When St Mary's took part in the Whole School Evaluation pilot scheme last spring, our staff of 40 responded very positively to the invitation. This to me spoke volumes about their professional confidence and sense of pride in the school and their interest in the good of the school and our students, the benefit to education generally, and anything likely to enhance our own professionalism. External evaluation seemed an easy and natural progression from the rigorous self-evaluation in which we have, from time to time, engaged. The commonsensical attitude of "nothing is so good that it cannot be better" prevailed.
The board of management, too, unsurprisingly, saw the value and benefits. Personally, I saw the opportunity for St Mary's to tap into the expertise and experience of the Department of Education's inspectorate, through an evaluation process that would be formal and thorough, and thus provide our school with a well judged agenda for further development in the new millennium.
Quality of teaching and of learning, quality of planning and of management were to be evaluated. The Department selected four subject areas involving almost half our teachers.
Each participating school was represented at a very comprehensive two-day briefing at which the purpose, principles and process of WSE were outlined. The flexibility, openness and mutuality which prevailed marked the entire process. St Mary's felt that once again it was making a little bit of history and again, also, making a contribution to the broader community as we hosted a team of nine inspectors, each of whom would spend two days with us. The inspectors met a number of groups and individuals, including the entire staff; the four selected faculties; individual teachers; board of management representatives; in-school management personnel, including some assistant principals; special duties teachers; co-ordinators of Transition Year and Leaving Cert Applied; representatives of the parents' council; and representatives of the students' representative council.
I myself spent a good deal of time in discussion on planning and management with the reporting inspector, whom I did not envy having to read almost a wheel-barrow load of documentation, including our five-year development plan.
The investment of time was, in my view, very good value for the substantial dividends of being objectively and expertly evaluated, with recommendations for further development in the future and all for free.
Disruption was minimal: in fact, the process felt far less of an intrusion to the work of the school, and less stressful, than the annual orals and practicals.
Our staff deserve congratulations, not only on having the courage and generosity to participate, but also on the excellence of the outcome. I was also very impressed at the depth of understanding and insight arrived at so quickly by the inspectors.
The following are some lessons which I learn from the experience: how easy it is to take for granted the hard work of teachers inside and outside the classroom; the immense complexity of a large second-level school; the immensely valuable and supportive structures such as parents' council, SRC etc, not to mention the board of management.
