School Self-evaluation Manual

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School Self-evaluation Manual

Education Bureau

July 2018

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In 2000, the Government introduced the Quality Assurance (QA) Framework for Kindergartens. The QA Framework stresses the importance of School Self-evaluation (SSE) as the core of education optimisation, and this is complemented by external school review for facilitating the sustainable development of kindergartens (KGs).

During the 2007/08 school year, the Education Bureau (EDB) implemented the Pre- primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS), which required participating schools to undergo Quality Reviews (QR) conducted by the EDB and conduct SSE annually. QR aims at promoting sustainable development in schools. In the past few years, schools were able to gradually integrate SSE in their daily work and realise the inter-connected self-evaluation processes, viz. planning, implementation and evaluation, so as to holistically plan their school development. In the 2017/18 school year, the EDB introduced the kindergarten education scheme (the Scheme). Like before, schools had to first carry out SSE, then write the School Report. Review teams from the EDB assessed the overall performance of the schools so as to decide whether the quality of the schools met the criteria specified in the QA Framework. Schools not joining the Scheme were encouraged to make reference to the information about SSE on the EDB website to establish a SSE mechanism for continuous self-improvement. The EDB also strongly encourages schools to strengthen accountability and improve the transparency of management by uploading the SR to the school website so that the public will be able to peruse and become aware of the latest development of the schools.

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II. School Self-evaluation (SSE) Mechanism

1. What is SSE?



SSE is a process of collective reflection that provides insight into the current circumstances of schools, so that their staff can evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the schools in order to identify areas that need to be improved for sustainable development.

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Four basic questions that SSE mainly addresses:

 How effective are the schools?

 How to identify schools’ performance?

 What makes this performance possible?

 What follow-ups or further development can be made?

2. What do schools gain from implementing SSE?



Direction and strategy for improvement: Each school is unique and has an individual approach to achieving its improvement goals. Therefore, there is no general blueprint for all schools to follow. Consequently, schools must unite their teams and motivate them to be progressive. They must identify their strengths and weaknesses and ascertain the source of problems in order to find an appropriate direction for improvement.

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Empowerment of the school: Staff involvement in SSE will improve their communication and collaboration in achieving sustainable development. It will motivate employees to initiate improvements, strengthen their sense of ownership in the schools’ policies and measures, and build team spirit and a self-management culture. This will make them be more willing to meet challenges and pursue excellence.

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Accountability: Schools have their own mission and vision. They must also be accountable to children, parents, teachers, the School Management Committee, sponsoring body and other stakeholders. Through SSE, schools can report to these stakeholders on their work effectiveness in various areas thereby realising the spirit of accountability.

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School development in line with social development: In a rapidly developing society, SSE can help schools assess their situation and take timely and appropriate measures that match their development needs.

3. Is it necessary for schools to set up a working group to encourage stakeholders to participate in SSE?

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Schools should review their own situation before determining the form and extent of various stakeholders’ involvement in SSE. They should consider establishing SSE working groups and parent groups according to their needs.

However, members should be representative of various parties so that ideas are solicited from multiple perspectives to enhance the objectivity of SSE.

As long as sufficient stakeholder views are collected for analysis and decision- making, schools may not need to set up a working group.

4. What roles do School Heads play in SSE?

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As the key person in SSE, School Heads must be very supportive of SSE, have mastery of SSE skills, be able to unite and lead staff to conduct SSE. These include:

 Leading staff to:

• Understand the concepts and skills of SSE

• Understand and apply the Performance Indicators (Kindergarten)

• Establish a SSE mechanism and set out evaluation methods

• Recognise that “Learning and Teaching” is the core of all school work, and that schools’ educational goals are achieved by sustainably developing the curriculum through curriculum planning, monitoring and review

• Comprehensively review the effectiveness of school work and write the school report. And to develop a work plan for next school year according to their mission and current circumstances to promote children’s learning and sustainable development

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 Establishing adequate and appropriate channels to inform stakeholders of the contents of the school report.

5. Why are schools requested to perform SSE each year? What is SSE about?

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Schools must be able to develop sustainably. Yet, their situation changes every year and so do the opportunities and challenges that they face.

Therefore, schools are necessary to conduct SSE every year.

