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.