Education and Manpower Bureau

Is Our School a Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow?

A Self-evaluating School is the Way to Success

School Development through School Self-evaluation Project

Quality Assurance Division

Archie McGlynn

Project Director

1

CONTENTS

Foreword: Mr. Chris Wardlaw 3 Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower Acknowledgments: Mr. Archie McGlynn 4 Project Director Introduction: Mr. Andrew Poon 5 Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower (Quality Assurance) Part One: So what do we mean by a self-evaluating school? 1. Is our school a Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow? 7 2. Is there some mystique about school self-evaluation? 8 3. Why all this emphasis on school self-evaluation? 8 4. What have the project schools got to say about school self-evaluation? 8 5. Why do we need external reviews of schools? 10 Part Two: So what happened in our schools during the project? 6. Why a bottom-up approach? 11 7. Is school self-evaluation all embracing? 11 8. Why did your school pick this self-evaluation activity? 13 9. How did you go about implementing the activity? 19 10. What instruments did your school develop or adapt to evaluate your activity? 22 Part Three: So what about the voice of our students? 11. Which learning and teaching methods work best for our students? 33 12. What does our students’ art gallery tell us about self-evaluation? 37 13. What are our students’ responses to the carousel’s six key questions? 40 Part Four: What has been the impact of SSE on learning and teaching, school ethos

and leadership? 14. Is this the litmus test of good self-evaluation? 43 15. How close are our schools to making self-evaluation happen? 48 Part Five: Nine-Eleven-Nine – The way forward? 16. What are the Nine pieces of advice? 49 17. What are the Eleven Successes? 50 18. What are the Nine Priorities? 51 19. Where is the The Way Forward? 52 Biographical Note – The Project Director 53 A list of 21 schools participating in SSE activities 54

2

FOREWORD

Reading this success story, it is clear to me that if school self-evaluation is to help bring about the desired improvements in our schools it must have an impact on the quality of learning and teaching and the achievement of our students. The positive tone of the principals and teachers in the project schools offers great scope for optimism. They point out in the report that there is now a culture of school self-evaluation supporting enhanced professionalism and school development and leading to more effective learning and teaching. This seems to be borne out by the views of students in schools where student evaluation of classroom practice has become an integral part of self-evaluation. The words of the students quoted in the report go right to the core of good self-evaluation – the impact on student learning. This is what they say:

‘We don’t just fill in forms and nothing happens, changes have been made’.

‘Mr. X has made changes to the way he does things and many teachers have improved as a result of hearing what we have to say’.

And our teachers are right there beside our students and the positive response of our teachers in the project schools bodes well for the success of School Development and Accountability announced in the letter of 9 May 2003 entitled Enhancing School Development and Accountability through School Self-evaluation and External School Review from the Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower. The more open approach, evident in our schools in recent times, is best summed up in the words of the teacher who said:

‘We often teach but seldom ask how good our teaching is…now it is time to develop the culture! We have to spend time on it’.

I welcome the commitment of the twenty one schools and their willingness to open up their schools to external scrutiny and to share good practices to improve further school self-evaluation in our schools. We have, in turn, fostered a ‘bottom-up’ approach through the work of the project by listening to what schools have to say, learning what works best in classrooms and promoting the sharing of school successes throughout our school system. The outcomes, drawing on international as well as Hong Kong experience, demonstrate that to enhance school development and accountability, the way forward is to strengthen self-evaluation in all schools and conduct external school review as a complementary process – the two, as the report puts it, are two sides of the same coin.

Together in partnership, we can help all our schools to become successful self-evaluating schools in the Hong Kong of today and tomorrow. This story of success should encourage all of us to go forward with confidence.

Mr. Chris Wardlaw Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower

3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It has been a joy and a privilege to lead this challenging project and to write this story of the Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow. While I have become absorbed in the vibrant city’s education scene over the past few years, I am very much on a learning curve and, as such, I am indebted to many Hong Kongers for their patience in listening and responding to my many questions. I would like, in particular, to acknowledge the work and support of the Quality Assurance Division (QAD) Link Officers who offered advice and encouragement to their schools. Joe Leung, Joe Ng and William Choy drew on their experience as QA inspectors to identify strengths and aspects for improvement as the work unfolded. Lesley Kong and S C To of the School-based Management section added a different dimension to the work. Reona Luk and Dominic Cheng served for short spells in the Link role. Gordon Ling, who also took on Link Officer role towards the end of the project, supplied unstinting administrative support in the first half of the project before handing over to Anita Mo who added professional support and saw me through the final days. Special thanks goes to Mandy Tsang and Alice Yau, QAD research officers. They worked tirelessly writing up school reports, making sure with the Link Officers that I was always well briefed for my visits. They supported me at the many seminars and meetings, becoming translators to meet ad hoc situations as well as guiding me through the territory by bus, MTR, KCR, taxi and foot. Mandy and Alice offered comments and cultural insights, including an introduction to Chinese sayings over dim sum, at every stage of the telling of this story and together saw this story through to the final draft. I am also grateful to KK Ng for the patient way in which he took on board our ideas for the front and back covers - the design shows that self-evaluation is about students and schools.

Jane Cheng of QAD found time, in a very busy schedule as she moved to support the School Development and Accountability (SDA) policy, to offer advice on many issues relating to the implications of the SDA for the project overall. It was from Jane that I borrowed the use of the word energized to describe our approach to self-evaluation in the year 2003. The idea for the project came from Andrew Poon, Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower (Quality Assurance). Throughout the work, he questioned and challenged the direction of the project, raised our expectations, encouraged initiative, and ensured that we had the support to meet the needs of the schools. Above all, a particular thanks to the twenty one schools and their principals and the many staff and students without whom there would have been no story and no Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow. The many enjoyable visits to our twenty one schools and the stimulating exchanges with staff and students were, for me, the highlight of the project.

Finally, I should add that while I have benefited from, and taken account of, the many discussions on the work of the project and its impact, I have to take responsibility for the views expressed in this story. They are not necessarily those of Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB).

Archie McGlynn

Project Director July 2003

4

INTRODUCTION

We set up this project to support and foster school development and improvement through a self-evaluation culture in which only the best will do. Our aim was to work alongside the twenty one schools to nurture this culture, to identify good practices, to turn problems into opportunities, to seek out the self-evaluation instruments and activities that have been shown to make an impact on what goes on in schools – and, in particular, to raise students’ achievements. In so doing, we complemented the energy, enthusiasm and experience of our project schools with that of Hong Kong schools in general and international awareness, in particular.

Each of the twenty one schools brought its own cultural context and awareness of self-evaluation and so enriched the process of learning and sharing as the project unfolded. This diversity of culture, embracing primary, secondary and special education, and covering much of the territory turned out to be one of the great strengths of the project. Some of our schools, for example, were already well down the self-evaluation road and had a lot to offer those schools which were at the beginning of the road. The majority of our schools would probably agree that they were more or less half-way to becoming a self-evaluating school. We know from our Quality Assurance Inspection (QAI) that the position in Hong Kong overall very much reflects the self-evaluation awareness in our project schools. All of our schools in Hong Kong will be able to identify in different ways with the schools in the project and with their achievements. What the project has shown, and promises for all our schools, is that networking and sharing bring about greater confidence to move forward, to be more open in evaluating and to move to the ‘high ground’ of self-evaluation and accountability. I like, in particular, the practical nature of the SSE Action Points and SSE Reflection Points – together they provide a platform for a school SSE staff development programme.

The story of success, as seen through the eyes of our project director, provides a graphic account of what can happen when principals, teachers, students and parents work together to bring about a culture of openness and a rigorous approach to evaluating school performance. All of us who have been involved in one way or another with the project have witnessed a growing maturity in the twenty one schools and a greater sense of self-awareness as they have sought to refine and improve – to become learning schools in the true sense of the words.

The story of success comes at an opportune moment as we move to take forward School Development and Accountability that brings together school self-evaluation and external school review. A common language is developing about the work and evaluation of schools in Hong Kong expressed through, for example, the four domains of management and organization, learning and teaching, student support and school ethos and student performance and the fourteen Key Performance Measures for judging success. There is a consensus around the globe and seen in the work of Michael Fullan, Michael Barbour and Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), that an effective system of school evaluation needs to contain elements of both school self-evaluation and external school review. This is the line taken in School Development and Accountability in which school self-evaluation and external school review, while serving different purposes, are

5

complementary and are jointly concerned with providing an accurate evaluation of the quality and standards of our schools and diagnosing what needs to be done to improve them.

I would like to thank Archie McGlynn for the manner in which he led the project, cajoling and persuading the schools, principals, teachers and students, to always give their best and to go the extra mile. He combined local knowledge of the Hong Kong scene with his extensive international experience to offer practical advice and support to raise our awareness and increase our knowledge of how to make self-evaluation happen in our schools. The evaluations of the project completed by principals, teachers and students are a testimony to the way in which Archie McGlynn created an ethos of achievement and high expectations among the twenty one schools. His commitment was such that even SARS couldn’t keep him away from Hong Kong and the completion of the project.

I urge all schools to make use of the story of success as seen through the eyes of Archie McGlynn and its complementary companion – School Development through School Self-evaluation: Making it happen in twenty one schools (which is available on the EMB web site) – as they seek to become more successful schools and Hong Kong schools of today and tomorrow.

Andrew Poon

Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower (Quality Assurance)

6

PART ONE:

SO WHAT DO WE MEAN BY A SELF-EVALUATING SCHOOL?

1. Is our school a Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow?

A Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow is a self-evaluating school. And a self-evaluating school takes as its starting point the Chinese proverb:

‘To know what is going on takes sense; To know what to do about it takes wisdom’.

And the starting point for this story is that the successful school is a self-evaluating school in which there is a shared belief that school improvement is the right and responsibility of every single member of the school community. The self-evaluating school is singled out by its willingness to improve through learning – in Peter Senge’s words to be a learning school. The importance of creating the right culture is best summed up in a quote from a teacher in Yuen Long Public Secondary School who said:

‘We often teach but seldom ask how good our teaching is…now it is time to develop the culture! We have to spend time on it’.

As a self-evaluating school, you will be asking questions like:

How effective is our school? • • • • •

• • • •

How good am I as a principal? How successful is learning in my classroom? How good am I as a panel chair? How much do I contribute as an office receptionist?