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After a school term ends, schools should evaluate the effectiveness of work plans and all aspects of their work over the past year (Evaluation) before setting up the work plan for next school year (Planning) according to their situation and children’s learning needs. When relevant strategies and work are implemented in the new school term, school management will assume a monitoring role (Implementation & monitoring). During the implementation process, schools will collect relevant information for evaluation (Evaluation) after the end of the next term.

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The following figure shows the flow of the inter-connected self-evaluation processes, viz. planning, implementation and evaluation. Assuming the school has drafted the work plan of this year based on its SSE findings, with implementation and monitoring throughout the school year, at the end of the school term, the school can carry out evaluation based on the collected information before preparing the School Report of this year and drafting the work plan of next year.

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6. How can the SSE culture be established and fostered in schools?

 Establishing beliefs:

 Encourage each employee to believe they are active learners. This will make the whole team willing to try and learn, and instil an attitude of striving for excellence in their work.

 Encourage the spirit of “learning by doing”. Schools must guide their employees and give them the courage to practise SSE. Only by accumulating and summarising their experience in SSE will schools’ self- evaluation capabilities improve.

 Creating an atmosphere:

 Build a relationship of mutual trust and honesty between management and staff. Management should respect the views of each employee and value opinions made from different perspectives.

 Management should accept different opinions with an open mind and listen to all voices to strengthen the sense of belonging and cohesion in schools.

 Empowering the team and promoting the effectiveness of SSE:

 Schools should encourage teachers to pursue continuing education and empower the team by providing them with opportunities for professional development and collaboration. This will enable them to evaluate the effectiveness of their work more accurately and promote sustainable development and improvement in schools. The teaching team will then become more actively involved in SSE.

7. How can SSE be implemented in routine tasks?

 To implement the inter-connected self-evaluation processes, viz. planning, implementation and evaluation in routine tasks, schools should always assess whether their work has met pre-set goals and should think of ways to further improve work performance.

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8. Why does the EDB still send a review team to schools for Quality Review (QR) as it encourages schools to implement SSE?

 SSE is central to education optimisation in schools. The EDB aims to provide schools with recommendations from a different perspective to achieve the following goals:

 To review the progress of SSE at schools and find out how the inter- connected self-evaluation processes, viz. planning, implementation and evaluation have been implemented at schools to promote sustainable development

 To validate SSE findings

 To promote evidence-based SSE to help schools more clearly identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to set the direction of development

 To encourage schools to establish a more open, transparent and collaborative SSE culture

 To report the performance of schools to the public

 To enhance quality of kindergarten education through dissemination of effective practices among KGs.

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III. Design and Content of the School Report

9. What are the objectives of the report?

 To further promote the inter-connected self-evaluation processes, viz.

planning, implementation and evaluation

 To guide schools to evaluate work performance and formulate work plans with a distinct focus on “Learning and Teaching”

10. How can the objectives of the report be achieved?

 A facilitative framework is developed to help schools to:

 Conduct a holistic review on related domains for a focused evaluation

 Evaluate work performance with an evidence-based manner

 Target the effectiveness of “Learning and Teaching” and encourage schools to evaluate their effectiveness with reference to children’s performance

 Effectively organise and summarise SSE findings

 Combine evaluation and planning

11. What is the function of this facilitative report framework?

 It guides schools to review the effectiveness of their work and devise the work plan.

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12. What is the main content of the School Report?

 See the Appendix for a template of the School Report. It can also be downloaded from the EDB website:

http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/preprimary-kindergarten/quality- assurance-framework/sse/index.html

13. What is the connection between “Self-evaluation” and “Development Plan”

in the report?

 The “self-evaluation” begins with a review on the current work plan and school situation. Then schools review their development over the past year

Main content of the School Report

Part Three Development Plan

3.1 Exploring Ways for Sustainable Development 3.2 Major Concerns

3.3 School Work Plan for Next School Year Part Two Self-evaluation

2.1 Reviewing the Effectiveness of the Work Plan for the Current School Year

2.2 Our Learning and Teaching

2.3 Our Support to Children and Teachers Part One Our School

1.1 School Mission and Goals 1.2 Our Children

1.3 Our Teaching Staff

1.4 Management and Administration 1.5 Safety and Hygiene Measures 1.6 Activities of the Year 1.7 Summary of Expenditure

Exploring a direction for future development and planning the work

for next school year

Reviewing the current work plan and school situation

Reviewing school development over the past school year

3.3 2.2 2.3

3.1 3.2

2.1

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explore a direction for future development and devise the work plan for next school year.

