School Development Planning Initiative

Regional Seminar 2008

School Self-Evaluation
Focus on Teaching and Learning
 Purpose
To focus on self-evaluation as a strategy for
improving the quality of teaching and learning:
Specifically:
 to explore how to foster a self-evaluation
approach to teaching & learning as part of
subject planning and on-going school
review

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 U.K. . . SDP Research

 SDP does not automatically lead to school

improvement
 Needs to have focus on teaching and
learning and pupil achievement

(MacGilchrist et al, 1995)

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 Self-evaluation of
teaching and learning
Issues to consider:
 Quality of student engagement
 Quality of learning experience
 Classroom climate

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 Discussion
“When I go into a classroom
where the quality of learning is
high, I see…”

(Hesketh, 2008)

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What teaching techniques help students
to learn? (% very helpful)
 Teachers explain well (72%)
 Can have fun (41%)
 Express an opinion (36%)
 Group work with friends (30%)
 Practical work (30%)
 Copy notes (29%)
 Find things out (25%)
 Teacher instruction (18%)
(ESRI /NCCA) 6
Focus on Self-Evaluation

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 Approaches to Self-Evaluation:
- key aspects
A. Opportunity to Self-Evaluate:
Individual Subject Dept Staff

B. Process of Self-Evaluation:
Current Practice Improved Practice

C. Success Criteria – Outcomes

Student Engagement Achievement Gains

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 What is Self-Evaluation of Teaching/
Learning?
 Systematic, evidence-based inquiry into
an aspect of teaching &learning

 Seeks to find out how well the subject

department/teacher is doing in relation to
accepted standards of good practice

 Guides the teacher/subject department to

select planning priorities for improvement

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 Self-Evaluation of Teaching and
Learning
 Can/should form part of developmental
focus of subject departments

 Can be done by individual teacher to

support a reflective practice approach to
improving learning and teaching

 What is your experience to date?

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 Areas which Subject
Departments/Teachers could focus on
for Self-Evaluation
 Learning outcomes
 Success criteria
 Pace
 Questioning
 Literacy strategies e.g: use of key words
 Differentiation
 Assessment/homework
 Classroom organisation
 Teacher-student relationship
 Group work/pair work

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Process of Self-Evaluation –key steps
Regarding a selected area:
 Determine what good practice is
 Gather reliable data on actual practice
 Collate and interpret the data - evidence
 Reach valid conclusions that you can
stand over
 Prioritise for planned improvement

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The Tools of Self-Evaluation
■ Questionnaires
■ Interviews
■ Observation
■ Analysis of pupils’ work
■ Spot checks
■ Critical incident analysis
■ Force field analysis
■ Posters, stickies, exit tickets
■ Photo inquiry
See Unit 5, SDP Draft Guidelines (p. 21-24)
 Engaging with students as part of
self-evaluation
Three sample instruments to use:

 Force field analysis

 Sport check
 Questionnaire on teaching methodologies

The following three slides are taken from

McBeath, 2005, The Self-Evaluation File

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 The Force Field

things that help things that hinder

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 Evaluating Classroom Climate

