GRAZ conference
22 – 26 September 2004
WORKSHOP 2.4: Thursday afternoon / Luc Zajac
De Toverboom, Geel
BELGIUM
Carlos VanKan
PLATO, Univ. Leiden
THE NETHERLANDS
How childish is Self-Evaluation?
In this work shop Luc Zajac will give a presentation about a self-evaluation project he conducted in his own school in Geel (Belgium). He involved childrenfrom the 6th grade in a self-evaluation project about aspects of the school that facilitate their learningand aspects that hinder their learning. The presentation contains several matters we want to explore somewhat further in the following part of the workshop. Carlos van Kan will guide you through group work and discussion concerning these matters, such as:
- Introducing self evaluation in your school, how?
- Children evaluating your school, what about that?
- Self-evaluation, a democratic process?
We will beusing interactive methods and afterwards you feel like you’ve worked really hard…
How childish is Self-Evaluation?
Workshop Programme
HOW DID WE LIVE AND WORK IN THE TOVERBOOM ?Level of evaluation
/ Pupils in the 6th grade, 5 girls and 9 boys, evaluate which class activities made their learning and their stay at school pleasant and which did not.Issues to be evaluated / Special attention is given to the infrastructure (classrooms, playground, refectory), atmosphere and teaching methods. These issues were derived from the mind maps that the children made earlier.
Goals of evaluation
/ Gaining insight in the satisfaction of the pupils after 9 years of “learning and living” in De Toverboom. This way the school will know what changes should be made and in which direction.Target group
/ The principal uses the results to improve the infrastructure and to develop the vision and teaching methods. If possible he would like to share is experiences with other schools. He gives feedback to the pupils about evaluation outcomes the teachers concerning their classroom performance. The school board and the parents receive information about the teaching methods and the infrastructure, as well as the pupils’ appreciation for both these subjects.Information needed
/ The possibility to play soccer in the playground, the opinion of the pupils about the classrooms, toilets, refectory, projects, group activities; school atmosphere.Methods/instruments of evaluation / In advance the pupils hold a brainstorming session about miscellaneous aspects of learning and living at school. The data are placed in a ‘mindmap’. Multiple methods of evaluation are used to assess the information aboutdifferent issues. Pupils make drawings about their positive and negative experiences in school. In a class debate these drawings are explained and discussed. Proposals for improvement and change are made based on this conversation. In short sketches pupils act out their preferred way of learning.
Organization
/ The principal has taken the initiative for this self-evaluation project and gives information about the organization to the teaching staff en the pupils in the 6tth grad. He supervises the drawing activities and the sketches. The principal chairs the class debate and informs the school board, the teachers and the parents about the organization and the results. He contacts the relevant target groups. The principal organizes the visits to the secondary schools. The pupils prepare those visits.Information processing
/ The information that derived from the interactive methods of evaluation has been categorized. Information was given on:- individual assignments in the classroom
- the method of teaching
- The interaction with the refter mother’s
- The sanitary
- Soccer game in the break
Identification of indicators and criteria / If morepupils give the same answers or draw the same pictures, this could serve as a clear indicator of the pupils’ wishes.
Analysis/interpretation
/ Information about the preferred way of studying of the pupils, indicates that 90% of the pupils greatly appreciate working on independent assignments.The item ‘working independently’ is the main theme of a video made by the pupils. The same goes for the items ‘group work’ and ‘projects’. According to the pupils the playground is too small, because they can’t play soccer with a bigger group. In a conversation about this matter the boys are unwilling to listen to the proposals by the girls. The girls want to state their opinion and work out a compromise.Earlier talks between refectory mothers and the principal have made clear that there are some problems, because some of the older boys refuse to clean up. The refectory mothers experience stress, because the have little authority over the oldest boys.
Pupils as well as parents indicate that the toilets are not always very hygienic. The girls would like to create some more privacy by removing the pupils that hang around. The pupil councel will give this matter it’s due attention in 2004-2005.
Reporting
/ The principal gives a oral summary to the school board.The pupils introduce their video and the principal gives further explanation.
