A phone call at the beginning of February informed us that Scoil Uí Mhuirí had been selected for inclusion in the programme of Whole School Evaluation – Management, Leadership and Learning. Two inspectors – one lead and one support – would carry out the in-school evaluation in the week commencing March 7th 2011 with preliminary meetings the previous week. This meant that we would have inspectors into our school the week immediately after the Feb mid- term break.
As a number of the teaching staff, including the principal, were accompanying students on a ski trip to the USA during this mid-term break, the pressure was on to have everything in place. The question in the staff room was “would the principal go on the ski trip or not?” It was taken as a sign that we could all be confident that everything was as it should be when it became clear that the principal was not giving up her place on the ski trip!
In the week before mid-term, soft copies of school documentation were e mailed to the lead inspector and hard copies of whatever couldn’t be sent by e mail were posted. Fortunately, we were reasonably well in control with regard to school planning and all the required documents were to hand. The list of these required documents as well as all the practices and procedures involved in all aspects of a WSE – MLL can be found in the publication “A Guide to Whole School Evaluation – Management, Leadership and Learning in Post-Primary Schools” available on the DES website. It might be a good idea to have all this documentation in a file box so that when that phone call comes there is no difficulty!
Further to this the principal has a detailed information form to fill out and a fairly major presentation to compile and deliver to the inspectors on behalf of the Board of Management. This is done at a specially convened Board meeting at which the chairperson and members are questioned following the delivery of the presentation.
There is no doubt that the announcement of any kind of an inspection raises tensions in the schools and a WSE – MLL gave everyone some cause for anxiety. The main reason for this is the fact that the inspectors may visit any learning area in the school and the list of classes to be visited is only posted in the staffroom on the morning of the visits. No prior notice is given to the principal who gets a chance to view the list a few minutes beforehand and then only to verify that the teachers are present and the classes are taking place. The inspectors are entitled to visit any class, no matter whether the teacher is teaching the inspector’s own subject specialism or not. Everyone therefore is expecting to be “caught” and the atmosphere support and collegiality in the staffroom and around the school was palpable. One of our teachers called the list of targeted teachers “the List of the Dead”, much to everyone’s amusement. Although there were those anxious moments, there was almost a sense of disappointment if one’s name wasn’t there, as all the preparation had been done!
The inspectors are evaluating the quality of teaching and the quality of learning in the classrooms and they do this by observing the class, by looking at how engaged the students are, by interacting with the students and by checking journals and copies. They assess how well prepared both teachers and students are for the lessons. The inspectors visited a total of 21 lessons over the two days and in some cases stayed for double classes. They gave some feedback to all the teachers visited and in all cases the teachers felt affirmed for their efforts.
In general, the feedback focussed on Learning outcomes, attention to the development of subject specific vocabulary, the display of Key Words, use of ICT, student engagement and the relationships between teacher and students.
In between class visits the inspectors locked themselves away to examine other planning documents including Subject Dept and Programme planning. They were quite meticulous in their evaluation of all the documentation and had a few very specific queries.
The other main features of the inspection were the administration of questionnaires to all second and fifth year students and to their parents, focused team meetings including a parent focus group, a student focus group, Care and Guidance team, education support group as well as middle management groups. No feedback is given to the principal on any of the issues raised until the inspectors write up their initial report and return a few weeks later to deliver this in three separate meetings to the principal and deputy principal, to the whole staff and finally to the Board of Management.
Following the feedback sessions, we in Scoil Uí Mhuirí were very happy that the inspectors had been very fair in their evaluations and that we had been treated with respect and in a very professional manner. We were well affirmed by their comments and have no difficulties with the recommendations which refer in the main to easily rectified issues. These include having another look at our Enrolment and Admissions Policy, earlier involvement of the parents of students identified for the JCSP class, the composition of our Student Council as well as some timetabling issues.
That phone call will always raise the tension and anxiety levels in the school, but overall our experience was very positive and we were hugely supported by our CEO, by the staff in head office, by our sister schools in the scheme and by each other. If your school is next , please feel free to call us – we’ll be delighted to help in any way!
Bríd Rocks
Principal, Scoil Ui Mhuiri