SPOT CHECK
C O N C E N T R AT IN G 1 2 3 T H IN K IN G AB O U T O T H E R T H IN G S

AL E R T 1 2 3 DROW SY

R E L AX E D 1 2 3 AN X IO U S

W IS H IN G T O B E H E R E 1 2 3 W IS H IN G T O B E S O M E W H E R E E L S E

H AP P Y 1 2 3 S AD

AC T IV E 1 2 3 P AS S IV E

E X C IT E D 1 2 3 BORED

T IM E P AS S IN G Q U IC K L Y 1 2 3 T IM E P AS S IN G S L O W L Y

FU LL O F EN ER G Y 1 2 3 V E R Y L IT T L E E N E R G Y

S O M E T H IN G AT S T AK E 1 2 3 N O T H IN G AT S T AK E

S O C IAB L E 1 2 3 LO N ELY

E AS Y T O C O N C E N T R AT E 1 2 3 D IF F IC U L T T O C O N C E N T R AT E

CHEERFUL 1 2 3 IR R IT AB L E

E AS Y T O B E C R E AT IV E 1 2 3 D IF F IC U L T T O B E C R E AT IV E
Questionnaire on teaching methodologies:
How frequently do I use this approach?
How well does it help you to learn?
 Listening to the teacher
 Answering teacher’s questions
 Doing experiments
 Working on the computer
 Watching a video
 Listening to a tape
 Acting out a role play
 Working in a group
 Taking notes while the teacher talks
 Taking notes from a book or worksheet
 Making things
(MacBeath, 2005, pp 26-28)

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 Quality of Teaching and Learning
(Area 4, Looking at Our School)
Methodology Classroom atmosphere
 Appropriate methodologies
 Clarity of purpose
 Respect
 Pace and structure of
 Interactions
 Environment
lesson  Affirmation
 Variety of strategies
 Use of resources
Learning
 Engagement
Classroom management  Understanding
 Discipline  Knowledge and competence
 Management of learning  Collaborative/independent
activities learning
 Challenge & motivation  Communication

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 Quality of Teaching and Learning
(Area 4, Looking at Our School)
 Aspect B:
Teaching and Learning
 Component iv:
Learning
 Theme:
“How actively and independently students
engage in learning, and how the quality of their
understanding is reflected in their questioning
and in their responses to questions”

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Focus on Questioning
A Teaching and Learning Strategy

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 Buzz

•What is the purpose of your questions

during any class?

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 Why do we ask questions?
 To develop interest and motivation
 To evaluate students’ preparation and pre-
knowledge
 To identify, difficulties or blocks to learning
 To stimulate pupils to ask questions
 To stimulate independent learning
 To check on homework / class work
 To develop critical thinking / inquiry skills
 To evaluate achievement

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What is required of students when they
are asked a question?
 The student has to:
o Attend/listen/absorb the question
o Decipher the meaning
o Generate a covert response (i.e.,
formulate a response in one’s mind)
o Generate an overt response … and
perhaps revise the response due to further
teacher probing
o Reflect and learn through discussion

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 Wait-Time: After posing a Question
 Average wait-time is 1 second
 Increasing the wait-time to 3 seconds or more
after posing a lower order Q is related to
achievement gains
 There appears to be no wait-time threshold
for higher order Q’s. But the longer the wait-
time, the better the student engagement

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 What type of questions do you ask?
(See Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questioning)

 Knowledge
 Comprehension
 Application
 Analysis
 Synthesis
 Evaluation

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 Planning for Questioning
Adapted from E C Wragg

Identify the key questions in relation to the learning

intentions for the lesson

Decide on the level, order and timing of questions

Extend the questioning - thinking of subsidiary
questions to ask

Analyse anticipated answers and responses you might

give

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 Classroom Questioning
Issues to consider

1. Identify current range/variety of questions

2. Cognitive requirement – recall or creative/evaluative
3. Wait time 1 and wait time 2
4. How is respondent chosen?
5. Answers formulated by pairs, groups etc
6. ‘No hands’ answering
7. How are ‘incorrect answers’ dealt with?
8. Answering ‘culture’ of classroom – ‘safe’ to answer
9. How are ‘questioning sessions’ built upon?
10. Questions constructed by students – (incl test Q’s)

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 Process of Self-Evaluation
Key steps regarding questioning:
 Determine what good practice in questioning is
 Gather reliable data on your actual use of
questioning (How would you do this?)
 Collate and interpret the data you have gathered
about your use of questioning - evidence
 What conclusions can you reach from this
evidence about your use of questioning
 Prioritise new approaches for planned
improvement

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 Workshop

Having implemented changes in your

approach to questioning over time how
would you evaluate its effectiveness?