This self-evaluating Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow is one, which knows:

What it is aiming to do Whether it is meeting its aims successfully What needs to be changed or improved Whether changes are working for the benefit of students

The above questions and issues will come together in a whole school approach which emphasises the importance of strategic planning (what are we aiming to do and where are we going and how) coming alive through an annual school plan (priority tasks, major areas of concern, focus on the quality of learning and teaching and focus on monitoring, assessing and evaluating improvement), and an annual school report based on agreed key performance indicators (strengths, successes and areas for improvement). A great bonus of this kind of strategic and action planning is that your school can inform your stakeholders about the school’s performance, and be well prepared for an external school review which is going to happen sooner rather than later.

7

2. Is there some mystique about school self-evaluation?

Teachers often ask So how complex is this self-evaluation? What about the people who like to make a great mystery of SSE? Don’t listen to them is the advice from our project schools – there is no great mystique about self-evaluation. It is a normal, everyday fact of our personal, social and professional lives. We all do it – children, parents, athletes, preachers, politicians, teachers, pop stars and so on. In a way, self-evaluation, to borrow a thought from T.S.Eliot, has no beginning and no end – it is about doing what comes naturally.

All of us stop what we are doing, from time to time, and ask ourselves, consciously or not so consciously, questions like:

• Did I create the right impression with my new friends? • I wonder if our guests enjoyed the wedding banquet? • How did our school concert compare with last year’s one? • Is there another and better way of running a parents’ evening? • Was our presentation to the Quality Education Fund committee pitched at the

right level?

We might go on to ask ourselves How do we know how well we are doing? If we are feeling really brave, we might ask a friend to offer objective advice on How well she thinks we are doing? This is self-evaluation in practice in the real world as we go about our everyday business. Much more, it accords with the thinking of Socrates, the man with the common touch, who is reported as saying that:

‘the unexamined life is not worth living’.

The message from our project and worldwide experience is that effective schools are examining what they are about and becoming more successful as a result.

3. Why all this emphasis on school self-evaluation?

Sometimes in discussion with teachers in our project schools, they would ask Why all this bother with self-evaluation? Some teachers would say Why not leave evaluation to those external to the school like inspectors and academics? The answer is very straightforward. It is your school. The case is made on the grounds of ownership – on the logic that those who are closest to everyday practice are best placed to evaluate, develop and improve it. As a school, you are the informed insiders with a close and detailed knowledge of the inner workings of your school. You are committed to making the school a success and to achieving the best possible standards for your school community.

4. What have the project schools got to say about school self-evaluation?

You are right to ask is self-evaluation not associated with form filling and spending time talking about things that are not important. Sadly, in some countries this has happened and schools have failed to respond positively. Our recent Hong Kong experience suggests

8

that we have learned from our earlier over-emphasis on paperwork and too much prescription. But there is no room for complacency. Our project schools are all down the road of keeping things straightforward and open – good advice. The principal of the HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School gives a timely reminder of the dangers of rushing in before the ground is prepared:

‘Don’t just issue this and that kind of policy all the time and expect everything to happen…as well as learning to use the self-evaluation tools… teachers and the principal have to open their minds. It takes time to nurture that kind of culture’.

Often, self-evaluation will be informal without fuss. For example, in Immanuel Lutheran College, during a recess time, students casually exchanged views with a panel chair on the impact of a timetable change on their well-being and learning. In another school, a student, noticing the principal studying the art work on the walls of what used to be a dimly-lit corridor said:

‘We all think it is great to see how well our paintings brighten up this corridor’.

An outstanding example of how sharing ideas can lead to an improved ethos is to be seen in Kowloon Tong Government Primary School in the corridor known to the children as the Mediterranean Sea. The varied and vivid artwork of colourful fish and sea animals is clearly uplifting to pupils and staff alike.

But those schools like, for example, SKH Leung Kwai Yee Secondary School, St. Francis’ Canossian College, Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin), SKH Kei Tak Primary School (AM), and CCC Kei Wa Primary School (AM) which have become better schools as a result of self-evaluation, will tell you that the informal has to be complemented by the formal. The Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow knows that there must be rigour about self-evaluation, which systematically addresses the questions, which are now part of the culture of our project schools and others in the territory:

• How are we performing in our classrooms or laboratories? • How good is the work in this subject or panel? • What do our students think about their school? • How are we doing overall in our school? • Now that we know what are we going to do about it?

The message from our project schools is get started and to remember the wisdom of Confucius:

‘The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’.

So by probing and analysing the responses to these big questions, the self-evaluating school is on the road to self-improvement, all in the cause of providing quality education to its students.

9

5.

Why do we need external reviews of schools?

Those who play the game do not see it as clearly as those who watch. – Chinese proverb

We have argued the case for self-evaluation pointing out that no matter who we are – principals, teachers, professors of education, education officers, policy makers – we all benefit from examining what we are doing, how well we are doing and how we might become better still. We have gone on to use the term self-evaluation in the corporate sense, to refer to the whole organisation and in our case, the school – hence SSE. The case for self-evaluation was made on the grounds of ownership – on the logic that those who are closest to everyday practice are best placed to evaluate, develop and improve it.

But the old Chinese proverb rings true with many people too. And as Wittgenstein said,

‘Sometimes we are so close to something, we can’t see it’.

External evaluation is used to mean the review or reporting on a school’s work by people who are not part of the school’s organisation, for example in Hong Kong, inspectors from the Quality Assurance Division of the Education and Manpower Bureau. The case for review rests on the need for an external reality check. It could be argued that when self-evaluation is rigorous, robust, systematic and publicly accountable then there is no need for external verification. However, as MacBeath and McGlynn1 point out from international experience:

‘Few if any schools can boast of having fully met those criteria’. They go to suggest that internal and external evaluation are two sides of a coin. OFSTED (England)2 goes along with this line:

‘The two are complementary. School self-evaluation should be conducted annually in the interval between inspections’.

The Netherlands inspection system has moved from one based on whole-school inspection to one which recognises that the way forward is to embrace both internal and external evaluation, with its inspectorate validating schools’ self-evaluation. New American Schools works on a co-inquiry approach in which external review identifies the school’s strengths and areas for improvement that become part of an internal action plan.

Given education’s importance and the fact that it is one of the biggest spenders in the public domain, it is hardly surprising that external school review (ESR) has become a central part of the education policy of most countries around the globe. SDA has laid the foundation in Hong Kong on which to build an evaluation system that embraces both SSE and ESR.

1 MacBeath, J., & McGlynn, A. (2002). Self-evaluation: What’s in it for schools. London; New York: Routlege/Falmer. 2 School Evaluation Matters. Office for Standards in Education, London

10

PART TWO:

SO WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR SCHOOLS DURING THE PROJECT?

6. Why a bottom-up approach?

A distinguishing feature of the project was the emphasis on a bottom-up approach, that is giving teachers the opportunity to initiate developments, involving staff in important decisions and, in the context of the project, giving schools the flexibility to promote and share their ideas with EMB. The principals and their staff were encouraged to share with us the impact self-evaluation has had on what happens in classrooms and laboratories, and on leadership and school ethos. It was the schools’ views that shaped and informed our perceptions of Hong Kong schools’ readiness to embrace self-evaluation, rather than some central directive. And a recognition of the wisdom of the Chinese saying:

‘None of us is as good as all of us’.

And as such the bottom-up approach is one of the dos of SSE – an acceptance that there is a shared belief that everyone can contribute to the improvement of the school success that comes not just from one leader but through involvement of all staff, or to quote Lao Tzu’s advice to leaders:

‘In order to be above the people, in order to guide them, he must put himself behind them’.

SSE ACTION 1:

• In a staff training session, invite teachers to work in groups of two to three to identify school projects, policies that have come from staff, rather than solely from the principal/senior staff. Then share the findings in a plenary session.

• Continue working in groups to identify opportunities to make use of the bottom-up approach in your school’s development plan.

7. Is school self-evaluation all embracing?

The answer is yes, self-evaluation straddles QAD’s four performance indicator domains. While the primary concern is with the domains of learning and teaching and student performance, the domains of management and organisation and student support and school ethos are central to the success of a self-evaluating school. We should point out that the

11

activity selected by the school is a bit like the tip of an iceberg – this is the one on show but the great mass of the schools’ activities lie in the ongoing commitment to SSE. The breakdown is as follows:

Table 1: The SSE Activities of the 21 Project Schools

Activities chosen No. of schools

Reading and/or writing

Peer observation/collaborative teaching

Students’ evaluation of teachers’ performance

Using a staff appraisal process to promote school self-evaluation

Teachers’ views of ‘Our School As It Is’ and ‘Our School As I would Like It To Be’

(using a standard questionnaire)

Appraising the school’s performance through surveys of stakeholders

Students’ perceptions of the quality of school life and comparison with teachers’ views

Evaluation of programme on personal and social education

Evaluation of staff development programme in a new school

Evaluation of mathematics teaching

Students’ views on their first week in primary school

SSE ACTION 2:

• Assuming your school has to prioritise its activities, bring a group of teachers, senior management team and a group of parents together, and ask them to rank the above activities in importance from 1(low) to 11(high). Let each person work individually to begin with and then ask the three groups to agree on a group ranking. Now compare the rankings and come up with an overall one to reflect the views of the three groups.

• Use the findings to stimulate a wider discussion within the school on your priorities, linking to the school action plan.

12

8. Why did your school pick this self-evaluation activity?

Many of our schools confessed that in the recent past, self-evaluation and school-based management were too much about talk, rather than action, summed up in the quote:

‘Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.’

The examples illustrate the interdependence of SSE activities – self-evaluation activities are gregarious and like to be associated with one another. Before going on, and taking note of the outcomes of your SSE Action 2, use SSE Action 3 to live through the same process as the project schools.

SSE ACTION 3:

• Pick one SSE activity that you have carried out in your school.

• Invite three to five members of staff to write up your chosen SSE activity for sharing in the wider school community. Use the same headings as used by the project schools (your story of the activity should not be more than 3 to 4 pages).

1. Why did we pick this activity? 2. How did we go about it? 3. What procedures/instruments did we develop and/or adapt? 4. What has been the impact on student learning, school leadership

and school ethos? 5. What are our next steps? 6. What advice would we give to other schools interested in following

our example?

13

You only get one chance to make a first impression – Scottish proverb

Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School (AM) seems to be influenced in its choice by the sentiment of the proverb, claimed to be Scottish in origin. As the school team warns:

‘First impressions have a lasting effect which could easily influence a pupil’s future success or failure.’

Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School (AM), in a not too dissimilar fashion from SKH Leung Kwai Yee Secondary School, cleverly linked the self-evaluation activity to existing Hong Kong projects, one on ‘the growth of baby plants’ and the other on ‘life is in our hands’. The school demonstrated that one aspect of SSE can be used to inform and support other aspects as part of a whole-school process. Just as important, this example shows that self-evaluation is possible with even the youngest of our pupils – in this case, the pupils shared their impressions in drawings as well as words, and parents gave the school feedback on their perceptions of their child’s induction to primary school. One of the outcomes is that the school has produced its own ‘Happy School Life in Primary 1’ building on the guidance ‘Helping Primary 1 pupils adapt to a new school life’ issued by the Education Department (now EMB).

Importance of first impression evokes the supplementary question where would you look first in a school to get a feel for the quality of care and the school ethos. The answer is the toilet. The colourful and artistic toilet display created by the pupils of Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School (AM) leaves us in no doubt about the caring nature of the school.

Girls’ toilets – Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School (AM)

14

Are first impressions important in your school? For example, how good is the telephone answering service? How are visitors greeted? How good are you at setting the scene for an important meeting?

Try out a first impressions’ day in your school by asking everyone to write down or draw one or two first impressions on an agreed morning. Display the first impressions to create a whole-school interest. Then organise a competition to design a school poster to raise awareness of the importance of first impressions.

SSE REFLECTIONS 1

SSE ACTION 4:

•

•

•

•

At a staff development session, invite staff to list aspects of school life in which your students have some say in commenting on the work of the school.

List aspects of school life in which your students have some say in commenting on how good things are.

Next, list aspects that you feel could be added to the list to give your students an improved say in evaluating school work.

Invite students as well as teachers to offer their views and then compare.

15

Adapting a Hong Kong policy to the needs of the school – ‘Joyful Writer’

Father Cucchiara Memorial School (PM) decided to evaluate a Chinese writing campaign romantically entitled Joyful Writer designed to promote whole language writing. All school members including students, teachers, parents, school supervisor and support staff took part and underlined another of the principles of good self-evaluation – make sure the key people are involved. Through writing workshops, the school encouraged parents to study and write in Chinese with their children. Articles were collected from students and were widely distributed in two eye-catching publications Path of Growth and From the Bottom of My Heart. Further good news is that the work (and evaluation) is continuing within the school as an ongoing part of the school plan. Schools interested in seeing examples of how programmes on writing and reading can impact on the quality of students’ work should look at the work in St. Francis’ Canossian College, Yuen Long Public Secondary School and St. Francis Xavier’s College.

What steps would you take in your school to ensure that a ‘one-off’ activity or development becomes an integral part of SSE rather than a ‘one day wonder’?

SSE REFLECTIONS 2

How one self-evaluation activity leads to and supports another

In the SKH Leung Kwai Yee Secondary School, the principal (formerly assistant principal) saw the self-evaluation activity as an opportunity to: develop a culture of peer support; encourage staff to reflect on their performance particularly in class teaching; and celebrate good practices observed in classroom learning and teaching. Shrewdly, through the activity, she revamped the approach to staff appraisal not only to promote peer observation and discussion of how good is our learning and teaching but as a means to encourage the practice of SSE in line with the spirit of School-based Management and raise staff’s awareness of the importance of professional development and accountability. Part of the success has been due to the involvement of staff in the planning of developments and, as a class teacher said of appraisal and SSE: ‘It’s really worth doing.’ Teachers in the school say that the evaluations usually bring many good messages that encourage them to look again at aspects in need of improvement. The principal with the support of the staff has succeeded in creating an open approach to evaluation, while the way students and staff mingle in the school points to a positive ethos.

Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure – Thomas Edison

The principal of Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School on taking up her appointment aspired, with her school community, to take more account of students’ learning needs. The school community had an urge to improve. She knew that what happens in the classrooms is the key which opens the door to success and so she decided to upgrade the ‘staff appraisal for

16

staff development system’ to include evaluation of teachers’ performance by students.

She puts the case in a way which few of us would contest:

‘The involvement of students in the appraisal system is made on the grounds that students are the closest to everyday practice of teaching and are best placed to comment on how well a teacher is doing in his or her work’.

The principal was wise enough to know that she would have to work on her weaknesses as well as improving her strengths and introduced appraisal of herself by staff as part of the move to a self-evaluating school. Leading by example was taken further when senior teachers agreed to become the first group to be evaluated by students. In a thoughtful, one step at a time, approach, the school complemented the evaluation by students with appraisal of teachers by senior staff via classroom observation and related aspects. The considered approach led to refinement of the questionnaires and the procedures before the activity was rolled out to the whole school.

The next, and arguably the most important development, was to encourage staff to self-evaluate their performance, then compare with the students’ evaluation and take action to turn weaknesses into opportunities to improve. This here is how I think I am doing as a teacher and now let me see what students think is also an integral part of the quite excellent self-evaluation initiative on evaluation of teachers’ performance by students at HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No.1 Secondary School. Students have benefited from the willingness of staff to learn from the evaluations and so bring about enhanced learning. Now that the self-evaluation activity has been running for some time, the Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School, just like HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No.1 Secondary School, is looking at ways of streamlining further. The school knows that it has some way to go, for example, the questionnaire could be pruned to a more manageable size, and there needs to be a more prompt follow-up to classroom observations. The short and concise questionnaire in use in HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No.1 Secondary School provides an exemplar for all Hong Kong schools.

Use a staff training period to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of involving students in evaluation of learning in the classroom? Check out the HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School questionnaire for useful hints.

As a group of teachers, what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of comparing your own judgements with those of your students? One way of doing this is to get teachers to brainstorm, to get everyone involved, and then show the strengths and weaknesses on flip charts to support discussion.

SSE REFLECTIONS 3

17

SSE ACTION 5:

•

t.

Once you have completed Reflections 3, ask a small group of staff and students to draft a questionnaire to be used by your students to evaluate the quality of learning in your classrooms. Remember to keep your questionnaire short in length, involve the target audience in its design, use a four point scale, 1=low and 4=high and pilot i

Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire – Chinese proverb

Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin) exemplified its commitment to SSE by sharing the way it goes about appraising the performance of the school through an annual survey of teachers, support staff, students and parents. In the past, the views of staff had been sought through formal and informal meetings. Many schools carry out stakeholder surveys but the difference is that the findings are followed up and impact on the things that matter in Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin). All, including the sponsoring body, bring their firewood. Listen to the principal on just one illustration of the impact:

‘We did stakeholder surveys and asked the students, parents and teachers about their need of facilities in the school. They said we should have more facilities in the classroom to enhance learning. Then we discussed with our sponsoring body about the survey findings and persuaded it to give us enough money to install a projector in each classroom. No use just having things on paper, we need to take action after we get the findings’.

There is an echo here of the voice of Feng Menglong who said:

‘You are more likely to succeed if you know your strengths and weaknesses’.

Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin)’s SSE exemplary processes and outcomes are, in my views, further evidence of the growing maturity of Hong Kong self-evaluating schools.

18

What impact, if any, has your stakeholder survey had on your school’s annual plan and/or self-evaluation framework?

How important is it to understand your school’s strengths and weaknesses?

Check the Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin) home page for some good pointers re stakeholder surveys and annual planning.

SSE REFLECTIONS 4

9. How did you go about implementing the activity?

This was the second question we discussed with the twenty one project schools. We can all talk about a SSE activity but there needs to be action, to quote Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success:

‘Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfilment.’

And the question to be asked by all Hong Kong schools is – what are the messages for us as we go about self-evaluation? What are the dos of self-evaluation as practised by the project schools.

‘We have team spirit, you can feel it.’ – A teacher

Principals and teachers time and again argued that the need to establish an ethos conducive to self-evaluation is probably the first do for any school seeking to become a Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow. The principal of Immanuel Lutheran College, a school with a flourishing ethos, said this:

‘The whole school needs to be clear about the benefits of what you are trying to do. The more the staff are involved and know what is going on, the more they are likely to willingly get involved. This is essential when creating the climate. An open and critical debate lends strength and smoothes the process of self-evaluation.’

19

The principal of St. Francis’ Canossian College provides firm leadership and is aware of the need to build bridges throughout the school community. She takes the view that:

‘If you are a school leader you have to create the time and space to explore these questions such as ‘how well are we doing in this school’ openly and without prejudice.’

5

Teachers in Pand supporti

‘cp

The self-evaSecondary Sstudent-teach

‘i

You may sayWith the selSchool now hto us in discuValentine’s D

‘

SSE REFLECTIONS

Thinking about your school’s experience, what is your first do of self-evaluation? Would it be to establish a positive school climate? Or ask all teachers as part of your ongoing staff development to write down their first do of SSE and open up a discussion leading to your list of dos of SSE. Now think about the don’ts of SSE. Discuss how to make practical use of your reflections in improving your school.

LK Chan Yat Primary School are proud of what they called their team spirit ve environment. One teacher, who had recently returned to the school, said:

The reason I came back to this school is that teachers are heerful. We have team spirit, you can feel it. I can see the upils’ smiling faces’.

luation activity put forward by the Carmel Alison Lam Foundation chool’s SSE activity centred on students’ attitudes to learning and er relationships. The principal pointed out that:

And we found that teacher-student relationship is the most mportant factor influencing our students’.

that is just common sense. But so often we overlook what is common sense. f-evaluation activity findings, Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary as informed common sense. The value and impact of the work became clear ssions with staff and students on a day when the school was celebrating St. ay. A student said:

The teachers are very nice and we enjoy learning in school.’

20

There was great feeling in the sharing of love on the notion that love is universal: In the words of a Teresa Tang song, adapted from Su Shi/ Su Tong-po:

‘Thousand miles apart yet we see the same moon.’

The students of economics were selling flowers as part of an assignment. The vibrant teacher of English played love songs in class and students wrote down the verbs and nouns they could identify in the song. The lesson showed that learning can be fun. The comings and goings witnessed were all signs of an ethos conducive to self-evaluation and learning.

The teacher said ‘we have team spirit, you can feel it’. Think about her view - can you feel it in your school?

SSE REFLECTIONS 6

SSE ACTION 6:

• Set aside one hour to allow a mixed-group of staff and students to ‘brainstorm’ what are the characteristics of a ‘good team spirit’. Let each participant write down their views, then ask them to work in pairs to share their views, then ask the participants at each table (usually 6 to 8) to come to a ‘table’ view. Display the results on the wall to give everyone an opportunity to study the results. Now as a total group in open plenary, draw on the ‘table’ views to reach a whole-school view on ‘what makes for a good team spirit’.

