Joe O’Hara

Workable Compromise or Pointless Exercise? School-Based Evaluation in the Irish Context.

Evaluating schools has become a contentious issue in many countries. There seems to be a broad and growing consensus that some form of evaluation can on the one hand play a significant role in school improvement efforts, and on the other is also required to provide a reasonable level of public accountability appropriate in democratic societies. What is less clear is how the balance between these goals can be best achieved. In the context of this wider international debate, the article describes the manner in which the approach to the evaluation of the work of schools is evolving in the Irish setting. In so doing, it is hoped to contribute to some key elements of the debate, particularly the interplay between external evaluation and internal self-evaluation and the relationship between evaluation and evidence.

Trusting the Teacher: Evaluating Educational Innovation

The efficacy of and ethical justification for applying positivist research principles to the evaluation of social processes such as education are being increasingly challenged. Recent work in educational evaluation has tried to meet this challenge by moving the focus towards understanding the impact of projects and innovations on their recipients and by encouraging self-evaluation. However the dominant form of educational evaluation still involves judgements made through the eyes of the external evaluator and the connotation persists of evaluation as the external monitoring of professional practice. This article suggests that in the case of educational programmes, initiatives and innovations the focus of judgement should move from the evaluators to the practitioners and the former should find a new role in supporting the professional development of the latter.

Evaluation of Adult Education and Training Programs

Adult education and training has undergone fundamental reform in recent decades. First, the conceptual framework underpinning theories of adult education and training has become deeply contested. In terms of curricular structure the traditional focus on behavioral outcomes has been replaced by the broader concept of competences. Equally, increased demands for value for money in public services have resulted in questions of accountability and quality moving to the fore. Evaluation has also progressed dramatically and is now no longer simply concerned primarily with measurable outcomes but with process, stakeholder roles, values, and quality. In this article, the conceptual, contextual, and design issues to be considered in the evaluation of adult education and training programs are analyzed. In addition, contrasting evaluation models are described.

Whole-School Evaluation and Development Planning An Analysis of Recent Initiatives in Ireland

This article reports on the recent introduction of school development planning and whole-school evaluation in the Republic of Ireland. Although relatively common in other education systems, their introduction marked a significant shift in the culture of Irish education. The article seeks to provide an insight into the structures of both processes and into the context which shaped their development. The article concludes that the approach taken to the introduction of both processes has been surprisingly successful given the lack of a tradition of collaborative planning and evaluation that characterizes the Irish education system. Nonetheless significant problems, particularly concerning the credibility of the type of evaluation introduced, remain unresolved.

External specialist support for school self-evaluation: Testing a model of support in Irish post-primary schools:

With an increasing emphasis on school self-evaluation as a mechanism for school improvement, many countries provide a range of supports to guide schools through the self-evaluation process. While models of support vary across jurisdictions, there are a number of common approaches that prevail, including the provision of an external specialist to support the school self-evaluation process. However, there is very little research carried out in relation to models of external specialist support for school self-evaluation. Building on previous research this article explores the implementation of a specific model of external specialist support for school self-evaluation in five Irish post-primary schools (student age cohort 12–18 years). This model differs from the standard set of supports provided by the Department of Education and Skills to schools in Ireland. The model was developed and facilitated by a researcher from the Dublin City University, Centre for Evaluation, Quality and Inspection. An action research methodology was used to implement and test the model of support in five schools and the related findings are outlined. While the findings are relevant to the Irish context they may have a wider application for self-evaluation policy and practice in other jurisdictions. The model may have particular relevance for jurisdictions where self-evaluation is being introduced for the first time or where implementation issues exist.

Quality and the rise of value-added in education: The case of Ireland

This paper examines the rise of value-added as a measure of quality in education. As a point of departure, the paper begins with an analysis of the rise of the concept of quality in education and discusses how, at times, various contradictory determinants of quality have managed to influence the evaluation and assessment frameworks of most countries. Leading on from this, the second part of the paper provides a discussion on the use of value-added as a determinant of quality in education. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion on the challenges relating to the introduction of value-added into the Irish education system, a development which will, arguably, become a contentious educational reform initiative within the future landscape of Irish education.

Wirkungen und Nebenwirkungen europäischer Inspektionssysteme

In vielen europaischen Bildungssystemen werden Schulinspektionen als eine wichtige Methode zur Aufrechterhaltung und Verbesserung von Schulqualitat angesehen. Allerdings war bisher wenig uber die Wege und Mechanismen bekannt, auf denen Schulinspektionen zu Wirkungen auf die Schulentwicklung fuhren konnen. In diesem Kapitel wird ein Wirkungsmodell von Schulinspektion, das aus einer Analyse von Inspektionskonzepten von sechs europaischen Landern (Niederlande, England, Irland, Schweden, Tschechische Republik, Osterreich/Steiermark) gewonnen wurde, mit den Daten einer Schulleiterbefragung in den sechs teilnehmenden Landern untersucht. Um dem Unterschied zwischen den Inspektionsmodellen verschiedener Lander gerecht zu werden, werden vier zentrale Charakteristika von Inspektionsmodellen vergleichend in Hinblick auf ihre Auswirkungen auf Schulentwicklung und auf unerwunschte Reaktionen im Gefolge von Schulinspektionen analysiert.

Reluctant leaders: Why are some capable leaders not interested in the principalship?

This paper is a starting point in work that we hope, indeed are certain, will lead to a better understanding of the respective national context for leadership succession in Ireland and Canada while also contributing to the international perspective. Specifically, we are investigating the reasons why teachers trained in school leadership, possessing the qualifications and attributes needed to assume leadership positions, are not applying for the principalship. We call these teachers ‘reluctant leaders’. We hope that by investigating the factors which are inhibiting them from going forward for promotion we may illuminate solutions to what is becoming a crisis in many educational systems.

Inspectors and the Process of Self-Evaluation in Ireland

The relationship between school inspection and school self-evaluation in Ireland has shifted from a largely theoretical one to that of a regulatory requirement where schools are mandated to engage with an externally devised process of self-evaluation. The conduct of self-evaluation in schools is quality assured by the inspectorate. It is not clear where this shift will lead in terms of the relationship between schools and inspectors but it seems certain to change the role of the latter to a marked degree. Although laudable in theory, the practical realities and perceptions relating to this new relationship need to be considered. This chapter provides a documentary analysis of the changing landscape of school self-evaluation policy and practice from 2012 onwards and also draws on interview data and a national survey of school principals who have been charged with the implementation of these initiatives.

Evaluating the impact of distributed culturally responsive leadership in a disadvantaged rural primary school in Ireland

This paper suggests that distributed leadership is a vital first step in making schools flexible enough to respond to new pressures. However, it is then argued that distributed leadership per se does not necessarily imply a commitment to a particular stance on issues of social justice, such as equality, but rather that this can only flow from leaders becoming culturally responsive to the diverse traditions and needs of the changing populations of their schools. We define this combination as ‘distributed culturally responsive leadership’. The second part of the paper attempts to illustrate this argument by closely examining the philosophy and actions of a particular principal who is regarded as an exemplar of good practice. The methodology used in the school case study is described and, finally, we provide a presentation and analysis of the data followed by a discussion of the research findings.