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Dr Martin Brown, DCU Institute of Education, Ireland and Professor Sakir Cinqir, Ankara University

New DCU co-ordinated report on the role of parents and students in school evaluation launched

A new report which examines the role of parents and students in school evaluation was launched at an international symposium on School Evaluation at Ankara University, Turkey.  The launch was attended by more than 200 school inspectors, government officials, teachers, parents and members of the academic community from across Europe.  It was coordinated by Dr Martin Brown at the Centre for Evaluation, Quality & Inspection, DCU Institute of Education.  This is the first time an evaluation study of this nature and scale has been conducted across Europe.

The report, Making meaning of Distributed Evaluation and Planning in Schools comprises of a series of research studies that were carried out by a consortium of Universities (Ankara University - Turkey, Antwerp University - Belgium, EQI, DCU Institute of Education - Ireland, Institute of Viseu – Portugal) over a two year period.

The following research outputs are among those described in the report.

  • A systematic literature review and document analysis of the role of parents and students in School Evaluation across School Evaluation regimes in Europe;
  • An analysis of survey responses of school leaders’ perceptions of hindering and facilitating factors on the role of parents and students in school Evaluation in Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey.
  • An analysis of a series of school case studies on the actions initiated by schools for the inclusion of parent and student voice in school evaluation.
  • A conceptual framework to enhance Distributed Evaluation and Planning in Schools

Commenting on the report, Dr Martin Brown, EQI, School of Policy and Practice at DCU’s Institute of Education said:

“Student and parent voice in school evaluations can offer significant benefits and insights into the quality of education provided in schools. However, the development of this more participatory model of school evaluation, while conceptually robust, carries with it many practical challenges. In particular schools and school, leaders have identified a capacity deficit in the area of multiple stakeholder involvement.”

Traditionally there has been some reluctance by schools to actively engage parents and students in school self-evaluation, some schools in Europe have put in place, mechanisms to actively engage parents and students to become active participants in school evaluation.

Now that we have a clearer picture on issues relating to parent and student engagement in school evaluation as currently conceptualised, the consortium is now in a position to address a gap in school improvement strategies with the development a Teacher training toolkit, teacher training module and online course for enhanced stakeholder involvement in school evaluation.  The purpose of this is to provide a platform that can harness the true potential of stakeholder involvement and can be adapted to the context of School Evaluation across education systems in Europe and elsewhere."

A copy of the report can be read here [PDF].