The pupils write a short letter in preparation of their visit to secondary schools.
Time schedule
/ In the week from 26 to 30 april class activities will be developed to acquire data from class debate about these subjects.May 2004: The principal processes the data in co-operation with the teachers of the 6th grade. Together they verify the data and discuss the recognizability. Preparation of the video by the son of one of the teachers; talks with the refectory mothers and teachers to discuss the results.
June 2004: Make appointments with the principals from secondary schools, visit of the secondary schools by the 6th graders. The principal gives a report about the visits to the school board and the parents’ committee.
August. 2004: Review the evaluation and refresh the school agreements that were made earlier in the staff meeting.
2004-2005: The principal plans a follow-up study and makes plans for a evaluation by the teachers of some teaching methods this school year.
A
Topic
The theme that you are asked to talk about is: children evaluating your school, what about that?
Possible conversation topics:
-Are children of all ages capable of participating in a self-evaluationprocess?
-Should children be taught about the concept of self-evaluation?
-Children are not teaching professionals; in what way could they contribute to the self-evaluation of teachers/ headmasters?
Joint assignment
- You will get 10 minutes to buzz about the question and to pick a topic you want to focus on
(not necessarily one of the conversation topics, mentioned above). - Now you will get 4 minutes to formulate a statement that is of big importance to you with regard to chosen topic. It is important that you formulate the statement in a some what provocative way. Of course you don’t have to agree with the statement.
- Please write the statement down on the flip-chart and put it one a wall, some place every one can see.
Individual Assignment
- Please, give your own rating (see table below) on a scale from 1 to 10, to the statements A, B and C.
1 = you totally not agree
10 = you totally agree
Next you write down your name and ratings on the statement matrix that is placed on the wall.
Statement / Rating
A
B
C
B
Topic
The theme that you are asked to talk about is: Introducing self-evaluation in your own school how?
Possible conversation topics:
-Should the school management always be the ones who introduce self-evaluation in the school?
-Is self-evaluation something different, or is it old wine in new bottles?
-Is it possible for teachers to start their own self-evaluation project without involving other colleagues or should it always be a team effort?
-Should there be strict rules and regulations before conducting a self-evaluation project?
Joint assignment
- You will get 10 minutes to buzz about the question and to pick a topic you want to focus on (not necessarily one of the conversation topics, mentioned above).
- Now you will get 4 minutes to formulate a statement that is of big importance to you with regard to chosen topic. It is important that you formulate the statement in a some what provocative way. Of course you don’t have to agree with the statement.
- Please write the statement down on the flip-chart and put it one a wall, some place every one can see.
Individual Assignment
- Please, give your own rating (see table below) on a scale from 1 to 10, to the statements A, B and C.
1 = you totally not agree
10 = you totally agree
Next you write down your name and ratings on the statement matrix that is placed on the wall.
Statement / Rating
A
B
C
C
Topic
The theme that you are asked to talk about is: Self-evaluation, a democratic process?
Possible conversation topics:
-Is the voice of children just as powerful as the teacher’s voices in a self-evaluation process, should they be?
-When decisions about future actions are to be made, how should this decision process be organised?
-How to cope with different interests and priorities?
Joint assignment
- You will get 10 minutes to buzz about the question and to pick a topic you want to focus on
(not necessarily one of the conversation topics, mentioned above). - Now you will get 4 minutes to formulate a statement that is of big importance to you with regard to chosen topic. It is important that you formulate the statement in a some what provocative way. Of course you don’t have to agree with the statement.
- Please write the statement down on the flip-chart and put it one a wall, some place every one can see.
Individual Assignment
- Please, give your own rating (see table below) on a scale from 1 to 10, to the statements A, B and C.
1 = you totally not agree
10 = you totally agree
Next you write down your name and ratings on the statement matrix that is placed on the wall.
Statement / Rating
A
B
C
Luc Zajac, Carlos van Kan, Workshop ‘How childish is self-evaluation’, I-probenet, Graz, 2004