 The development plan devised by the school will become the starting review point of the next year’s school report.

14. How can schools organise the contents of the report?

 The report is composed of two major parts: evaluation and planning. 2.1 to 2.3 are related to evaluation whereas 3.1 to 3.3 are related to planning. The green text in the figure below guides schools to review their performance.

Schools are free to organise the content of the report based on the hints in green text.

Example:

2.2 Our Learning and Teaching

Comments on the Effectiveness of Our Work

Please comment on the effectiveness of the domain of Learning and Teaching, and, where appropriate, children’s performance may be included as evidence.

Recommendations for Further Improvement/Development

15. How to conduct a holistic yet focused review of school effectiveness and then compile the SSE findings? What are the benefits of this practice?

 Schools are recommended to continue using the Performance Indicators (Kindergarten) to conduct a holistic review on their current state of performance, with focuses on previous year’s work plan, Learning and Teaching, and Support to Children and Teachers, etc. Schools are free to organise their SSE findings across domains.

 Schools have become experienced in SSE. Conducting a holistic yet focused review on school performance can help schools find a review focus or an evaluation direction in relation to schools’ development priorities.

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16. Why should the evaluation of work performance be evidence-based? Is a large amount of data required to provide this empirical evidence?

 The emphasis on evidence-based evaluation of work performance is mainly to remind schools that work performance should not only be judged subjectively. It also helps schools analyse factors affecting the effectiveness of their work and better implement the inter-connected self-evaluation processes, viz. planning, implementation and evaluation.

 Empirical evidence refers to appropriate adoption of qualitative and quantitative data. Generally speaking, schools already have a collection of data/information which can be used as evidence. However, the important question here is how this relevant information could be used for analysis and judgement making. Schools should not spend too much time and effort on collecting excessive information, and should not consider that quantitative data is always more objective and reliable than qualitative data.

17. Why should schools focus on the effectiveness of “Learning and Teaching”?

 “Learning and Teaching” is the core of all work of a school. Work in other domains is carried out to facilitate the creation of a suitable learning environment for the development of quality education. Therefore, schools should plan their work priorities from the perspective of promoting children’s development and learning, and the ultimate goal of promoting children’s learning should also be considered during evaluation.

18. Why should evaluation and planning be combined?

 The report is designed to start with commentaries about the plan and end with the formulation of a plan so as to highlight the inter-connected self-evaluation processes, viz. planning, implementation and evaluation. Having a work plan for the year that echoes the SSE findings will guide schools into making further investigations of the cause of problems and factors that promote sustainable development. Hence, schools can plan their work for next school year to achieve continuous self-improvement.

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IV. Understanding and Applying the Reporting Framework

Part One Our School

19. Do schools have to write up the report in complete accordance with the template?

 The template is for schools’ reference. Schools are free to organise the content of the report to show their development. Kindergarten Profiles can also be annexed as supplementary school information.

Part Two Self-evaluation

2.1 Reviewing the Effectiveness of the Work Plan for the Current School Year Objective of Major Concern ( ): ……

Strategies and Tasks of the Work Plan Evidence:

Please explain the strategies and tasks that were implemented in the domains of “Management and Organisation”, “Learning and Teaching” and/or “School Culture and Support for Children”.

Comments on the Effectiveness of the Work Plan

From the perspective of promoting children’s learning, briefly comment on whether the objectives of the tasks were achieved with reference to the success criteria listed in the work plan and relevant data collected.

20. What work plans must schools review?

 Schools are required to review all plans that were formulated and implemented for major concerns of the current school year. The review includes strategies implemented, their effectiveness and recommendations for improvement/development.

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21. How should schools account for strategies and tasks of the work plan?

 Schools should review the strategies formulated at the beginning of the school term and state how they were implemented and put into practice.

 When schools first draft the annual work plans, the content could be simpler.

During the implementation stage, subsequent adjustments to strategies and tasks due to changes in the school situation could be explained in more detail.

22. How would schools know if a plan has achieved its objectives? How should the effectiveness of the work plan be reviewed?

