Transforming Practice Through Self-Evaluation
The role of Local Education Authorities
in quality management in schools
Case study: Modern Foreign Languages
Mary Rose
INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT
School Improvement and transforming existing practice lies at the heart
of the current English educational agenda. We are experiencing a continuing
level of reform unprecedented in the history of British education. Every
partner within the education domain is engaged in redefining their roles
and responsibilities.
This case study examines the role of the local education authority
in quality management in schools; the theory and the practice. It focuses
specifically on strategies for the continuous improvement of practice
through school self-evaluation techniques. It sets these strategies in
the context of modern foreign languages.
The role of a local education authority (LEA) in England in the 21st
century is a rapidly changing and challenging one. The challenge is to
develop new ways of thinking about service delivery; the changes in government
policy demand that education authorities should find new ways of discharging
their responsibilities in partnership with schools. A forward looking
education authority will see itself as a facilitator and an enabler seeking
to establish new partnerships in order to support schools as autonomous,
self-improving institutions. At the same time fulfilling the statutory
responsibility to promote high standards, a duty placed on all local education
authorities in the School Standards and Framework Act.
Clearly this poses a tension as individual schools begin to assume the
role of change-agents and central education teams strive to adjust to
become enabling services forming these new and constructive relationships
with their schools. This requires a significant shift from traditional
organisational structures and will depend on both partners being able
to explore the new working relationship with openness. It is essential
that this relationship allows a real debate about school improvement to
take place, where areas for development are identified and improvement
strategies are agreed which will enhance the quality of education provided.
THE CONTEXT FOR THE CASE STUDY
South Gloucestershire is a relatively new unitary authority in the South
West of England. It was established 6 years ago. It is one of the 150
local education authorities in England and has responsibility for 120
schools. In South Gloucestershire we have sought to embrace our changing
role and we have identified some key goals
- to review the progress of our schools in terms of local and national
standards of attainment and by comparison with similar schools
- to support our schools to set and meet challenging but realistic targets
for school improvement
- to observe, identify and disseminate good practice; practice that
works and meets the diverse needs of learners
- to intervene where necessary to support schools in difficulty.
However, the real ownership of change and improvement lies within the
schools themselves. Therefore it is crucial that we establish an agreed
understanding of schools' current performance, where strengths and areas
for development are recognised, and as real partners, we consider the
range of possible strategies to help a school improve. We seek to reach
this understanding, in each individual school, through the development
of a shared evaluation framework. This framework is founded in the principles
of best practice and enables schools to review and test out the quality
of their educational provision.
We have welcomed the opportunity to create an approach to self-evaluation
which uses a common set of criteria; criteria accessible to all schools,
which promote a shared language for discussing and measuring practice.
To facilitate this we have adopted the concepts, criteria and ideas set
out in the national framework for inspecting schools.
Our schools have accepted the statement that 'the school that knows
and understands itself is well on the way to solving any problems it has'.
(Handbook for Inspecting Secondary Schools: January 2000)
In order to gain this self-knowledge and understanding a school needs
to engage in a cyclical process of self-evaluatative questions.
Self-evaluation is the key to self improvement. It is within this context
working in partnership with our schools as they assess their development
that we, the local education authorities, are able to pose challenging
questions and raise issues in our role as the 'critical friend'.
This shift in local education authority practice and the move away from
the previous hierarchical role of the traditional education authority
co-incided with our need to establish a school improvement programme built
on our own audit of schools' performance. This is an exercise that all
education authorities are expected to undertake in the preparation of
an Education Development Plan. The Education Development Plan is the three
year plan which sets out the LEA school improvement programme; it identifies
the priorities for action highlighted by the audit and indicates which
activities LEA resources will be allocated to in order to improve the
performance of the LEA's schools. The LEA Educational Development Plan
has to receive the approval of the Secretary of State. Our audit was based
on comparative data, inspection evidence and our own advisory service
curriculum reviews. We used the evidence generated by this audit to raise
issues which needed action.
THE CASE STUDY
This case study identifies the issues our local education authority
audit raised in relation to modern foreign languages and the strategies
we used to support schools in confronting these areas.