• Now go on to see how well your school’s current ‘team spirit’ measures up to the brainstorming findings.

21

Those who do not attempt everything accomplish something – Mencius

The experience of our schools like TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School, Kowloon Technical School and Kowloon Tong Government Primary School suggest that the second do of SSE is the one step at a time philosophy. I call this the KISS commandment: keep it simple schools which draws on the Chinese saying The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

In the first year of its self-evaluation activity on peer observation and collaborative teaching, Kowloon Technical School began with three volunteer subject departments. Then as the work developed three became six then eight. The aim is that next year all subject departments will be involved. One of the enthusiastic co-ordinators pointed out that as the impact of the activity was recognised in the school, more departments and teachers were pleased to join to bring about improvements in teaching methods and attitudes. The principal took the view that the way ahead is to:

‘Start small, support the departments that are more ready to do SSE and they become an example for others to follow and to show the positive impact, piece by piece’.

In TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School where the self-evaluation activity focused on lesson observation, an incremental approach was adopted in establishing the system about which staff feel secure and comfortable. The principal argued that the outcomes benefited from refinement, on a step-by-step basis, drawing on teachers’ experience and feedback. The SSE team members at CCC Kei Wa Primary School (AM) believe that small is beautiful so they carry out the SSE activities gradually, taking one step at a time.

The CCC Kei Wa Primary School (AM)’s advice should not go unheard. Our experience, not just in Hong Kong, tells us that many well-intentioned SSE initiatives are over-optimistic. Teachers quickly become disillusioned if there are no signs of success and targets are missed time and again. If SSE is to thrive in our schools then, as Michael Jordan might have put it in this sports-conscious world of today:

‘You have to put the ball in the basket.’

10. What instruments did your school develop or adapt to evaluate your activity?

This was the third question we put to our project schools. In the spirit of openness associated with SSE, our project schools have posted examples of the main instruments used to support their chosen SSE activity on the EMB web site: School development through school self-evaluation – Making it happen in twenty one schools

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail

– Abraham Maslow

Our present schools have shown that good self-evaluation comes in many forms and the list underlines the variety of tools in use in Hong Kong schools as follows:

22

Table 2: A variety of tools for school self-evaluation

• • questionnaire portfolio survey video oral (including interviews and group discussion) benchmarking log book critical friend observation (including peer observation and student observation)

qualitative and quantitative

• • • • • • • •

What follows below is an illumination of some of the methods in use in our twenty one schools with a view to encouraging all schools to review and enhance their approaches to SSE.

It is easier to improve the original design, than to create it in the first instance

– John Logie Baird

The questionnaire is by far the most common instrument. This is a testimony to the ease with which it allows schools to gather a wide range of views from a variety of audiences in a fairly short timescale and in a standardised form. In TWGHs Chen Zao Men College, a school which has made much use of questionnaires over the past few years, a review of School-based Management led to the idea of collecting students’ views on learning across all subjects. The principal and vice principal drafted a questionnaire which was then considered by the academic committee before going before a staff meeting. Students were given opportunities to discuss the initiative and to nominate class representatives to join in discussion with subject panels. The school also followed the step-by-step principle, choosing to phase in the questionnaire by year group and to revise it in the light of experience. In this way, TWGHs Chen Zao Men College illustrated two of the principles crucial to the success of a questionnaire in SSE – seek the views of the target groups when constructing it and pilot on a small scale before going large scale.

Questionnaire design takes considerable skill as the way in which questions are phrased influences greatly the kind of answers a school will get. To their credit, a good number of our project schools acknowledged that some of their questionnaires would need to be refined. Given that a lot of time can be invested in undertaking SSE by questionnaire, it makes sense sometimes to seek outside advice as happened with, for example, Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM) and Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School. The sharing of instruments via the web site is just one of the ways in which the project can contribute to better design and reduce the need to reinvent the wheel.

The impact of new technology

Many of our schools make excellent use of new technology to provide a quick turnaround of results as well as to streamline the process and ensure confidentiality, all key principles for carrying out SSE. The stakeholder questionnaire-based survey in Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin) and the survey of the whole student population in Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School were conducted with minimum fuss and made available within a matter of days by a combination of the skills of enthusiastic information technology officers in both schools and the good use of technology, in particular optical scanning. The Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin) findings are posted on the school’s home page. The use of the school web site is a feature of other schools including St. Francis’ Canossian College. As well as the optical scanner, which also features in the

23

SSE activity in Kowloon Technical School, good use of software enabled Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School’s survey of students’ views and attitudes to school to be broken down, for example, by gender, by year group and by topic domain. The principal’s use of an appropriate software package is also a feature of the SSE activity in HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No.1 Secondary School, allowing him, for example, to provide confidential reports of students’ evaluations of teaching to individual teachers. The school has taught class representatives to administer the surveys and return the completed forms to the vice principal and in this way confidentiality is ensured and SSE carried out with little disruption to school life. In Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School, whole classes complete an electronic version of the evaluation questionnaire in one of the computer labs and return it to a central administration point for processing. The illustrations above provide clear evidence of the efficiency of Hong Kong schools in practising SSE as an integral part of the work of the school.

Lesson observation and evaluation

SSE ACTION 7:

• List your ‘guiding set of principles’ for planning, designing, administering and following through your school’s SSE questionnaire-based surveys.

• Compare what you do with the illustrations of the principles in use in some of the project schools, such as confidentiality, do you seek the views of the target groups?

Lesson observation instruments are becoming well-established in schools such as Caritas Lok Kan School, HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary School, St. Francis’ Canossian College, TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School and SKH Kei Tak Primary School (AM). A feature of the enlightened approach to self-evaluation in Caritas Lok Kan School is the comprehensive nature of the staff appraisal SSE activity involving the principal, teaching staff, professional staff (such as social worker, nurse, speech therapist), and support staff (such as clerical and technical). The system grew out of lesson observation and the school has gradually extended its scope while creating a positive school ethos. The lesson observation form covers aspects on lesson preparation, teaching methods, teaching aids, assessment, homework as an integral part of learning, classroom ethos and management of time. The school also makes use of video tapes of lessons prepared by teachers as part of the staff appraisal activity. SKH Kei Tak Primary School (AM) has pioneered various approaches to classroom observation that have tended to focus on teaching performance in order to identify strengths and areas for improvement to enhance professional development. It is a measure of the school’s open approach to self-evaluation that it identified in the course of the project, a need to review the observation forms to focus more on the impact of improved teaching methods on students’ learning.

24

A book holds a house of gold – Chinese saying

The Reading Enhancement Scheme in St. Francis Xavier’s College made good use of portfolios by which records are kept, both by teachers and students and then compared. The school also used the practical and effective method of inviting its students to write down on half a page their views and experience of the scheme. The success of the activity was summed up in quotes from students:

‘Reading periods are interesting’.

‘Students are eager to have reading lessons’.

‘In such quiet atmosphere, I can read books. It is fun!’ A combination of instruments such as portfolio, log book and surveys threw up a richness of data in St. Francis’ Canossian College where positive comments from students included:

‘DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) is good as it gives me more time to read and relax’.

‘DEAR has improved my power of thinking’.

But the open evaluation encouraged by the SSE activity also brought forth the following:

‘Doing book reports dampens our fun in reading’. ‘One hour on day three is too long for reading’.

The school response has been, for example, to grant students more flexibility in doing book reports and to consider time adjustments to the DEAR lessons and to state that DEAR is here to stay. In Yuen Long Public Secondary School the evaluation data from log books, portfolios and surveys enabled the librarian, for example, to spot that although students were reading books in English, they were compiling their reports in Chinese. He also was able to tell from his library log that students’ interest in reading had increased as a result of the DEAR activity.

What are the views of teachers in our school on key issues?

We introduced, with a little adaptation and a translation into Chinese, an SSE activity that has been used in several international settings and which lends itself to target setting and benchmarking. The words of Soren Kiekegaard are appropriate:

‘Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards’.

In this SSE activity, teachers are invited to give their views on seven aspects of the life and work of the school and its culture of learning as set out in Table 3 which also sets out the findings from Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM).

25

Teachers are asked to respond to the seven aspects in two ways – looking backwards and looking forwards. First to reflect on the school as it is in relation to each of the statements – the real or actual situation in our school as they see it. They are then asked to look forwards and to give their perception of how important, how crucial each of the statement is – the ideal situation as they see it. Our project schools responded positively pointing out, for example, that the instrument is straightforward, easy to use, flexible and adaptable (the list can be amended to meet the needs of individual schools), focuses on aspects which are at the heart of a school’s belief system, and allows a school to benchmark teachers’ perceived actuality against teachers’ perceived importance and to identify any gaps. And as MacBeath and McGlynn suggest:

‘The value of an instrument like this lies not in the objectification or quantification of the data it provides, but in the power of leverage that it has as a tin opener into the culture of the school itself. Its value is realised when it is used as an agenda for discussion, confronting the school with its own value system, its own currents and cross-currents of belief, its self-imposed inhibitions on its goals.’

Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM) is one such school which recognised the value of the activity as a tin opener as it seeks to enhance teachers’ professional development based on the Management and Organisation Domain publicised by EMB. The school is preparing to move to Whole Day operation and considers that:

“This is the right time to establish its self-evaluation mechanism and its implementation’.

The school has, in a true spirit of self-evaluation, allowed us to share its findings (Table 3) with Hong Kong schools in the hope that others will feel moved to do the same. We have left out the ideal returns but would ask you to reflect on the ideal in your school. Here you are free to focus on the actual and perhaps to ask the self-evaluating questions: How would our school compare with Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM)? Many schools in the project have made use of the instrument and in time we could build up a picture of Hong Kong schools as more and more schools make use of the tool in their self-evaluation. For further study the MacBeath and McGlynn publication - shows ways in which the instrument can be used alongside other self-evaluation approaches.

