School Self Evaluation

whiteandlight

We had our presentation from the inspectorate about this a couple of weeks ago. I have only had a chance to come back to it now: http://www.schoolself-evaluation.ie/post-primary/

I'm interested to hear the opinion of others on this. I can honestly say that the presentation by the inspectorate was appalling and of a completely unacceptable standard. You couldn't read most of the slides as they were too small. No question was answered properly and I honestly came out more confused than I started. I have no idea what my role as a standard school teacher is in this process at all?

linguist

I have to agree Musicmental. This really is the greatest load of rubbish yet. And I entirely agree about the presentation from the Inspector. She couldn't get the powerpoint working for the first ten minutes and was pretty woeful presenter.

You should have seen her face when she was asked if literacy and numeracy deficiencies, and hence the need for targets, in first year might be due to shortcomings at primary level and in the inspectorate's work in that sector. As you say, we didn't exactly get a straight answer.

TheDriver

on the other hand, we had an excellent inspector out to us, very practical and gave us great pointers regarding numeracy, literacy and direction the groups should be taking including getting our SIP in place for June etc

Pwpane

We had a good presentation too (we were asked to have the projector set up and working beforehand). Good in its presentation but not in its content which was quite vague. Some good practical whole school approaches were outlined but these wouldn't work in our school as it is presently run.

Our inspector was quite taken aback by the strength of feeling about the literacy we inherit from primary school and the problems of project maths in secondary school. She agreed to the flaws in our PISA results, even reported ones I wasn't aware of, but had no reply as to why an entire literacy and numeracy drive was then based on this report.

She also emphasised the support of the inspectorate in introducing the literacy and numeracy drive but stated there was no extra planning time allocated or financial support available.

Another point raised at our meeting was why literacy and numeracy wasn't tackled at exam level in marking schemes and syllabi, as surely the most economical and successful and least intrusive method of raising standards in these areas. Again, the inspector had no answer.

In my opinion, it's no harm to emphasise literacy and numeracy in all subjects. It ought to be done as of right, as part of proper teaching. I think it used to be, until syllabi were tinkered with over the years and teachers were told to ignore it in favour of encouraging creativity.

whiteandlight

I'm glad it was better in some schools because ours was really terrible display by someone who inspects teachers. He was completely off topic a lot of the time, continuously referred to deis schools (we are not one) and could not answer a question. I'd love to see their face if we presented a class like this while being inspected.

I'm pretty sure our projector had to be set up beforehand too on a school computer. Id love to know why this is the case. As a local facilitator I had to provide my own laptop and set up my own equipment at every event. For an inspectorate that are pushing the ICT agenda surely they should at least be able to use it themselves?

Having read the report it seems to be aiming to introduce statistical analysis into schools. Some of the aims seem laudable. I'm very cautious about this however as the wording of a lot of it appears to be aiming for the English system with written evidence of everything needing to be kept. I'm just not sure how feasible the aims (from the report) are in the current system and with the high contact hours we have

UnLuckyAgain

Ours was absolutely disgraceful. A shocking presentation from the inspector who, as someone else mentioned, kept continuously referring to DEIS schools. He seemed to talk around the issue for 2 hours, without giving any practical or realistic examples or targets etc.

No question got a straight answer and just got pawned off on to some of the information on the woeful slides.

Benicetomonty

UnLuckyAgain wrote: »

Ours was absolutely disgraceful. A shocking presentation from the inspector who, as someone else mentioned, kept continuously referring to DEIS schools. He seemed to talk around the issue for 2 hours, without giving any practical or realistic examples or targets etc.

No question got a straight answer and just got pawned off on to some of the information on the woeful slides.

We must have had the same guy, absolutely abysmal and not a man who inspired confidence, either in self evaluation or the inspectorate in general.

Trotter

I thought ours (primary level) was useful and gave us good food for thought.

I would appeal to secondary teachers though who see literacy problems at 1st year level to consider that primary teachers are on the same team and are facing acute issues which are just as pressing as those in secondary. Classes of 30+ with children of varying or no useful level of English, along with special needs children are bundled together during the curricular slot within their 14 year schooling where basic grammar and reading structures are nurtured.

I say that from a background of a long time teaching in both class and special needs support at primary and secondary level.

From a general standpoint, its not right for the teachers at either level to place blame across to each other. We all have to see the situation for what it is. Packed and under-resourced classes with massively different levels of ability, taught by an under-respected profession who suffer from attack after attack on morale. Our integrity is questioned in the media when in reality the vast majority of teachers at both levels are trying their absolute best under ridiculous conditions.

The self evaluation process is actually on the face of it quite useful if it doesnt turn into another useless chore on a very long list of useless chores.

Miss Lockhart

The roll out of this has been spectacularly slow. Covering the guidelines and giving your opinion on them was a requirement for completing DES approved courses last summer but here we are at nearly easter and it's still not properly in place.

We haven't had our presentation yet. I sincerely hope we get a decent speaker because our staff is not known to suffer fools gladly. Every school with which I'm familiar already self evaluates in a meaningful way. This seems like a box ticking exercise and the first concrete step on the road to the disastrous UK system of bureaucratic waste.

I have little faith in an inspectorate who seem obsessed with how many of our students are sitting higher level, compared to the national average, when it is the norm for all our incoming first years to be reading more than four years behind chronological age, thus completely ignoring the fact that our students are patently not the national average to begin with.

Pwpane

Trotter, I wouldn't fault Primary teachers in general. I have seen children come into 1st year with wonderful spelling and grammar, and very well presented work. I have also seen Secondary teachers who can't spell and can't pronounce ordinary surnames in Irish.

I would fault the system that overloads curricula and classrooms; that does not teach grammar in English or reward it in exams; that does not teach good grammar to student teachers who did not learn it during their own schooling; and that does not test the literacy and numeracy of student teachers (of both Primary and Secondary) before sending them into schools.

doc_17

We are having this talk shortly. It's great to have a heads up about it. And if the presentation is poor we will let them know about it. Make it an awkward experience for them and see how they like it

Missyelliot2

We had this presentation....more box ticking.
'Absolute BS' was the majority verdict. Am not sure where this checklist mania will end, but it's seriously taking the enjoyment out of learning for both pupils and teachers.

happywithlife

We've had this too. Gezz complete and utter BS
Our presenter (female) was the most condescending bore I've ever had the misfortune to meet :-(