Our findings in relation to the teaching of modern foreign languages
in secondary schools gave us cause for concern. Overall, examination results
were low, there was a poor take up
of modern languages at Advanced Level and the achievement gap between
girls and boys was marked. We noted that one school broke this pattern
most effectively. This was our Specialist Language College, a secondary
school with 1,200 pupils from 11-18 years, where the picture was one of
rising standards and successful, innovative practice. A breadth and diversity
of curriculum provision for modern foreign languages is offered by the
school. Three languages, French, German and Spanish or Italian are taught
for the 11-14 age group, two languages are taken in the 14-16 age group,
one target language to examination level and one language to alternative
accreditation. At post 16 every student follows a foreign language course.
In addition, a Japanese induction programme is taught for the 11-14 year
olds and a Russian induction programme is offered to students at post
16. This curriculum is underpinned by quality teaching which is enhanced
by two critical factors; small teaching groups for foreign languages of
approximately 15 pupils and extensive use of multi-media resources.
We had a responsibility, as an education service, to recognise, celebrate
and share this work. If all our pupils were to have the opportunity of
quality learning experiences in foreign languages we needed to encourage
research and development into existing practice; this meant supporting
all schools to have the confidence to confront difficult questions and
find solutions, solutions which would not only raise standards but which
would generate pupils' success and enjoyment in learning another language.
As an Education Service we were already leading an extensive development
project for the early learning of a foreign language in the primary phase.
Given that the national research indicated that the teaching of modern
foreign languages for pupils in the 11-14 age group was not adequate and
the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's concern (May 2000: Developing
the School Curriculum) that the government's major language teaching initiative
should perhaps have been aimed at this age group rather than the primary
phase, we determined to promote the continuity of practice and methodology
between pupils in the 9-14 age group. We achieved this through the work
of the specialist language college and its partner primary schools. This
provided a model of practice which was disseminated across South Gloucestershire
and subsequently, nationally. It is a model which is based upon clear
learning objectives common to both literacy and foreign language learning
within a scheme which provides clear linguistic progression (South Gloucestershire
Literacy and Early Foreign Language Learning Framework). Schools were
encouraged to use this as core material to help them audit their practice
and to evaluate their method of teaching foreign languages for the 11-14
age group; particularly to consider if their existing pedagogy best reflected
the prior experience and preferred learning styles of the pupils; the
learning styles which had been identified in the final primary year and
which had proved successful. This work is already having an impact, spreading
innovative approaches to teaching and raising standards in languages in
the initial secondary years.
Involving successful practitioners in the teaching and learning debate
at local authority level is a typical indicator of the new prevailing
partnerships. To this end we established a research and development forum
of English and Modern Foreign Language specialist teachers and headteachers,
supported by the authority's Advisory Service. This group debated key
issues in the subject areas, learned from effective practice and disseminated
this through publications, seminars and conferences for all our schools.
The intention was that in this way schools were able to share, discuss
and take on the information about good practice and innovation that would
be a resource for their development and which they might then apply to
their own situations. An example of this was in examining how to close
the achievement gap between boys and girls. Accepting that literacy is
at the heart of the gender and performance problem, we drew together research
on gender issues in language teaching. We also engaged the services of
Peter Downes, an education consultant, and a member of the Nuffield Inquiry
team (Languages: the next generation: published May 2000) and from his
conference presentation we highlighted the following questions for schools
to consider in the self-evaluation of their practice:
- to succeed in learning a foreign language boys need to understand
the relevance of this learning; how does a modern languages department
establish a critical mass of positive thinking boys who will make an
impact on raising standards?
- what account have schools taken of the teaching and learning styles
which are most successful with different ages and different pupil groupings,
for example, taking account of the fact that the average concentration
span of a 14 year old boy is 7 minutes and of a 14 year old girl 13
minutes?
- is foreign language teaching structured to provide short term objectives
with purposeful activities and regular, short feedback, given that boys
prefer bursts of activity with short, sharp linguistic demands?
- have learning resources taken account of gender preferences? For example,
has the knowledge that boys respond well to Information Communication
Technology (ICT)
activities and often show a preference for text formats which offer
cartoons with a strong storyline been taken account of?
All key questions for our schools to consider.
However, these questions were only effectively posed, debated and acted
on in schools where a self-evaluative and enabling culture was established.
