1. David Taylor Formerly Director of Inspection, Ofsted
Quality Assurance through School Self-Evaluation: the role of External Review and Inspection
David Taylor
Formerly Director of Inspection, Ofsted

2. Structure of presentation
Quality Assurance and Self-Evaluation
Working with schools on self-evaluation

3. Quality Assurance (QA) and School Self-Evaluation (SSE)
Assurance and control
The place of SSE in a QA system

4. What is school self-evaluation?
Self-evaluation is the process by which a school is able to look critically at itself in order to improve further the quality of its provision and its performance.

5. SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION: the 3-step process
What are we going to do next?
How do we know?
How good is our school?
Through self-evaluation, a school is asking questions of itself which probe thoroughly all aspects of quality.

6. Promoting School Improvement (1)
Self-evaluation aims to promote school improvement by seeking:
To inform improvement planning
all staff are, or should be, involved in improvement planning
improvement planning must have standards of achievement, quality of teaching and quality of learning as high priorities;
monitoring and evaluation are indispensable parts of the improvement planning cycle;
schools need to integrate a programme of self-evaluation into their improvement planning.

7. Promoting School Improvement (2)
Self-evaluation aims to promote school improvement by seeking:
- To promote effective learning and raise standards
all pupils are learners and should take part in self-evaluation;
good teachers are good learners; they continually ask questions of their own practice to improve provision;
different people learn best in different ways;
teachers need to know how their pupils learn best;
school managers need to know what makes members of staff effective learners and therefore effective professionals;
parents/carers and governors have a key role in supporting learning

8. Promoting School Improvement (3)
Self-evaluation aims to promote school improvement by seeking:
- To encourage a climate of professional trust
self-evaluation is most effective when the process is transparent;
everyone is part of the self-evaluation process; no-one hides behind status;
positive outcomes for teachers and pupils are evident and people have faith in the process;
good practice is celebrated in more than one way.

9. The Improvement Cycle

10. Improving schools’ self-evaluation
Improved training in leadership and management
More available data
Growing use of external performance indicators
Effective use of classroom observation
Understanding how to carry out self-evaluation

11. Involving all staff in planning and self-evaluation
Staff should:
Understand the planning and evaluation process
Have ownership of it
Focus on pupils’ attainments and experiences
Engage in appropriate professional development
Review their approaches to teaching and learning 

12. Internal and external: complementary roles
SSE: event or process?
Which comes first?
Frameworks and criteria
Training and development

13. Working with schools on self-evaluation
Preparing for self-evaluation
Data collection and data analysis
Understanding how to evaluate
Collecting evidence
Securing trust
Self-evaluation and staff appraisal

14. Six ‘acid tests’ for effective SSE
Is the SSE based on a good range of convincing evidence?
Does the SSE identify the most important questions about how well the school serves its pupils?
How well does the school compare with similar schools and use such comparative data?
Does the SSE include the views of key groups, especially parents, pupils and wider community?
Is SSE integrally linked to key management systems?
Does SSE lead to action to achieve he school’s longer-term improvement goals?

15. A focus on learning outcomes (1)
Taking responsibility for learning
Good features:
Learners
Know their most effective ways of learning
Can apply themselves to learning effectively
Sustain concentration
Appreciate what they need to do to make progress

16. A focus on learning outcomes (2)
Learners
Plan sensibly how they will achieve their learning goals
Seek appropriate help in working towards their goals
Show initiative and take responsibility
Work well without supervision
Review their progress and adjust their learning as necessary

17. A focus on learning outcomes (3)
Taking responsibility for learning
Shortcomings:
Learners:
Have limited awareness of how they learn best
Plan inadequately to address deficiencies
Rely too much on others for assurance and support
Are easily distracted

18. A focus on learning outcomes (4)
Learners:
Do not work well without direct supervision
Are too compliant and passive
Work too slowly
Seek the direction of the teacher too readily
Are uncertain about their own progress.

19. A focus on effective leadership action (1)
Leadership has consistently been shown as the key factor in determining the success of a school.
Leaders who seek to transform their schools tend to:
Have self-knowledge and clarity about values and commitment
Focus on developing people, and empowering them to bring about a shared vision which produces good learning outcomes for pupils
Be found operating at all levels in the school, not just the senior management team

20. A focus on effective leadership action (2)
Leaders who seek to transform their schools tend to:
Encourage, manage and sustain school improvement
Manage the organisation well, respond to change effectively and welcome greater school autonomy and innovation
Ensure that there is an unvarying focus on improving teaching and learning

21. A focus on effective leadership action (3):
Take early, firm intervention to secure effective leadership and management
Establish and implement systems to identify key priorities for improvement through effective data management, ie:
Gathering, analysing and presenting data on pupils’ achievement
Using the data to identify good practice
Surveying the opinions of staff and students
Gaining the commitment of staff

22. A focus on effective leadership action (4):
Focus on dealing with issues in a staged manner, with measures to ensure early success, eg:
Developing pride and self-esteem
Targeting specific under-performance, while developing long-term improvement strategies
Improving attendance, punctuality, uniform-wearing

23. A focus on effective leadership action (5):
Focus on teaching and learning:
Establishing a set of core behaviours
Re-skilling teachers in their repertoire of teaching methods
Implementing a firm and consistent policy on behaviour (around the site as well as in classrooms)
Supporting and building on models of excellent teaching
Establishing collaborative working as a way of improving teachers’ practice

24. A focus on effective leadership action (6)
Introduce models of leadership and teaching quality:
Building effective leadership teams throughout the school
Bringing in new staff with developing teaching skills (eg Advanced skills teachers)
Coaching staff to develop their teaching skills

25. 1. Characteristics of the School
Context of school and learners
School aims

26. 2. Views of Learners, Parents/Carers and other Stakeholders
How are views gathered?
What do they say about provision?
How are findings shared?
What action is taken?

27. 3. Achievement and Standards
What are the standards achieved? Are there significant trends?
Are there any underachieving groups?
How do you know?
What action do you intend to take?

28. 4. Personal development and well-being (‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes)
Learners should :
Be healthy
Be safe
Enjoy their learning and achieve
Make a positive contribution to the community
Be prepared for the future and for their economic well-being

29. 5. Quality of provision How effective are teaching and learning?
Do the curriculum and other activities meet the needs and interests of learners?
How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

30. Example: Teaching and Learning

31. 6. Leadership and Management
How effectively do leaders and managers set a clear direction?
How effective is performance monitoring?
How well are equal opportunities and inclusion promoted?
What is the adequacy of staffing, resources and accommodation?
How effective are links with other providers and agencies?
How effective are Governors?

32. 7. Overall effectiveness and efficiency
The extent of improvement since the previous inspection?
Is there sufficient capacity for further improvement?
What steps are being taken to improve provision?

33. Some key questions for discussion
Suppose you were a person such as a ‘school improvement partner’, how would you set about working with a school on SSE?
How does a school inspection/review gain evidence of the effectiveness of SSE?
What should happen if the inspection/review disagrees strongly with the results of the SSE?
How far should SSE go in incorporating the views of students, parents and the wider community?
How should schools develop the skills of evaluating lessons and outcomes for students?

34. Some conclusions
Inspection/review and SSE should complement each other and dovetail closely, using related:
Frameworks
Criteria
Data sources
Effective SSE has clear goals, clear evaluation of teaching and learning and of leadership and management
The whole school community should be involved in SSE
Inspection has much to offer in developing and improving the quality of SSE.