Evaluation Of Schools Providing Compulsory Education In Europe

Improving the quality of education is a constant concern of national policy-makers. Evaluation of the education offered pupils is one of the means by which this aim may be achieved. Such evaluation may assume several forms depending on the components subject to investigation, whether they be the processes activated by teachers, the tasks assumed by schools, local authority school management and administration, the functioning of the education system as a whole, or the performance of pupils who may be examined by individual teachers or schools, a local education authority or a national body. All such aspects might be the focus of a comparative study. However, the present study concentrates solely on approaches to the evaluation of schools providing compulsory education. The decision to proceed in this way reflects the terms of the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council (12 February 2001) on European Cooperation in Quality Evaluation in School Education. It is clear from the Recommendation that improvements in quality evaluation in education ultimately hinge on developments at school level. The Recommendation emphasises the interrelation between external and internal evaluation, and calls on the Member States to 'encourage school self-evaluation as a method of creating learning and improving schools, within a balanced framework of school self-evaluation and any external evaluations' (page 60/53 of the Recommendation). The present introduction is in two parts. The first establishes the general framework for this comparative investigation by indicating the focus of the study (schools as entities), along with its analytical unit (the approach to evaluation), its methodology, scope, overall structure and content. The second part contains diagrams that provide a general outline of evaluation systems. These diagrams will enable readers who so wish to understand how the evaluation of schools is situated in relation to a country's entire system of educational evaluation. The diagrams may vary considerably from one country to the next both from the perspective of the evaluators and in terms of the components evaluated (whether pupils, teachers, schools, local educational providers or the education system overall). The second part of the introduction will also provide some insight into the position of each of the different countries vis-̉-vis the study as a whole.

Recoge: Este informe analiza la estructura y organización de la evaluación de los centros educativos de primaria y secundaria con el objetivo de mejorar la calidad de los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Abarca todos los estados miembros de la UE, así como Islandia, Noruega, la Antigua República Yugoslava de Macedonia y Turquía. Compara los dos tipos principales de evaluación, la externa llevada a cabo por evaluadores que no son personal del colegio y la interna, desempeñada por los miembros del personal. También analiza los procedimientos concretos, el perfil de los evaluadores y el uso que se hace de los resultados de la evaluación.

The report Assuring Quality in Education: Policies and Approaches to School Evaluation in Europe analyses the structures and organisation of school evaluation in primary and compulsory secondary level. It covers all EU Member States, as well as Iceland, Norway, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey. Schools form the basic building blocks of education and training systems, and school evaluation is an important way to monitor and improve their quality, as well as to enhance the quality of education at large. The report analyses the two major types of school evaluation: external evaluation, conducted by evaluators who are not staff members of the school concerned, and internal evaluation, performed primarily by members of its staff. The report contains country-specific descriptions and a comparative review of school evaluation in Europe.

Trusting Schools and Teachers: Developing Educational Professionalism Through Self-Evaluation emerged from a series of studies undertaken with teachers at various stages of their careers exploring the impact of a range of evaluation systems on their personal and professional development. The book begins with a comparative analysis of the rise of school and teacher evaluation, charting the trend's conceptual and political influences, and highlights how the concept of self-evaluation has come, for a variety of reasons, to play a surprisingly large role in the emerging approaches to school and teacher evaluation. This is illustrated by a detailed analysis of the emerging system of whole-school evaluation in Ireland. Research indicates that while self-evaluation looms large in the system's theoretical framework, in fact, there is strong evidence that neither schools nor teachers have the expertise required to systematically self-evaluate. This book identifies methodologies designed to empower schools and teachers to become genuinely self-evaluating through the development of research skills in the context of online communities of practice.

Based on empirical analysis using configuration theory and multi-dimensional scaling, this book provides insight into types of relationships that can be found between groups of countries with certain institutional context features, and into the quality and equity of their education system. In this volume, the authors take up the challenge of considering what a European ‘settlement’ might look like. In doing so, they take into account worldwide trends and the increasing evidence of convergence across educational systems. The outcomes of comparative analyses seem to suggest that strong education systems in terms of finance, governance and choice could be preferable. To a greater or lesser extent, therefore, all the systems of education currently in use in Europe face some common challenges. The way in which these challenges are addressed will determine the future of these systems. Key elements in the current debate that are considered in greater detail in this volume include changing views on (a) centre-local relations with signs of an increasing commitment to decentralisation as a guiding principle for developing school governance; (b) school autonomy which is now increasingly regarded as the engine-room for school improvement, especially in relation to sustaining it; and (c) the celebration of community and school choice as a means of securing higher levels of parental involvement. This volume will be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in education, educational research and sociology of education. It will also be of relevance to those interested in the comparison of various education systems and in governance, funding of education and school choice.

The field of education has experienced extraordinary technological, societal, and institutional change in recent years, making it one of the most fascinating yet complex fields of study in social science. Unequalled in its combination of authoritative scholarship and comprehensive coverage, International Encyclopedia of Education, Third Edition succeeds two highly successful previous editions (1985, 1994) in aiming to encapsulate research in this vibrant field for the twenty-first century reader. Under development for five years, this work encompasses over 1,000 articles across 24 individual areas of coverage, and is expected to become the dominant resource in the field. Education is a multidisciplinary and international field drawing on a wide range of social sciences and humanities disciplines, and this new edition comprehensively matches this diversity. The diverse background and multidisciplinary subject coverage of the Editorial Board ensure a balanced and objective academic framework, with 1,500 contributors representing over 100 countries, capturing a complete portrait of this evolving field. A totally new work, revamped with a wholly new editorial board, structure and brand-new list of meta-sections and articles Developed by an international panel of editors and authors drawn from senior academia Web-enhanced with supplementary multimedia audio and video files, hotlinked to relevant references and sources for further study Incorporates ca. 1,350 articles, with timely coverage of such topics as technology and learning, demography and social change, globalization, and adult learning, to name a few Offers two content delivery options - print and online - the latter of which provides anytime, anywhere access for multiple users and superior search functionality via ScienceDirect, as well as multimedia content, including audio and video files

On cover: Learning and living democracy