individuals and for the community. School ethos, or 'the way we do things around here' can be reflected upon through the existing management processes. School ethos, values in practice, can be reflected upon by asking questions like:
- does our current practice promote or negate our school's values?
- do we see the behaviours and outcomes we aspire to in for example, the classroom, the playground and the staffroom?
To answer these questions requires that the appropriate participants are involved. At times it may be necessary to find the time and resources to involve the whole school. It may also mean risking receiving 'difficult' or unwelcome feedback. Tools are available to assist in 'benchmarking' or auditing a whole school approach to education and values.
KEY IDEAS
Reflection: a critical part of learning
Effective learners are people who are aware of what they are doing and how they are doing it. They are able to ask critical questions and to reflect on whether practices are achieving their aims. The capacity for strategic reflection is central for all learners and is a key component for continuing professional development. It comprises the skills of analysis, intuition and imagination.
Review and evaluation is a normal part of school development
The school development planning process will include regular review and evaluation of all strategic targets. As well as reviewing the 'hard' objectives of policies, school leaders and governors can include the review and evaluation of how those strategic targets measure up to the school's vision and its explicit core values.
School ethos can be assessed by looking at values in practice
The ethos of the school - that is the quality of relationships, the values, beliefs and attitudes of the school as a community and the rituals and practices of the school - can be assessed. One way of doing this is by looking at the school's values in practice.
The values which we hold to or espouse are likely to be lived out in terms of a range of practices, outcomes and behaviours. Other practices, outcomes or behaviours might be indications that those espoused values are not being successfully lived out in practice. For example, if a schools' core value includes the intrinsic dignity and worth of each individual then its teaching and learning policy is likely to reflect a range of strategies and approaches that cater for individual differences. However, if in practice teaching and learning is unvaried then this may indicate a gap between espoused and practised values.
Benchmarks or assessment criteria are likely to be aspects of most school policies. Appropriate assessment criteria can be identified based on expectations of practices, outcomes and behaviours that are expressions of the values being lived.
Involvement of appropriate participants
It is important that all those who participate in a particular policy or practice should be involved in its evaluation and review. It is a particularly important to include the learners themselves in the process.
Tools are available for auditing school values in practice
While the idea of auditing schools' values in practice may sound daunting, auditing tools have been developed for this purpose and are available.
