Trusting Schools and Teachers

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.

Author Biography

The Authors: Gerry McNamara is Head of the School of Education Studies, Dublin City University. His areas of research interest include evaluation, curriculum development, and leadership. A member of the steering committee of the Irish Evaluation Network, he has numerous publications in related areas and has acted as principal investigator on a wide range of evaluation research projects. Joe O’Hara is Senior Lecturer at the School of Education Studies, Dublin City University, with responsibility for Initial Teacher Education. His recent research has focused on self-evaluation and the potential for information and communications technology to facilitate reflective professional engagement in teachers. He is a member of the steering committee of the Irish Evaluation Network, and has published widely in the field and has acted as a programme evaluator on a number of national and transnational projects.