FEX2162 Chap.3 School Development Planning and Self-Evaluation
School Development Planning and Self-Evaluation
Why a planning cycle belongs in a placement course
A mission says what a school wants; its development plan says what it has decided to work on, in what order and how it will know. Session two teaches the school self-evaluation cycle so that you can connect what you see during the placement to concerns the school itself has named.
That connection is exactly what the first portfolio task rewards, and it is also evidence for the FEILO about understanding the school as an institution that responds to its context and to change in society.
Plan, implement, evaluate, and feed back
In the cycle as the session presents it, a school drafts a development plan, usually for three years, guided by its mission and its students' needs.
The plan names major concerns, targets, a timeline and an outline of strategies. Each year an annual plan sets strategies and evaluation criteria and monitors progress.
At the end of the year the school evaluates its work and prepares a school report for stakeholders, and the results are used to revise the next annual plan or to set new concerns for the next cycle.
The documents in sequence
The session also lays the documents out in order: a school review with reference to the Performance Indicators for Hong Kong Schools, a prioritised list of major concerns, the development plan, the annual school plan and the school report, which feeds both the next annual plan and the next development plan.
You rarely need every document. You need the concern that connects them and the year of the cycle your placement falls in, because a sample plan in the session gives each concern a different focus in each year.
Four questions for any initiative
The session closes with four questions: what the Principal does, what the teachers do, what students gain, and what makes the initiative hard to run.
Answering all four from your own observation gives you a paragraph; answering only the first from a document gives you a summary. Difficulty is where a school's own report is most candid and where your classroom view adds something the documents cannot, provided you describe it without judging the school.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Why a development plan is the best evidence for Task 1
- 02
The self-evaluation cycle in four moves
- 03
Major concerns, targets, timeline and strategies
- 04
Annual plans and school reports
- 05
Performance indicator areas for describing a school
- 06
Which year's focus is live during your placement
- 07
Four questions for any initiative
- 08
Describing a gap without grading the school
Worked example · free
Sort three observations using the plan
- 3Match each observation to a named concern or to none.
- 3Decide which belong in the body and which in background.
Key terms
- School Self-Evaluation
- The cycle in which a school plans, implements and evaluates its work and uses the results to revise its next plans.
- School Development Plan
- A plan, usually for three years, setting out a school's major concerns with targets, a timeline and an outline of strategies.
- Annual School Plan
- The yearly plan that carries part of the development plan, with strategies, evaluation criteria and progress monitoring.
- School Report
- The end-of-year evaluation a school prepares for stakeholders, whose results feed the next annual plan and development cycle.
- Major Concern
- A priority named in the development plan; the unit around which targets, strategies and yearly foci are organised.
School Development Planning and Self-Evaluation FAQ
Where can I find my school's development plan?
The school report is written for stakeholders to read, so ask your supporting teacher or check the school website for the current development plan and the latest report. Read the report first, since it tells you which concerns the school still considers unfinished.
What if a concern in the plan is not visible in my classes?
Check the year. Plans often give each concern a different focus in each year, so the current focus may lie elsewhere. Say so in your entry rather than treating it as failure; noting that a focus is scheduled later shows you read the plan as the school wrote it.
Assessment move
In week one, find the plan and write its concerns on one line of your evidence log. Each time you record an observation, tag it with the concern it serves or with context. By week three you will know which concern gives you the richest paragraph, and you can ask your supporting teacher the four questions about that one initiative.
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