Self-evaluation: teachers and pupils should benefit, before inspectors do Geert Kelchtermans Center for Educational Policy and Innovation University of Leuven
Dialogue for development Conditions • Documenting events and their intepretations • Reflective analysis and dialogue that moves beyond the instrumental and includes * the emotional dimension * the moral dimension * and the political dimension
Aim: - Framework for better understanding what is happening - Better be able to guide and support SE so that it really contributes to professional development
Invitation: look (again) at the particular examples of SE you are familiar with and see whether you recognize the moral and political… and as such engage in further dialogue
Overview: 3 parts • Facing the ethical • Facing the (micro)political • Towards narratives of good practice
1. Facing the moral in SE - Core question: what is good education? (Norms?) - doing justice to the educational needs of their pupils
! broader than being externally « accountable » or instrumental effectiveness (means to ends) « It is time we had a new kind of accountability in education – one that gets back to the moral basics of caring, serving, empowering and learning » (Hargreaves & Fullan)
- No universal answers to the question of educational quality… and even if there were « translation to the context » is needed. - Basis for judgement is task perception (personal professional identity)
Consequences: -Vulnerability is inevitable in the teacher job: Experience that one’s professional identity and moral integrity are being questioned •Latent characteristic of the job •Manifestion (actual experience) and possible negative emotional effects depend on interaction with the context
- SE is risky business because deeply held beliefs are at stake and therefor teachers’ themselves (their sense of identity). •Explains resistance •Sense of being threatened
Conclusion: DIALOGUE in trustful conditions can sharpen awareness and deepen understanding through conversation that goes beyond the level of describing facts, but opens up to the underlying issues of personally held opinions, values, beliefs that frame teachers’ interpretation and actions.
2. Facing the (micro)political •Moral issues often hide political ones: who is to define good education? • SE triggers issues of power, influence • natural part of an organisation’s life
•Micropolitical perspective: the behaviour of members in an organisation is to a large extent driven by interests. • What are those interests in the case of teachers/schools? • How do they play out in practices of self evaluation?
THE MICROPOLITICAL PERSPECTIVE Micropolitical actions aim at •Establishing •Safeguarding •Restoring desired working conditions
Constitute professional interests: - Material -Organisational -Social-professional -Cultural-ideological -Self
Categories of professional interests •Material interests: Availability of and access to teaching materials, funds, specific infrastructure and time •Organisational interests Procedures, roles, positions and formal tasks within the school as an organisation •Cultural-ideological interests More or less implicit norms, values and ideals that get acknowledged within the school as legitimate and thus “binding” elements of the organisational culture
Categories of professional interests
•Social-professional interests Character and quality of the interpersonal relations within and around the school as an organisation •Self interests Professional integrity and sense of identity (professional self)
3. Towards a narrative account of good practice
a. The power of the narrative: •Describes events and actions in context • Presents interpretation (meaning) • Presents e-valuation
b. An example of « good practice » • NOT a success story • story unravelling the struggles, the problems and the efforts made to overcome them (better understand the issue) • shares the analysis: why did things work out the way they did? •Dialogue for understanding and checking its validity •Allows for CRITICAL selfevaluation
c. Making the narratives public: possibly inspiring other schools - Is a valuable endeavour for the staff involved (directly connected to core business) - Constitutes a « rich description » (Geertz), a valuable set of evidence that external evaluators (inspectors) can benefit of
In education there is always happening at the same time both more and less then one had in mind and aimed at
Possible further readings on the issues adressed… In English Geijsel, F., Sleegers, P., Van den Berg, D. & Kelchtermans, G. (2001). Conditions fostering the implementation of large-scale innovation programs in schools: teachers’ perspectives. Educational Administration Quarterly, 37 (1), 130-166. Kelchtermans, G. (1993a). Getting the Story, Understanding the Lives. From Career Stories to Teachers' Professional Development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 9 (5/6), 443-456. Kelchtermans, G. (1996b). Teacher vulnerability. Understanding its moral and political roots. Cambridge Journal of Education, 26 (3), 307-323. Kelchtermans, G. (2004). CPD for professional renewal: moving beyond knowledge for practice. – In: C. Day & J. Sachs (Eds.), International Handbook on the Continuing Professional Development of Teachers. (pp. 217-237). Maidenhead (Berkshire): Open University Press. Kelchtermans, G. & Ballet, K. (2002a). The micropolitics of teacher induction. A narrativebiographical study on teacher socialisation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18 (1), 105120. Kelchtermans, G. & Ballet, K. (2003). Micropolitical Literacy: Reconstructing a neglected dimension in teacher development. International Journal of Educational Research, 37, 755767. Kelchtermans, G. & Hamilton, M.L. (2004). The dialects of passion and theory: Exploring the relation between self-study and emotion. In: J. Loughran, M.L. Hamilton, V. Kubler LaBoskey & T. Russell (Eds.), International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices. (pp.785-810). Dordrecht-Boston-London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. In German Kelchtermans, G. (1996a). Berufsbiographie und professionelle Entwicklung. Eine narrativbiographische Untersuchung bei Grundschullehrern. Bildung und Erziehung, 49 (3), 257276. In French Kelchtermans, G. (2001d). Formation des enseignants. L’apprentissage réfléchi à partir de la biographie et du contexte. Recherche et Formation, nr. 36, 43-67.
In Dutch Kelchtermans, G. (1994b). De professionele ontwikkeling van leerkrachten Basisonderwijs vanuit het biografisch perspectief. (Studia Paedagogica, nr. 17) Leuven: Universitaire Pers Leuven. Kelchtermans, G. (1999 e). Kwetsbaarheid en professionele identiteit van leerkrachten basisonderwijs. Een exploratie van de morele en politieke wortels. Pedagogisch Tijdschrift, 24 (4), 471-492. Kelchtermans, G. (2000a). Micropolitiek en leren op de werkplek. In: J. Imants (Ed.), Onderwijskundig Lexicon III-Schoolorganisatie. (pp.69-86). Alphen-aan-den-Rijn: Samson. Kelchtermans, G. (Ed.)(2004b). De stuurbaarheid van onderwijs. Tussen kunnen en willen, mogen en moeten. (Studia Paedagogica nr.37). Leuven: Universitaire Pers Leuven. Vandenberghe, R. & Kelchtermans, G. ( 2002). Leraren die leren om professioneel te blijven leren. Kanttekeningen over context. Pedagogische Studiën, 79 (4), 339-351. Kelchtermans, G. (2001b). Reflectief ervaringsleren voor leerkrachten. Een werkboek voor opleiders, nascholers en stagebegeleiders. (Cahiers voor Didactiek, nr. 10). Deurne: Wolters Plantyn. Kelchtermans, G. (2004). De kwaliteit van kwetsbaarheid. Tegendraadse gedachten over de professionele identiteit van leraren. Schoolwijzer-Basis, 111 (3), 13-18. Kelchtermans, G., Janssen, V. & Vandenberghe, R. (2003). Schaalvergroting in basisscholen: structuurverandering of schoolontwikkeling? Personeel en Organisatie. Februari 2003-20pp. Deurne-Wolters Plantyn. Kelchtermans, G. & Vandenberghe, R. (1991). Leerkrachten over hun beroep: veelzeggende metaforen! Pedagogische Periodiek,98 (27), 348-354. Schellekens, L., Kelchtermans, G., Ballet, K., Vandenberghe, R. & Creemers, L. (2002). Nascholing als begeleiding van professionele ontwikkeling. Een project voor beginnende directies basisonderwijs. School & Begeleiding. Tijdschrift voor educatieve dienstverlening, 19 (2), 11-15.