26

Table 3: The views of teachers on the school on key issues {Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM)}

Actual: My School As It Is Ideal: My School As I Would Like It To Be

Strongly agree非常同意

Agree 同意

Disagre

e不同意

Strongly disagree 非常不同意

Crucial

尤其重要

Very important

非常重要

Quite im

portant頗重要

Not im

portant 不重要

6% 90% 2% 2% Teachers as well as students learn in our school 教師及學生在學校學習

7% 47% 37% 9% Teachers believe that all students in our school can be successful. 教師相信本校所有學生都能成功

22% 70% 8% 0% Teachers regularly discuss ways of improving students’ learning. 教師定期討論改善學生學習效果的方法

15% 62% 23% 0% Standards set for students are consistently upheld across the school 學校持續維持對學生的學習水平的要求

13% 72% 11% 4% Extra-curricular activities provide valuable opportunities for all students 課外活動為所有學生提供寶貴的學習機會

6% 72% 22% 0% Teachers share similar beliefs and attitudes about effective teaching and learning 教師隊伍對有效的學與教有大致相同的信念和態度

13% 74% 13% 0% Staff have a commitment to the whole school and not just their class or panel 學校員工是對學校整體承擔而不只是某班級或科目

My School As It Is and My School As I would Like It To Be

SSE ACTION 8:

• As part of your ongoing self-evaluation invite your teachers to give their perceptions using the instrument set out in Table 3. Ensure that the completed (anonymised) forms are collated by your office manager or equivalent, then share the findings with staff.

• Use the findings at a staff development session, building on the tin opener approach, to review your culture and your staff’s expectations of themselves and their students.

• Consider networking with one or two schools to share thoughts and findings.

This is another SSE instrument, developed internationally and adapted during the project with particular help from Immanuel Lutheran College, which our schools have found to

27

be enlightening. Table 4 shows the instrument with the results from Tai Po secondary schools. Its international use is described in MacBeath and McGlynn thus:

‘This instrument helped to explore layers of school culture deeper than ethos indicators because it tapped into the belief systems of staff. It revealed not only what people enjoyed or felt satisfied with but explored their expectations. It not only identified gaps between expectations and satisfaction, but revealed significant differences among different groups – pupils as against teachers, parents or school management – and within those groups.’

The principal of Immanuel Lutheran College is an advocate of the My School As It Is and My School As I Would Like It To Be for the following reasons:

‘I saw it as a way of enhancing our evaluation of the school and stimulating an informed debate on how good we are as a school, where we seem to have strengths and where we need to do better. All in a very positive way. Moreover, I like its simplicity and the fact that the survey is easy to conduct. Teachers completed it within a short period of time and the results were made available promptly and discussed at a staff development session. And many of the items are really about the things that matter’.

The school, not unlike schools across the globe, wanted to know how it compared – what does 70% really mean for the item, for example, this is a pupil-friendly school? Jumping ahead of us and without waiting for further talk and discussion, the Principal and his staff heeded the wisdom of the old Chinese proverb:

‘Talk does not cook rice.’

So, with the cooperation of secondary schools in Tai Po, the principal organised a joint school staff development day on self-evaluation for around 200 principals and teachers during which the audience was briefed on the School development through school self-evaluation project and the use of My School As It Is/My School As I Would Like It To Be instrument. The outcome is the Tai Po benchmark data shown in Table 4.

This surge towards a sharing of results is a remarkable development which bodes well for further progress in SSE. If the Tai Po experience could be repeated throughout Hong Kong, we would have an illuminating and rich database to take forward an informed debate, alongside other EMB and school-led breakthroughs in SDA, in a positive and non-threatening way. And as MacBeath and McGlynn point out, in mature SSE the instrument can be used with not only principals and teachers, but with students and parents – all of whom have much to contribute to SSE as we seek to become Hong Kong Schools of Today and Tomorrow. Many project schools including Yuen Long Public Secondary School, HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary School and PLK Chan Yat Primary School are already down the road to sharing their findings on My School As It Is and My School As I Would Like It To Be.

28

Table 4: Findings of “My School As It Is” and “My School As I Would Like It To Be” (Tai Po Benchmark Data)

My School As It Is My School As I Would Like It To Be目前的學校狀況 理想的學校狀況

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

親切 (Warm)

7% 34% 28% 27% 5% 70% 26% 4% 0% 0% 冷漠 (Cold)

對家長的態度友善 (Parent-friendly)

22% 52% 20% 5% 1% 62% 32% 5% 0% 0% 對家長的態度不友善 (Parent-unfriendly)

充滿生氣 (Colourful)

6% 24% 47% 19% 4% 75% 21% 4% 0% 0% 了無生氣 (Drab)

專制 (Authoritarian)

7% 33% 38% 20% 2% 1% 1% 15% 40% 42% 民主 (Democratic)

秩序井然 (Orderly)

2% 24% 38% 27% 9% 60% 32% 5% 1% 2% 雜亂無章 (Disorderly)

壓力大 (High Stress)

16% 39% 38% 6% 1% 1% 4% 42% 22% 31% 壓力小 (Low stress)

悲觀 (Pessimistic)

5% 24% 46% 22% 3% 1% 1% 4% 33% 61% 樂觀 (Optimistic)

氣氛緊張 (Tense)

4% 31% 43% 20% 2% 2% 1% 18% 36% 42% 氣氛輕鬆 (Relaxed)

具競爭力 (Competitive)

2% 20% 43% 29% 6% 42% 31% 23% 3% 1% 欠缺競爭力 (Uncompetitive)

被動 (Reactive)

7% 35% 33% 23% 2% 0% 1% 6% 36% 56% 積極主動 (Proactive)

具啟發性 (Stimulating)

3% 15% 42% 29% 10% 67% 25% 6% 2% 0% 沉悶 (Boring)

對學生的態度友善 (Pupil-friendly)

19% 41% 26% 13% 1% 68% 23% 7% 1% 0% 對學生的態度不友善 (Pupil-unfriendly)

死板 (Inflexible)

5% 31% 45% 16% 3% 0% 0% 6% 31% 63% 靈活 (Flexible)

有明確的價值觀 (Clear values)

8% 22% 37% 29% 4% 72% 17% 4% 3% 5% 沒有明確的價值觀 (No clear values)

避免衝突 (Avoids conflict)

9% 29% 39% 21% 3% 9% 5% 13% 19% 53% 妥善處理衝突 (Responds well to conflict)

善用時間 (Uses time well)

4% 12% 42% 32% 10% 74% 19% 5% 2% 1% 不能善用時間 (Time used badly)

有冒險精神 (Risk-taking)

1% 25% 34% 33% 7% 34% 41% 22% 3% 0% 沒有冒險精神 (Avoid risks)

能接受新意見 (Open to new ideas)

2% 25% 37% 27% 9% 57% 35% 7% 1% 0% 對新意見存疑 (Skeptical of new ideas)

追求長遠目標 (Pursues long-term goals)

9% 19% 31% 28% 14% 62% 29% 9% 0% 0% 追求短期目標 (Pursues short-term goals)

眼過去 (Looks to the past)

3% 7% 54% 31% 5% 1% 6% 11% 26% 56% 放眼未來 (Looks to the future)

Note: 1 to 5 is a continuum where “1” indicates the closest to the left hand side characteristics (e.g. warm) and “5” indicates the closest to the right-hand-side characteristics (e.g. cold).

29

SSE ACTION 9:

• If the ethos in your school is conducive to SSE, then as part of your ongoing SSE, brief your staff on the instrument in Table 4, and when ready invite all staff to complete the survey. Make sure that the staff know that the survey is confidential (but it will be useful to codify returns say from teaching and support staff). Share the findings with staff, and involve SSE Reflection 7 as part of this action.

• Think through what would be the best way for your school to discuss the findings and take further action (a word with Immanuel Lutheran College and the Taipo benchmark would be a good start).

• Engage in discussion regarding the pros and cons of inviting students and/or parents to take part in a survey with a view to revealing ‘the triangle of views’ – staff, students and parents.

SSE REFLECTIONS 7

Shadowing a student: ‘I am like a snowball – the further I am rolled the more I gain.’ Susan B. Anthony

Shadowing is a self-evaluation instrument that we would like to see used a great deal more in Hong Kong schools with the coming of SDA. It simply means that school leaders and teachers follow a student for the whole of the school day to experience a day in the life of a student. It is important to ensure that staff who undertake the shadowing are briefed and are clear about the objectives. The activity should be an integral part of the school’s self-evaluation and as such all staff should be aware of the purpose. The evidence suggests that shadowing gives the self-evaluation reviewer a feel for what it is

30

like to be a student and to observe the ups and downs of a normal school day. There is an opportunity to see a range of learning experiences and perhaps teaching approaches and thus the in-school evaluation team begin to get new insights into learning and teaching in the school. It also provides scope for studying the relationships between students and students and teachers and students. This in turn can contribute to an evaluation of the school climate and culture including aspects like: expectations of staff and students; movement around the school – is it well planned and orderly; time on task – do students (and teachers) get to classes on time; and, how consistent are school routines from class to class or department to department.

Begin by just selecting a student at random. Then study the student’s timetable for the day noting the spread of subjects, number of teachers involved, mix of classroom and practical activities and so on. The shadower can engage in discussion with the students (and other students in the class) as they go through the day’s programme and encourage the student to give his/her insight into the day’s timetable. The question is: How to get the best out of shadowing?

Think first about the pace and rhythm of the day. Does it stop and start? How do students react to different teaching methods and learning experiences? If students are moving from classroom to classroom, are there different procedures and routines?

•

•

•

•

•

Think about the learning approaches that the students are exposed to in the course of the day. Are they expected to switch easily from direct teaching/instruction to participative learning to independent learning? Are they expected to just accommodate subject changes without fuss, from Chinese language to mathematics to physics to music?

Note the routines, such as welcoming routine and closure of the period. Is there evidence of a school-wide routine and procedure, or is there inconsistency and does the inconsistency matter?

Is homework given out in every period or classroom? Is there any sign of the school policy being adhered to? Do teachers know about the homework already given out to their students in other classes or subjects?

Observe the reaction of students to the different approaches in teaching and in classroom throughout the day. Is there a common approach to discipline? Do students behave differently in some classes and in some subjects? Are there cases of a student who is motivated in one class but disruptive in another? Can we spot the reasons for this?

An effective way of undertaking shadowing is for three to five members of staff to undertake the self-evaluation activity on the same day or on consecutive days. The shadowing team are in a position to share views and experiences covering a good range of the work of the school and in this way to open up a discussion on common issues related to the central work of a school – learning and teaching. Then it makes sense to bring the students together, with the staff team or with someone who has not been on the shadowing team, and invite them to talk about the day – was it a typical day, what were the highlights and lows for them, what two or three big things did they learn in the course of the day, what would improve if you were in charge of the day or timetable?

