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Escola
Secundária de José Estêvão – Aveiro – Portugal SEAT-LP Project
Activity report – 2nd year
1-Instruments for class observation.
(Attitudes and values, oral comprehension and production)
2- School evaluation.
(Climate, School –
Family Relationship, Class Tutor-Parents relationship, Parents’ Association)
1-Instruments for class observation.
Implementation Report
1-The creation of instruments
The instruments we have been implementing resulted from a reflexive process, based on some bibliographical research and training courses, new curricular programme orientations for each subject. They were also the natural outcome of the school dynamics, continuously searching for the improvement of the teaching-learning process, especially focussing on the field of evaluation.
2-Implementation and dissemination
The instruments have been disseminated among the French, English and Communication teachers, being applied to 124 students from the classes taught by teachers directly involved in the project. The figures in this report refer to these students only, although there are other teachers who have been using the same instruments in their classes.
From the exchange of experiences and from new contributions originating inside and outside the team, (development and creation of new instruments) and attendance of teaching courses related to the same topic, new ideas have arisen for future discussion and implementation, aiming at bringing more objectivity into the evaluation process.
3- Result analysis
The effectiveness of the instruments implemented has been compared by teachers in charge of the same subject or language level and discussed in Department meetings, subject group meetings and class evaluation meetings.
4- Results
The implementation of these instruments has proved to be very positive for the following reasons:
a- the diversification of the evaluation instruments demanded by our most recent national programmes has been achieved;
b- There has been an increase in the number of moments for class observation throughout the year (previously only happening at the end of the term/school year), which has reduced the effects of subjectivity;
c- the instruments have been responding to a need of self-control (the students await the teacher’s opinion, being the positive reinforcement of crucial importance for the development of student’s self-confidence; the results may be an alert sign for redesigning the teaching-learning process, by introducing changes at the attitude and strategic levels;
d) the instrument implementation results serve the purpose of developing a formative evaluation (short term , instantaneous level, enabling teachers and students to adjust some aspects of the teching-learning process) and an educational evaluation (long term level, in a sense that it becomes part of the students habits).
e) the oral competence evaluation becomes easier, at least at the listening comprehension level, although some problems still remain, when it comes to evaluate the oral production rigorously, as the number of students per class is usually very high and the logistics are not the ideal ones.
2- School Evaluation
Introduction
Evaluating is assigning a value to
something, either to a process or to a product.
We find it is difficult to decide
the value of something unless our judgement is associated with quality
criteria. In this way, the concepts of evaluation, quality and criteria remain
unseparable in a process of measurement, quantification and qualification.
Seen as part of our professional
daily routine, school is an entity which encloses the idea of value, quality
and evaluation.
The development of school autonomy
demands the implementation of an internal evaluation organizational practice,
in order to provide schools with critical analysis schemes for the evaluation of their performance
in a self-knowledge and self-regulation perspective, which will lead to the
possibility of improvement. Internal evaluation also fosters the practice of
answering to the school internal organs and, above all, to the surrounding
educational community.
It is thus more important to
promote and stimulate the school internal capacities to critically reflect upon
its results and functioning than to await the external imposition of contolling
rather than regulating schemes.
The internal evaluation of a school
must be considered as part of the learning process and includes the
participation of students, teachers, management and administration organs,
parents and local community representative members.
Aims:
-
to
learn about the school functioning, all aspects considered,
-
to contribute to the improvement of the school
functional and organizational capacities.
Proposal:
-
It
is suggested that an internal evaluation of
-
A
working team will be appointed by the School Assembly.
Calendar:
-
End
of 2nd quarter 2004 – Working team appointment. Creation of instruments to
evaluate school climate, school-parents relationship, class tutors - parents relationship and President of the parents’
association. Instrument implementation and result analysis.
-
End of 3rd quarter 2004 – Result presentation
to the school assembly and to the teachers assembly.
-
End
of 4th quarter 2004 -
Creation of evaluation instruments referring to students,
teachers, management organs and auxiliary working staff.
-
1st
quarter 2005 – Implementation of these instruments and result analysis.
-
2nd
quarter 2005 – Result presentation to the School Assembly and all the other
school community organs.
Working team appointment
The School Assembly appointed teacher
José Caseiro, coordinator of the Comenius Project “System of Evaluation for the
Assistance of the Teaching-learning Process”,
to be in charge of recruiting people to work on the school internal
evaluation team. After several contacts, the following team was formed:
- Alcino Cartaxo, Master degree in
School Administration, teacher of Philosophy and Sociology;
- Maria Alice Silva, Master degree
in Portuguese Studies, teacher of Portuguese;
- Luzia Blard, teacher of Portuguese
and French;
- Maria do Rosário Ruivo,
Psychologist and responsible for the career orientation work in the school;
- Isabel Nolasco, teacher of English
and German;
- José Caseiro, teacher of
Communication, Portuguese and French.
Creation of evaluation instruments
After several preparatory meetings
(for reading and discussion) the team dedicated themselves to the study of two
books (see bibliography) and started the production of the instruments needed
for the Internal Evaluation. These documents are attached to this report and
have already been sent to the partner schools and to the SEAT-LP project
coordinator.
Instrument implementation
At this stage, 22 classes were
selected, 7 of which are all the ones in the 3rd cycle of studies in this
school (7th, 8th and 9th years). The remaining 15 are secondary school classes
from all the different study areas in the school. A total of 520 parents were asked to fill in the
questionnaires.
Class 12th I, to whom we are very
grateful, volunteered to do the packaging work.
The school auxiliary staffs were
responsible for the distribution of the questionnaires (not a flawless job,
especially regarding handing out delays). The class tutors received the
questionnaires, handed them out to the students who took them home to be filled
in by their parents. The reverse procedure was followed to hand in the
questionnaires at the Executive Council office.
Result analysis
At the moment we are writing this
activity report (a summary) a first approach to the result analysis is also
being done. The very first conclusion, and a rather impressionist one, allows
us to state that the parents’ major concerns towards (the) school regard
organizational aspects and human resources. In other words, a good school
implies an effective organization and a group of qualified, efficient and
dedicated professionals.
Other
The above mentioned and described
activities were the ones that reflected the current Project. However, other
activities also deserve some comment.
In October 2003 a Project Meeting took
place in
In April 2004 we participated with two
students and two teachers in the Project Meeting that took place in
Througout the year the Project website, (http://www.prof2000.pt/users/mcas/seat-lp/index.htm), hosted by the server of Prof2000,
whom we thank, was regularly updated.
Bibliography
-VENANCIO, Isabel Maria e OTERO, Augustin
Godás – Eficácia e Qualidade na Escola
-ALAIZ, Vitor; GÓIS, Eunice e GONÇALVES,
Conceição – Auto-Avaliação de Escolas –Pensar e Praticar
Col. Teoria – Guias Práticos, 1ª ed. Ed.
ASA, Porto, 2003
School Coordinator: Caseiro, Jose Manuel
Aveiro,