It is the role of the local education authority to promote this culture
among its schools and to invest in quality through its training programmes.
Most significantly our role is to recognise success, and challenge failure,
through our school improvement programme. This school improvement role
will be one of co-ordinating a range of sophisticated support and interventions.
In South Gloucestershire, schools are supported through an extensive
training and advisory service programme in self-evaluation to develop
a common set of indicators and benchmarks which will enable the Education
Service and its schools to have an informed dialogue about standards,
the quality of teaching and learning and the effectiveness of the school's
management. Schools also need to be clear about what information or evidence
will best help them in this dialogue. Members of each school community
should be confident to ask:
- How good is this school?
- How could it become better?
- What do we need to do to make this happen?
In order to do this schools need to embrace three critical quality principles:
- First, successful schools are committed to improvement
- Second, self-evaluation is a powerful tool for improvement
- Third, improving schools are learning communities - everyone in the
organisation is willing to reflect on practice, learn from this experience
and take the necessary action to improve.
The ability to accept these principles and to develop the actions that
flow from them is almost always dependent on the educational climate and
culture of the school.
The self-evaluation framework anticipates a school culture which is focussed
on student outcomes. There are certain factors and processes which underpin
this:
Firstly, the effective leadership of the institution is fundamental if
quality management is to be sustained. This is characterised by the headteacher
or principal and key members of staff creating and securing teachers'
commitment to a clear vision, where all staff share a common purpose.
Secondly, the leadership will build high performing teams. Middle managers
will be clear about their responsibilities and know how they will measure
their success. Co-operative, co-ordinated teaching teams will be developed
and these teachers will set high goals for pupils.
Thirdly, the leadership will inspire, motivate and influence staff so
that they will have the confidence to reflect critically on what they
can do to improve learning and develop effective ways of working; this
practice is characterised by staff who readily ask -
- how well are our pupils taught?
and
- are they making sufficient progress?
The potential of new partnerships
In promoting these aspects of leadership a local education authority should
work with successful schools to take the concept of the self-evaluating,
improving organisation further to extend the reflective, questioning culture
further into one of sustained research and development. This will happen
as innovative partnerships with schools, higher education institutions
and businesses provide opportunities to shape the next steps to establish
research bases in schools as part of a collaborative network for investigating
and disseminating best practice. For example; the specialist Language
College in South Gloucestershire has embarked on a long term plan to build
on successful self-evaluative strategies and develop from subject focussed,
research enquiries into the culture, structure and characteristics of
a school which may be described as a Research School. In order to achieve
this the leadership team are defining the criteria for a questioning,
investigative and researching organization; this team is also identifying
the necessary capacity building strategies. The International Learning
and Research Centre is an independent, externally funded Centre. It is
the first of its kind in the country. Its purpose is to improve the quality
of teaching and learning through school-based enquiry promoted through
national and international projects. Its core work is in leadership, languages
and literacy. The International Learning and Research Centre is working
in partnership with this school in a mentoring, advisory capacity to achieve
this outcome.
Achieving robust self-evaluative systems
Many schools are not yet at this advanced stage and have benefited
from clearly set out developmental stages. Once a self-questioning and
self-evaluative culture has been established the school is ready to develop
its own system of self evaluation. In South Gloucestershire, we recommend
that this is an evidence based system which uses the four main evaluative
strategies to gather information:
- the use of data
- the observation of lessons
- sampling of pupils' work
- focussed discussion and interviews with pupils
The case study example in this paper shows how one school in South Gloucestershire,
the specialist language college, has achieved this culture, and following
the advisory service training course, developed increasingly robust processes
for self-evaluation.
In using data the starting point will be to review measurable
outcomes, for example, a school should make use of baseline data, the
analysis of assessments and examination results, including analysing performance
by gender. Standards in the school will be measured against other schools,
both locally and nationally. However, the current comparative measure
to compare like with like is a crude one; it is based on the percentage
of pupils registered for free school meals.
The case study school uses baseline data in all year groups to set target
minimum levels or grades for individual pupils and for classes. These
grades are based on information about pupils' prior attainment and the
targets set include a challenge factor. The school analyses test and examination
results by subject, by teaching group and by gender, in order to evaluate
teaching and learning successes and to promote forward planning and target
setting.