 What evidence/indicators might you look for

to indicate that new approaches were making
a difference?

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 Improved Questioning Strategies:
Indicators/Outcomes
 Questioning strategy in place – (frequency, ability
appropriate, HO, LO, etc)
 Greater student engagement - (greater participation in oral
questioning routines)
 Weaker students more responsive
 More able students using more higher thinking skills
 Improvements in achievement – gain in test scores
 Less class disruption
 Superior engagement re Homework
 Improved quality Homework
 Positive teacher-student interaction
 Greater teacher satisfaction
 Other?
 How can you promote/embed a
self-evaluation approach to
teaching and learning in your school?
 Encourage each department to select an area for
development/evaluation each year
 Explore what a systematic approach to self-evaluation would
look like with staff
 Emphasise the importance of using research/ theory on the
chosen area
 Encourage a collaborative approach – sharing theory,
developing common evaluation instruments, using peer
observation
 Identify pockets of good practice and find ways of sharing
these
 Encourage each department to give a report to colleagues on
the outcomes of the evaluation process – what the
department learned as a result of their work 31
Additional Materials

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 NCCA/ESRI: Gearing up for the Exam
Aspects of student experience which generated
positive interactions with teachers

 Being able to ask questions in class

 Being praised for answers in class/ good written
work
 Being treated fairly and with respect
 Positive feedback
 Consulting students about their learning/ issues
that relate to their school experience
 Including them in decision-making process

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 NCCA/ESRI: Gearing up for the Exam
Aspects of student experience which generated
negative interactions with teachers

 Not receiving any positive feedback on their work

 Being given out to frequently for misbehaviour in
class or not having their work done
 Not enough encouragement or challenge to
maintain interest/engagement
 Favouring one student over others (being less
strict on girls than boys)

More than 10%students did not find school work

interesting

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 Classroom Strategies
To encourage students to
participate and to deal with
pupils’ answers
productively consider the To help pupils to generate
their own questions:
following:
 Think, pair, share, square  Model questioning for pupils.
 Prompt pupils  Provide opportunities for
 Use a pupil’s wrong answer pupils to practice their skills.
to develop understanding.  Plan time for pupils’
 Involve more than one questions and for dealing
student / whole class in the with them effectively.
answer
 Listen and respond positively.
(pause, prompt, praise)
 Question Stems
 How can we be sure that ...?
 What is the same and what is different about …?
 Is it ever/always true/false that …?
 Why do ____, ____ and ____ all give the same
answer?
 How do you ….?
 How would you explain …?
 What does that tell us about …?
 What is wrong with …?
 Why is _____ true?

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Some general findings on questioning
 Posing questions during lessons is more
effective in producing achievement gains than
lessons without questions
 Oral questioning during class is more effective in
fostering learning than written questions
 Questions that focus on key/salient elements
promote better comprehension
 Asking questions frequently during class
discussions is positively related to learning facts

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 Further findings
 With weaker ability groups – the frequent
use of lower order questions is positively
associated with achievement
 Increasing the use of higher order
questioning (beyond 20%) produces
learning gains
 Increasing the use of higher order
questioning to 50% enhances teacher
expectation in relation to those regarded
as slow/poor learners
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 Quality of learning in the classroom?
(John West Burham)
SHALLOW DEEP PROFOUND
(WHAT) (HOW) (WHY)
MEANS Memory Reflection Intuition

OUTCOMES Information Knowledge Wisdom

EVIDENCE Replication Understanding Meaning

MOTIVATION Extrinsic Intrinsic Authentic

ATTITUDES Compliance Interpretation Creativity

RELATIONSHIPS Dependence Interdependence Independence

 Sample Comments – SI Reports 08

 …written, oral, and pictorial questioning

 …questions were directed at specific
students
 …students were given time to formulate
their answers and were encouraged to put
up their hands before a respondent was
chosen

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