A new approach to self-evaluation reports – but what does it mean for schools?

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How did we get here?

We’ve always said that inspection begins with the school’s self-evaluation report. It showed how well a school knew itself and prioritised what needed to improve. This approach worked in schools where leaders understood that reliable information in a self-evaluation report was a gateway to improvement.

Asking schools to share their written evaluation brought benefits. It encouraged schools to become more reflective, and when this was part of a wider approach to improvement, schools benefited from a reliable paper trail. It helped them to find ways to improve strategically and to keep reviewing progress.  But this reflective approach, even after decades of self-evaluation, is not common.

High stakes

Over time, the term ‘self-evaluation’ became synonymous with a written report.  Myths arose about what a good self-evaluation report was and self-evaluation became about the quality of the report. Some schools even hired ‘consultants’ to write their report so that it was ‘Estyn ready’. Such behaviours took the document further from the school’s ownership.  Reports covered all aspects of a school’s work. They were time consuming, grew in size and became a very high stakes document.

Behaviours emerged that rarely helped schools to improve, including:

  • writing a report for an external audience
  • evaluating everything
  • placing too much emphasis on data
  • being overly positive about the school’s work
  • not recognising shortcomings
  • proving at the expense of improving
  • employing consultants to write an ‘evaluative’ report
  • inspecting the quality of a school’s paperwork.

Can you prove it?

Sometimes schools felt compelled to prove every sentence in their self-evaluation report, for example by referring to data. Often, schools would seek out evidence to prove to others what they already knew. Take, for example, a whole school focus on behaviour during lesson observations with plenty of form filling, when everyone at school knew that behaviour was good…because they just knew it was. 

Proof of reasons to change or the impact of change should be visible in the everyday life and work of the school. People should know why they are doing what they do and the difference that it makes to pupils.

Why are we making this change?

Because…

  • we feel it is the right thing to do and the right time to do it
  • we are an inspectorate that learns – we reflect on our behaviours, systems and processes and on the difference that these make to schools and their learners
  • time invested in writing reports doesn’t always represent good value in improvement yielded or the burden placed on schools
  • we support the change to process-driven evaluation that is part of school and system-wide improvement 
  • we piloted this approach in schools last year and it worked well
  • we want to do more to support schools by enabling schools to focus on things that will make the biggest difference to learners.

What does it mean for schools?

Schools and pupil referral units that are maintained by a local authority won’t have to submit a self-evaluation report before inspection but their self-evaluation processes will still be very important. We’ll consider how well leaders know their school’s strengths, what they could do better and how well they use this knowledge to improve the school.

What doesn’t it mean for schools?

It doesn’t reduce the importance of effective evaluation processes.

It doesn’t mean that self-evaluation reports are banned. The important thing is that any information the school uses and produces supports improvement.

It doesn’t mean that the school’s improvement plan becomes the new self-evaluation report. Our aim is not for schools to move wasted time and effort from one document to another.

What will inspection look like?

Things that will stay the same during inspection:

  • The common inspection framework
  • The need to provide a current improvement plan
  • We’ll still request the safeguarding self-evaluation report
  • On-site activities.

Things that will change:

  • No self-evaluation report
  • No emerging questions
  • The first inspection meeting will focus on discussing the school’s improvement priorities and the progress made.

Next steps

We’ll:

  • keep an eye on these changes and ask schools and inspectors for feedback
  • keep you informed about further developments
  • use any lessons learnt to help shape the next cycle of inspections
  • continue to work with partners to develop the National Evaluation and Improvement Resource.