In the South Gloucestershire education authority, as in many others,
the Advisory Service supports schools in the use of data, taking part
in the annual performance review, analysis and action planning. This occurs
during the autumn term every year. At this time the school and the school's
adviser will question the picture of the school's achievement presented
by the data sets, consider the trends in performance and begin to answer
the key question
- are the pupils making sufficient progress?
LESSON OBSERVATIONS
Observing lessons provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on the
craft of the teacher and his or her interaction with pupils. In lesson
observations, in order to gather information about the quality of teaching,
the focus will always be on pupils' learning. The key consideration in
evaluating the quality of teaching is how well pupils learn. Not only
is it important to assess pupils' knowledge, skill and understanding but
also the quality of the interaction between pupils and teacher, pupils'
responses and their engagement in the lesson, the pace of their work and
the level of challenge presented in this work. An essential part of any
lesson observation should be the feedback given to the teacher following
the observation; feedback which identifies strengths and areas for improvement,
so that this feedback is constructive and formative and enables teachers
to reflect on their classroom practice through supportive, professional
dialogue. Regular, quality feedback which may be provided by a line manager
or a peer builds teachers' capacity to develop, it increases their confidence
and enables them to take calculated risks. Risk taking in this context
encourages creativity in teaching. This will be the spark that will lift
a lesson beyond the ordinary.
The role of the local education authority Advisory Service is to coach
the school's leadership team in the skills of lesson observation. In schools
where a climate of openness and trust exists discussions following observations
are able to be shared, often within a subject department. This enables
effective practice to be debated by the whole teaching group; corporate
learning will usually follow.
This same forum of specialist teachers becomes an important quality circle
when sampling pupils' work. Discussion is focussed on the evidence of
student outcomes and the practice which underpins these outcomes. In this
way teachers are able to reflect on the quality of the work that has been
achieved, to consider if this is the best the pupil could have achieved
and to review the consistency and clarity of the feedback that has been
provided to the pupil. Regular discussion with groups of pupils is an
essential part of the quality circle. Typically questions will centre
on pupils' understanding of their own progress and the extent of their
self knowledge about what they need to do to improve and how they will
know when they have been successful. These discussions provide ideal opportunities
to assess the effectiveness of individual pupil target setting.
The following account given by the Curriculum Director for International
and Cultural Studies from the case study school shows how the modern foreign
languages department is using these processes:
'Team meetings provide a regular opportunity for discussion of the
quality of teaching. A focus is given to each meeting which concentrates
on sharing good practice. All teachers are involved in this discussion.
Opportunities are provided for each teacher to observe lessons, in
order to evaluate and learn from another person's teaching. Teachers are
asked to provide examples of materials, resources, students' work, examples
of homework, marking and assessment data. These are used as a first step
in evaluating planning, the relevance of the Scheme of Work is considered,
the resources used and the way in which the current curriculum meets the
needs of the students.
Student focus groups have been established so that discussion and
interviews with students can become an integral part of the evaluation
of teaching. Work-sampling and monitoring of rewards and sanctions given
are also carried out. Professional development days allow teachers of
the same pupil groupings to discuss teaching methods, use examples of
students' work to share good practice, review progress and decide on the
actions to be taken for improvement or the consolidation of existing good
practice.' (R Raimato, The Sir Bernard Lovell School)
The personal, professional growth of these teachers is assured. It is
clear that they are confidently using the self-evaluation processes to
refine their thinking and their teaching and in so doing to better meet
the learning needs of their pupils. For these teachers self-evaluation
is a professional belief which forms part of the vision of their school.
In conclusion, the leadership team and the key teachers in a school are
the promoters of quality management in the curriculum area. If quality
management is to prevail, this group must take ownership of the processes
of self-evaluation. In this way teachers in classrooms are empowered to
become confident and reflective learners. When this occurs the benefits
to students are immense. It is the role of education leaders to inculcate
this practice in the teaching force, enabling teachers to transform classroom
practice and sustain improvement. This will be achieved successfully if
local education authorities are able to accept the challenges of new ways
of working, shed the traditional hierarchies and form new partnerships
with schools - partnerships where all stakeholders value equality and
enquiry and work together to build trust and a shared vision of the educational
outcomes.
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