31

SSE ACTION 10:

• Re-read the section on Shadowing a student. Go on to try out, to pilot this SSE activity in your school. Follow the advice, adapted as necessary for your school’s circumstances, in the paragraph that begins: ‘An effective way of undertaking shadowing……(and ends)……increase its awareness of the quality of learning and teaching in your school’

32

PART THREE:

SO WHAT ABOUT THE VOICE OF OUR STUDENTS?

11. Which learning and teaching methods work best for our students?

We shared views with many students in the course of our visits to schools and the report is sprinkled with student quotes. This section adds to the story while drawing mainly on the feelings and opinions of thirty five senior students, from our project schools, who came together in a half-day seminar.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime – Chinese Proverb

We introduced the teaching methods and impact on learning instrument (really learn a lot and learn nothing) piloted in Immanuel Lutheran College and Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM). The students brainstormed in groups of five to six, first to identify the teaching methods in use in their schools, second to share their views on the frequency of use of each of the methods, and third to evaluate their effectiveness on a scale of really learn a lot to learn nothing. The students took to this activity with ease and enthusiasm, demonstrating once again that the insights of students are arguably the most powerful self-evaluating tool around. Here are just some of the comments of our thirty five students:

• Different students need different teaching methods. Classes should be funny • There are still many methods to teach other than chalk and talk • (We need) More teaching methods and how much we learn • I found that learning can be comprehensive and it should not be confined within

the bounds of classroom and textbook

33

Table 5: Students’ views on teaching methods – Really learn a lot to learn nothing

Very Often

Quite O

ften

Only som

etimes

Rarely/never

Total Student no.

Teaching methods

Really learn a lot

Learn quite a lot

Learn a little

Learn nothing

Total Student no.

31 0 2 0 33 Direct Teaching

(Chalk and talk)

13 17 3 0 33

11 5 2 0 18 Doing exercise/ quiz/ test 5 10 3 0 18

3 9 7 1 20 PowerPoint 1 10 9 0 20

2 15 15 1 33 Group Discussion 10 13 9 1 33

2 8 4 1 15 Self-learning 4 5 5 1 15

1 5 1 7 14 Brainstorming 2 10 2 0 14

1 5 19 2 27 Project learning 10 9 6 2 27

1 6 7 0 14 Presentation by students 6 6 2 0 14

0 0 3 16 19 Field trip 11 5 3 0 19

0 0 8 7 15 Role play 1 5 9 0 15

0 8 10 0 18 Computer Program /

Internet

0 13 5 0 18

0 3 1 1 5 Experiment 0 4 1 0 5

0 1 10 4 15 Audio & Visual materials

(Music, CD)

2 4 9 0 15

0 2 2 1 5 Mind mapping 1 1 3 0 5

0 1 7 1 9 Games 1 2 6 0 9

0 0 1 7 8 Drama 1 6 1 0 8

0 3 2 2 7 Visit 2 2 3 0 7

0 1 1 1 3 Students as teachers 1 0 2 0 3

34

So what of Table 5? Here is confirmation from the consumers that the direct teaching method, the chalk and talk, is by far the most common way of teaching in our schools. It is encouraging that students in Hong Kong feel that they really learn a lot or learn quite a lot as a result of the direct teaching style. However, it is likely that senior students preparing for examinations are more likely to favour the direct teaching style than younger students and less-academically inclined students. The students feel strongly that field trips, project learning and group discussion are very conducive to learning yet the table shows that teachers don’t always make great use of these methods.

The discussions suggested that this is a topic which should be explored further and developed in our schools to increase our awareness and understanding of the teaching and learning methods which best provide for, and promote, learning to learn in Hong Kong – arguably the most important aspect of school life. Just to demonstrate how easy it is to use this instrument, I introduced it, without any prior preparation, to a mixed group of junior and senior students in Immanuel Lutheran College, and we completed the activity in less than forty minutes. I took no more than thirty minutes to pilot it with senior staff in the same school.

Students’ evaluation of teachers’ performance

Here is a summary of the positive views expressed by students in the last round of evaluations in HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School:

Table 6: Good Lessons – Students’ points of view (HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School)

Students are encouraged to ask questions and have time for discussion in class 鼓勵同學發問及有時間進行討論

Students are attentive and can enjoy jokes time after time 上課時安靜並使人專心，不時還有一些笑話不致太悶

Teaching content is interesting and useful for daily lives 課堂內容吸引，並可應用於日常生活中

Teacher shares personal experience that related to the lesson 老師在教學中加入自己的生活體驗及日常生活事例

Teacher makes use of different teaching methods to help students learn better 老師用不同方法教導我們

Teacher is patient and explains things clearly 老師講解清楚明白，不厭其煩用心地教導我們

Teacher assigns appropriate homework 功課數量適中

35

Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School followed a similar pattern and here are some of the findings:

Table 7: Good Lessons – Students’ points of view (Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School)

Lesson well-prepared; explanations clear and easy to understand 備課充足，講解清楚，容易明白

Key points clearly highlighted and explained, never repeating unnecessarily 清楚解說要點，不作不必要重覆

Orderly chalkboard writing and effective use of audio-visual aids 板書有條理，有效使用視聽教材

Teaching patiently and never going too fast for students to follow 耐心教導，教學的節奏快慢適中

Giving appropriate praise, recognition, hints and help to students 給予學生適當的讚賞、肯定、提示和幫助

Challenges given to capture students’ attention and stimulate thinking 提出挑戰以吸引學生和刺激思維

Encouraging students to ask questions, think, express and discuss views 鼓勵學生發問、思考、表達和討論意見

SSE ACTION 11:

• As part of your self-evaluation of the learning and teaching domain, invite two or three groups representative of your student body to brainstorm to identify the teaching methods in use in your school, then to evaluate the methods on a scale of really learn a lot to learn nothing. Ask a senior student to collate the results and, along with three or four other students, to present the findings to the senior management team.

• Now invite a group of teachers, again using a blank sheet of paper, to do the same and compare the findings.

• Next take action to follow through on the findings.

36

12. What does our students’ art gallery tell us about self-evaluation?

Gauguin and Matisse, among others, made the point that most of us quite naturally visualise things more readily than we can express them in words. With this in mind, we invited the students to write down one or two words (and no more) to best describe your school, and then later in the seminar we invited them to draw your school. The words they came up with, working individually, included: happy; warm; enjoyable; exciting; surprising; loving; positive; clean and new; open-minded; flexible; good teachers; responsible; family; friendship; home; and democracy.

Never buy through your ears but through your eyes – Irish proverb

The Hong Kong students took to the draw your school self-evaluation activity probably with greater excitement than any other groups we have worked with globally. When they finished their drawings we hung them on the walls and so we named this activity the Art Gallery (see photographs below).

Seminar for senior students – viewing the Art Gallery

37

A student’s view of his/her principal

• What do the three drawings tell you about the three schools and their principals? As a principal how do you think your students see you?

SSE REFLECTIONS 8

38

Students’ contrasting drawings of their schools

Once you have studied the four drawings go on to SSE Action 12.

39

SSE ACTION 12:

• Invite between 8 and 12 junior and senior students to discuss, first individually, then in groups of three, and then as a whole group, what the drawings say to them about the four schools. Then invite them to draw your school and share the experience through an Art Gallery. Do the same with a group of teachers, and bring the students and teachers together to share their views and their Art Galleries. Now display the drawings in a prominent place in the school entrance and leave space for other students and teachers to add their drawings, say in the course of one week. Then celebrate the Art Gallery at the end of the week.

13. What are our students’ responses to the Carousel’s six key questions?

We introduced our students to the learning method and self-evaluation instrument that we call the carousel. We organised six table groups and allocated one question to each table. The students were invited to stand at the table, felt tip pens in hand, and to brainstorm by writing down on a large sheet of paper everything they could think of in relation to the question. The students were asked to draw a circle in the middle of the sheet and to leave it blank for the moment – and to write outside the circle. At the end of two minutes, table one group moved to table two, table two to table three and so on in the carousel. The students moved from table to table until they ended up back at their starting table (table group one at table one, table group two at table two and so on until the carousel stopped. Each group was then faced with the task of surveying all the wealth of thoughts and ideas on the table sheet and to come up with no more than ten key points. The ten key points were then placed in the circle. The six sheets were then hung on the wall to give everyone an opportunity to study the conclusions and to discuss the findings. This activity moved at pace and so within thirty minutes or so our thirty five students were able to come up with an excellent starter paper on ways of looking at school evaluation and success which sometimes takes a research project months to complete. The six questions were:

• What makes a good teacher? • What makes a bad teacher?

• What makes a good student? • What makes a good parent?

• What makes a good school? • What makes a good principal?

40

Originally we set out five questions but the students felt that we should add a sixth one – what makes a bad teacher. The seminar evaluation forms highlight the students’ enthusiasm for this learning approach and self-evaluation method and also for opportunities to brainstorm. The students were asked what they liked best in the seminar and their feelings are captured in the quote below:

‘The circle games – exciting!’ ‘Brainstorming, can go around – yeah!’

Table 8: Students’ top ten characteristics of what makes a good/bad...?

Good Teacher • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • •

•

Patient Responsible Caring Friendly Approachable/ sharing ideas Good preparation for lesson Good looking/ good impression Professional Smile Play together with students

Bad Teacher Bad teaching skills Bad attitude Irresponsible Stubborn Lazy (pretend to be hardworking) Boring Rude Too much homework assigned to students Heavy punishment

Good Student • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • •

Polite Responsible Active Friendly Hardworking Co-operative Smart Helpful Love school Willing to learn

Good Parent Love Good listener Freedom Supportive Understanding Open-minded Caring Spend time with their children Kind Share (ideas, love, time)

Good School • • • • • • •

• • •

• • • • • • • • • •

Warm relationship Clean/ new/ good facilities Responsible/ open-minded teachersFlexible school rules Free atmosphere Good learning environment Good performance in study and ECA Accept students’ ideas Large space Good teachers

Good Principal Open-minded Nice Responsible Caring Listen to others Leadership Creative Power Not too strict Good communication skills

41

A week after the seminar, we invited a group of primary six pupils from TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School to brainstorm what makes a good teacher and their views have much in common with our senior students. Their enthusiasm and intelligent insights were further confirmation of the contribution our younger pupils can make to SSE. They said a good teacher is someone who is: kind; good at sharing lively approaches with pupils; ready to use lots of learning activities; willing to let us discuss things in class; encourages group work and interaction in class; patient; responsible; and explains things clearly.

SSE ACTION 13:

• In one of your staff development days, give some time to the carousel activity, using the same or adapted questions to meet your needs. At the same time, organise a similar carousel brainstorming activity with some students.

