SELF-EVALUATION MATTERS!

This wonderful publication is part of a series supporting schools on their 'journey to excellence'. Self-evaluation is a reflective professional process through which schools get to know themselves well and identify the best way forward for their students. Self-evaluation is about change and improvement, whether gradual or transformational, and is based on professional reflection, challenge and support. 

It has at its heart learning leadership, beautiful systems and intelligent accountability and involves taking considered decisions about actions which result in clear benefits for young people. Schools focusing on self-evaluation ask themselves three important questions: 

• How are we doing? 
• How do we know? 
• What are we going to do now? 

We all know excellent schools that focus these questions on learning because learning is at the heart of an excellent school. Learning is our core business. We know that in great schools all staff reflect on the quality of their work. They do this because what happens in classrooms is the key to brilliant and as professionals we are all are responsible for the quality of classroom work and for the achievements and personal and social development of the children and young people we teach, and as members of the team which is responsible for the overall quality of education.

Self-evaluation works best when everyone is involved; where a whole school community has a shared understanding of what it means by quality and excellence. This recognises that every school is on a journey recognising where the school is warts and all and together as a team striving to create something extraordinary.

However, we all know that a shared vision doesn’t come easily and to develop a shared vision, a school must engage with all of its stakeholders and partners in clarifying and agreeing its values and principles. It also needs to agree how these values and principles through beautiful systems will influence all aspects of its work, the curriculum, the learning environment, the ethos of the school and the way that everyone is included and how they relate to each other: demonstrating the principles and values in action.