• Compare the findings and invite your subject panels to review their approaches to learning and teaching in the light of the results.

42

PART FOUR:

WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF SSE ON LEARNING AND TEACHING, SCHOOL ETHOS AND LEADERSHIP?

14. Is this the litmus test of good self-evaluation?

In the words of Liu Xiang:

‘To judge a man, compare his words with his deeds’

The impact on learning and teaching and students’ achievements is arguably the litmus test. Yet it is probably the most difficult question to answer as the impact is not always measurable and even where it can be measured there may be a long time delay before the full impact is known. As the teacher in Caritas Lok Kan School remarked:

‘In our work it can be a long long time before we see the results of our efforts’

There can be so many other contributory factors to take into account. But this should not stop us from evaluating the extent of the impact of self-evaluation in our schools.

It is a good start but not enough – Hong Kong teacher

While to my external eye the SSE activities are already showing encouraging results which compare favourably with worldwide developments, the schools are naturally cautious about making exaggerated claims for the success of their SSE. Perhaps, as one principal remarked, to be modest is part of the Chinese culture. There is a place for modesty but also a place for recognising achievement and giving praise for the many forward-looking happenings in Hong Kong schools. A teacher in HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary School was in no way complacent when she shared her feelings with us:

‘We have not achieved everything we set out to do but we have made all good progress. We are more willing to try new teaching techniques in the classroom and we can see that our pupils are happier and learn better as a result of our evaluations’

An enthusiastic teacher in Kowloon Technical School made her point in this way:

‘It is a good start but not enough. Some teachers do not feel comfortable to open up their classroom for observation and evaluation. I think it is a kind of Chinese tradition – to keep things inside the house’

43

Her equally enthusiastic colleague on the planning team added:

‘The good results in the first phase have encouraged more departments to join us because the teachers want to have some change in teaching methods and attitudes’

New ways of teaching to improve learning

The evidence gathered in Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM) suggests that there is a real desire to work together in the light of the project findings to plan for the move to a Whole Day school operation. The analysis of the questionnaires showed that teachers felt that they needed to become familiar with a wider range of teaching methods, particularly to give students more opportunities for self-development – our seminar on learning and teaching methods was in direct response to their expressed need.

The students got a sense of achievement – Vice Principal, Hong Kong School

The desire of St. Francis Xavier’s College was to raise the language proficiency of its students through the improvement of the reading atmosphere in the school. The interim evaluation of the Reading Atmosphere Enhancement Team is encouraging, showing that:

• Many more students were observed reading at leisure time • More visits were recorded to the library regarding reading-related work • The number of books borrowed by S1 and S2 students (the pilot years) rose

significantly and to a much greater extent than for other year groups • The evaluation forms show that the vast majority of students like the scheme

and the majority of parents welcome it.

Father Cucchiara Memorial School (PM)’s evaluation of its Chinese Writing Campaign (Joyful Writer) has had a positive impact in the following ways:

• A strong writing atmosphere has improved team spirit and boosted the sense of belonging of parents and former students

• Students have shared their growth experiences with their classmates and the school community generally through, for example, the published writings (entitled Path of Growth and Words from the Bottom of My Heart) and, as a bonus, raised expectations for all. The work has given a boost to the artistic skills of the students as all of the enterprising illustrations in the two books have been drawn by students. This is yet another demonstration of the gregarious nature of SSE activities – one leads to another.

This is what the vice principal thought of the SSE activity:

‘The students got a sense of achievement. They wear big smiles. We had a meeting for the writers to sign their names on the books for others’

44

The teacher of Chinese said:

‘The way of writing is very different from the traditional way. This is called creative writing and the teachers and students have tried new ways of writing’.

We decided to do something – Principal, Hong Kong School

Mathematics, like reading and writing, is central to schools’ curricula. Following advice from a QAI inspection, PLK Chat Yat Primary School took steps to improve the effectiveness of mathematics teaching in the school. The principal put it quite plainly:

‘We decided to do something.’

The outcome of the evaluation to date shows that:

• Collaborative teaching has led to more effective teaching strategies • Students’ interest in mathematics has been enhanced • Professional development of teachers in the mathematics panel has been

boosted • Enhanced school ethos through the moves to sharing and exploring new ideas • Self-evaluation now has a firmer footing in the school

‘If your boss says that you are good, then that is fine but not enough. But if your students say that you are good, then you are real good – Vice Principal, Hong Kong school

The quality of what happens in classrooms is arguably the most important factor in what makes for an effective school, so it was pleasing to see a good number of our schools focused on classroom observation and staff appraisal. TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School has nurtured a considered approach to lesson observation which has yielded good results such as:

• The quality of teaching and learning activities has been improved • Teachers are into the habit of discussing and solving problems in pairs or in

teams, rather than in isolation • Feedback from lesson observation has been used to support further training

and lesson planning

While the principal is modest about the achievements, a commendable development has been the readiness to celebrate success and to use praise as a motivating factor for both students and teachers. SKH Kei Tak Primary School (AM) has adopted a fairly similar approach to that of TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School, promoting peer observation as a means of enhancing professional exchange and the quality of teaching. Teachers generally have become comfortable with the staff appraisal system but some are still finding it difficult to accept the evaluations in what is a well-managed system. The chief principal described the culture of self-evaluation in the school as mid-way as he felt that more needed to be done to bring about a greater impact on learning and students’ achievements. The school is also aware of the need to revise its observation forms

45

to emphasise the importance of evaluating the progress made by students in achieving the lesson objectives.

Exchanges with students in HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School confirmed that the self-evaluation activity through which students’ give their views on teachers’ performance is having an impact. One student pointed out, for example,

‘Mr …… has made changes to the way he does things and many teachers have improved as a result of hearing what we have to say’

Students also praised the new curriculum changes and the new classroom activities. And in a telling quote one said:

‘We don’t just fill in forms and nothing happens, changes have been made’

The importance of taking account of students’ views is central to the thinking and doing of The Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow and we left HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School with another telling quote ringing in our ears, this time from the vice principal:

‘If your boss says that you are good, then that is fine but not enough. But if your students say that you are good, then you are real good.’

We have to be a learning school – Principal, Hong Kong

The successful staff appraisal system in Caritas Lok Kan School grew out of the classroom observation initiative and has been improved as a result of careful monitoring. It doesn’t take long in the school to witness the impact of the activity in the classrooms, including the highly-specialised provision. The outcomes include:

• Improved teaching methods to meet the special needs of the students

• Staff have become very much reflective practitioners, willing to share ideas and embrace new opportunities

• A culture of sharing with frank exchanges and promotion of a commitment to the best possible deal for the students

The principal has inspired the staff, students and parents to come together in what he described as a learning school for all the key players. As one committed teacher frankly said:

‘Sometimes you feel stressful but you know that from the comments you begin to see your weaknesses that you are not seeing during teaching’

46

SSE ACTION 14: • Select one SSE activity in your school, bring together the key participants

and ask them to describe its impact along with the evidence for their evaluation. Don’t forget to involve more than one of your key stakeholders.

• Go on to identify any gaps in your evaluation of the impact of the SSE activity.

The coming together of principals and teachers – what do they think about the impact?

During our seminar with the twenty one schools in May 2003, we worked to identify the successes, the impact of the project and SSE generally, and the aspects to be improved further. They were united in saying that there has been the development of a favourable climate for SSE, greater team spirit, the coming of more honest evaluation and more confidence in schools to strengthen evaluation and reporting. They felt that SSE has raised awareness of self-improvement and brought about much better collaboration to promote professional development. The vibes regarding the culture of learning and teaching were positive and there was a strong desire to improve further.

The seminar with the 21 schools in May 2003 overseen by the great teacher

47

Table 9: Successes/Impacts and Further Improvements

Successes/Impacts •

•

•

• • •

•

•

• •

•

•

•

•

•

More motivated teachers striving for improvement Growing culture of peer observation Better acceptance of appraisal of performance Diversified teaching approaches Improved learning and teaching Students’ views being respected more and more Greater involvement of parents in evaluation Willingness to share the results of evaluation in and beyond the school

Further Improvements • Improve evaluation of the impact of

SSE Increase teacher involvement in SSE Introduce more opportunities for students and parents to evaluate the school Foster peer coaching and a collaborative culture Promote a whole school approach to SSE Introduce more diversity in teaching methods Willingness to share SSE experiences among Hong Kong schools Adjust teacher workload and programming of new activities

A further demonstration of the new openness and readiness to embrace evaluation in all aspects was the willingness of several of the project schools to volunteer to be the first pilot schools in May and June 2003 for the new ESR, while others agreed to pilot the new stakeholder surveys and Key Performance Measures report card which are part of ESR.

15. How close are our schools to making self-evaluation happen?

So what have we learned about the quality of school self-evaluation from working alongside twenty one Hong Kong schools over the past year? Some of our schools are, in the words of one principal just at the beginning of the road marked out for schools aspiring to be Hong Kong Schools of Today and Tomorrow. Others, with the aid of a clear vision of where they want to go and supported by a well planned route map are, or close to becoming, Hong Kong Schools of Today and Tomorrow. The majority of our project schools is approaching, or is just beyond, the half-way mark. We have learned in the project that if we merge the top-down and bottom-up approaches and give everyone a chance to have a say then we can make self-evaluation happen. As Senge points out:

‘The collective intelligence of the organization is greater than the intelligence of any one individual.’

The message from the successful schools shows that when there is a singleness of purpose, a desire to succeed, they can make it happen. In other words of the Ethiopian sage:

‘When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.’ One thing is clear from the outcomes of the project – all twenty one schools are heading in the right direction and aspiring to be Hong Kong Schools of Today and Tomorrow.

48

PART FIVE:

NINE-ELEVEN-NINE – THE WAY FORWARD?

16. What are the Nine Pieces of Advice?

Our twenty one schools’ experience is very similar to that of schools beyond Hong Kong and as such their advice is worth a lot more than a passing thought. The following is my summary of the collective advice of the twenty one schools.

• Put in place a school climate conducive to self-evaluation which encourages debate, openness and respects of the views of staff, students and parents.

• Get staff prepared before new projects are introduced and establish mutual trust between school leadership and those who have to implement the programmes, irrespective of whether a top-down or bottom-up approach is used. Many people are sensitive and anxious when it comes to evaluation of performance so take time to discuss issues such as:

What is the purpose?

Who is it for?

Who will carry it out?

Who will be consulted?

How much time and energy will it consume?

What are the success criteria?

How will the results be shared?

• Start small using a step-by-step approach. Resist the temptation to introduce a range of projects at one go, remembering the words of the Chinese proverb: Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still

• Set realistic targets and remain focused as it is important to demonstrate success – to put the ball in the net or basket

• Accept that you will not always get things right first time, taking encouragement from the words of Wayne Gretsky: You miss one hundred per cent of the shots you don’t take.

• Assign a core team with clear objectives to oversee SSE. The team should have a good mix of staff covering a range of grades and experience.

• Confidentiality and anonymity are essential to the success of activities making use of, for example, questionnaires and students’ views on classroom practice.

• Go for SSE instruments which are relatively easy to use and analyse – the KISS principle

• Get started! Don’t wait for the ideal time – there isn’t one.

49

17. What are the Eleven Successes?

The features of the march towards self-evaluation which promise well for the future of school education in Hong Kong are, in my view, encapsulated in the eleven successes.

An atmosphere of self-reflection and openness among staff in more and more schools (for example, HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary school, SKH Leung Kwai Yee Secondary School, Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School (AM) and St. Francis Xavier’s College)

The participation of staff, students and parents in evaluating school performance (for example, Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin), CCC Kei Wa Primary School (AM) and PLK Chan Yat Primary School)

Flourishing school culture fostering team spirit, recognising success and the importance of giving praise (for example, TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School, Caritas Lok Kan School and Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School)

Increasing readiness to use the results of SSE to influence development plans and identify priorities and more open reporting via school web sites (for example, St. Francis’ Canossian College, Immanuel Lutheran College and Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM) )

Growing number of teachers taking part in classroom observation and who say that peer observation and listening to students’ views bring about improvements in learning and teaching (for example, HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School, Kowloon Technical School, TWGHs Chen Zao Men College, Father Cucchiara Memorial School (PM), SKH Kei Tak Primary School (AM), HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary School)

A growing recognition in schools that all staff – teachers, support staff, professional staff and technical staff – matter when it comes to looking at how to improve our schools’ performance (for example, Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM), Immanuel Lutheran College and Caritas Lok Kan School, Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin))

Very good resources in almost all schools, excellent provision of new technology to support learning in all schools and outstanding buildings and facilities in a majority of schools (for example, Kowloon Tong Government Primary School, HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary School and Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School)

Growing number of schools recognising the importance of taking account of students’ views on the school, including learning and teaching (for example, Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School, HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School and Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School, TWGHs Chen Zao Men College)

Willingness, of the majority of schools, to adapt and make use of SSE instruments developed internationally - such as My School As It Is/My School As I Would Like It To Be and Teachers’ Views On Key Issues.

Significant number of SSE activities at the cutting edge of self-evaluation (for example, students’ views on teachers’ performance; classroom observation by school leaders, peers and students; and, evaluation of the school through surveys of stakeholders)

A critical mass of effective and, at times, visionary leadership at principal, vice principal and team leader (for example, of self-evaluation or project teams) levels.

50

18. What are the Nine Priorities?

The following action points, arising out of our work on the project, related developments in Hong Kong, plus my international experience, are directed at all of them.

Energise self-evaluation so that it permeates every aspect of the work of our schools and is inspired with a sense of unstinting commitment to school development. We firmly believe that rigorous and systematic school self-evaluation, based on genuine evidence, including data on student performance, is the driving force for continuous performance – Mrs Fanny Law.

Get across at every opportunity that there is no mystique about self-evaluation – it is about doing what comes naturally and, as such, it is a habit and not a once a year chore.

At school and government levels, take every opportunity to make it known that in energised and rigorous self-evaluation, learning and teaching come first – this means that the quality and standards of students’ achievements have to be open to objective evaluation. Effective learning and teaching is the number one principle of the successful self-evaluating school of today and tomorrow.

A readiness to accept in all schools, including our project schools, the need to be more rigorous and open in evaluating the performance of its students in external examinations and sharing, in the future, of the key performance measures’ report card.

The questions – Why self-evaluation? Why the emphasis on self-evaluation? – need to be given enhanced status in the continuing professional development of school leaders and teachers if energised self-evaluation is to take root in Hong Kong.

Teachers’ and principals’ perception of new initiative overload should be addressed by policy makers to bring about increased commitment to successful self-evaluation and readiness to embrace change.

Policy makers at government and supervisory body levels should, at the earliest opportunity, take action to improve networking across schools to bring about improved sharing and comparison of best practices and what works. This project, including the Tai Po beginning, is a good example of how this might be taken forward.

Globally, there is a recognition that both self-evaluation and external evaluation have complementary roles to play in improving the quality of students’ learning. It is clear from the project that there is a window of opportunity for the whole educational community to work in partnership to make a success of the EMB’s considered and phased programme to establish a SDA programme which combines the best of SSE and ESR.

The set of performance indicators and key performance measures developed by EMB should be adopted, territory-wide, to give a coherent and consistent approach to evaluating performance in Hong Kong school education. The implementation of this priority would hasten moves to get schools and external reviewers to talk the same language as Hong Kong moves to embrace an evaluation approach combining SSE and ESR. Without a coherent and consistent approach, it will be difficult to come close to answering the question How good is school education in Hong Kong.

51

19. Where is The Way Forward?

So my experience of school self-evaluation in the project schools, schools in Hong Kong generally, and with schools and national bodies in five continents, leads me to conclude that the Eleven Successes should be celebrated and publicised throughout the territory. School self-evaluation is alive and beginning to thrive in Hong Kong. In our view, the preparatory work in promoting quality assurance which began a decade ago with School-based Management has had a quite definite impact on the culture and way of thinking in Hong Kong schools. There is now a readiness to embrace a culture of self-evaluation and school improvement. There is a growing desire to put students first.

I believe that the school that fails to involve students and parents, as well as staff, in evaluating performance is the school that will be out of step in the Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow. The school that fails to evaluate classroom learning and teaching is the school that will be left behind in the drive to raise standards in Hong Kong schools. The school that fails to open its mind to the Eight Pieces of Advice will pass up the opportunity to become a learning school. The school that fails to self-evaluate in a rigorous way will be ill-prepared for the very public external school review which is coming sooner rather than later.

Like a snowball, school development and evaluation have grown bit by bit until they are now close to permeating all aspects of the work of many of Hong Kong schools and policy makers. The challenge is to act on the Nine Priorities to bring the message of success through self-evaluation to all schools and policy makers. This will smooth the way for the implementation of School Development and Accountability based on systematic internal school self-evaluation complemented by external school review. Our project schools’ willingness to share, and learn from, their experiences is something we need to build upon if we are to move all Hong Kong schools further down the road to the Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow. It is my view that there is a window of opportunity for Hong Kong to take up this challenge to bring success to students and schools and, in so doing, to give a lead to the rest of the world.

52

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: THE PROJECT DIRECTOR

Pupils of Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School (AM) with the Project Director

Archie McGlynn, the Project Director, is Director of McGlynn-Ross Education Limited (Scotland). He has undertaken a variety of assignments in Hong Kong over the past two years and has a good working knowledge of the school system. He is senior adviser to New American Schools, Center for Evidence Based Education (Virginia, USA) and was special adviser to the Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany) international project on school development through international comparisons. With John MacBeath, Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Cambridge, he is co-author of Self-evaluation: what’s in it for schools? (RoutledgeFalmer 2002) which Times Educational Supplement said: ‘……they provide an excellent resume of the progress……schools have made in school improvement, setting out the principles for self-evaluation, and make a particularly good case for the importance of context.’

He led one of the four international networks which led to the OECD education indicators and the annual OECD report Education at a Glance. Archie was HM Chief Inspector of Schools (Scotland) from 1987-2000 where he put in place ‘How good is our School’, self-evaluation guidelines that have been translated into several languages.

53

A LIST OF 21 SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN SSE ACTIVITIES

Primary

School Principal Address Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (PM) Mr WONG Tak-sing Choi Yuen Estate, Sheung Shui, NT

CCC Kei Wa Primary School (AM) Mr FAN Sing-chung Wong Kuk Avenue, Choi Hung Estate, Kln Father Cucchiara Memorial School (PM) Mrs MAK KAN Yun-wah Cheung Ching Estate, Phase I, Tsing Yi Island, NT

HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary School Ms CHOI Yuen-ying Josephine 11 Tin Wing Road, Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long, NT

Kowloon Tong Government Primary School Ms CHEUNG Tsun-shan 6 Tim Fuk Road, Kowloon Tong, Kln

PLK Chan Yat Primary School Ms NG Kit-ying Christina No.2 Cheung Hong Estate, Tsing Yi, NT

SKH Kei Tak Primary School (AM) Mr TANG Siu-hung Peter Principal (Co-ordinator) Tai Shing Street, Wong Tai Sin, Kln

Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School (AM) Ms CHAN Sau-king Tung Cheong Street, Tai Po, NT

TWGHs Li Chi Ho Primary School Ms FUNG Yuk-yi 280 Queens Road East, Wan Chai, HK

Secondary

Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School Mr TANG Siu-hin 4 Wah King Hill Road, Kwai Chung, NT

HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No. 1 Secondary School Mr YAU Hon-kee 42 Wo Yi Hop Road, Kwai Chung, NT

Immanuel Lutheran College Mr YAU Chung-wan Tai Yuen Estate, Tai Po, Area 16, NT

Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin) Mr CHAN Hon-ling Wo Che Estate, 7 Fung Shun Street, Shatin, NT

Kowloon Technical School Mrs HUNG CHAN Sau-lai 332-334 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Shamshuipo, Kln

Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School Ms CHAN Kam-tim Theresa 5 Choi Hung Road, San Po Kong, Kln SKH Leung Kwai Yee Secondary School Ms CHAN Lai-yin 28 Hiu Ming Street, Kwun Tong, Kln

St. Francis’ Canossian College Sr YU Ka-pik Susanna 9 – 13 Kennedy Road, Wan Chai, HK

St. Francis Xavier’s College Br CHENG Chin-yeong Anthony 45 Sycamore Street, Tai Kok Tsui, Kln

TWGHs Chen Zao Men College Mr CHUNG Wah-on (Acting Principal)

1 – 5 Kwai Hop Street, Kwai Shing, Kwai Chung, NT

Yuen Long Public Secondary School Mrs LUN LAI Siu-kam 22, Town Park Road, South Shui Ngau Leng, Yuen Long, NT

Special

Caritas Lok Kan School Dr NG Kwok-hung 42 St Francis Street, Wanchai, HK

54