 Schools should formulate success criteria according to the objectives of tasks.

When reviewing their effectiveness, schools should refer to success criteria or other related evidence.

 Quantitative and qualitative data, such as activity records, meeting minutes or results of stakeholder surveys, could be used appropriately when commenting on the effectiveness of their work. Children’s development of various age groups could be included as evidence to highlight the effectiveness of the plan.

 After reviewing each of the task objectives, schools should then evaluate whether the overall effectiveness of the plan is satisfactory.

23. When reviewing work effectiveness, why should other related evidence be adopted?

 When schools formulate a set of success criteria for a plan, no matter how thorough the consideration was, it would still be difficult to foresee all potential problems or variables. Therefore, schools must monitor a plan carefully during its implementation and collect related data/information so that they can analyse potential causes of an unexpected situation that might take place. Schools can evaluate the overall effectiveness of the work plans to come up with “Recommendations for Further Improvement/Development”.

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24. Is it necessary for the effectiveness of all plans to be validated with children’s performance since the ultimate goal of all plans is to promote children’s learning?

 The ultimate goal of formulating a work plan is to promote children’s learning, but due to differences in their nature, not all work plans can be validated directly through children’s performance. Assuming that the plan’s focus is to strengthen the professional competence of teachers, a school can only review the effectiveness of training for teachers, rather than including children’s performance as evidence. This, however, is based on the belief and assumption that children will ultimately benefit from improvements in teachers’ teaching abilities.

25. What can be done if a plan has not met all its objectives? Is it only necessary to come up with recommendations for further improvement/development if the plan is ineffective?

 If a plan has not met all its objectives, the most important task is to identify the crux of the problem, such as appropriateness of strategies, comprehensiveness of planning and management of human resources.

Schools should then consider whether the problem can be handled. If yes, improvement measures targeting the problem should be made during next school year, or try to deal with this problem from another perspective or with other strategies.

 If a plan is ineffective, then recommendations for further improvement must be made. With favourable school conditions, strategies and tasks for further improvement could also be made for an effective plan.

26. How to comment on work plans that cannot be or have not been completed?

 Schools should identify the cause for the incompletion of the work plans to understand the crux of the problem for further improvement or follow-up work.

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Comments on the Effectiveness of Our Work Evidence:

Please comment on the effectiveness of the domain of Learning and Teaching, and, where appropriate, children’s performance may be included as evidence.

27. What should be reviewed for “2.2 Our Learning and Teaching”?

 Schools should carry out a holistic review in accordance with the domains of

“Learning and Teaching” of the Performance Indicators (Kindergarten).

28. How can schools effectively review the effectiveness of “Learning and Teaching”?

 Schools can analyse evidence readily available in schools, such as the minutes of curriculum meetings, teaching reflections, management lesson observation records and views of parents, etc., to review and comment on the effectiveness of “Learning and Teaching”.

 Schools should also use children’s performance as evidence in the review of the effectiveness of various tasks of “Learning and Teaching” because the ultimate goal of planning and implementing the school curriculum is to promote children’s learning.

29. How to identify children’s performance?

 In general, teachers will organise and summarise findings of learning experiences assessment in order to understand the learning performance of each child. Based on evaluation needs, schools are free to organise information for an overall view of children’s performance in different classes, grade levels or the whole school.

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30. Is it necessary to use children’s performance to help explain each comment?

How to use children’s performance to reflect the effectiveness of “Learning and Teaching”?

 No. Schools can decide whether it is suitable to use children’s performance to reflect the effectiveness of various work plans according to the focus of the review and the nature of the task.

 When required, schools can use relevant children’s performance as evidence for major concerns, such as the design of the daily schedule and new teaching strategies, to illustrate the effectiveness of the curriculum or teaching:

 If the pre-set learning objectives have been achieved and children’s performance is in line with expectations, then schools can confirm the effectiveness of curriculum planning and teaching.

 If a significant gap is observed between children’s performance and the pre-set learning objectives, then schools should review children’s performance to identify the causes for the gap and the problem.

31. How to identify “Recommendations for Further Improvement/Development”?

 Schools should review the overall effectiveness of “Learning and Teaching”

and then provide children’s performance as evidence to come up with recommendations for further improvement/development.

32. What should be noted when organising the content of comments?

 Schools are free to organise the content according to their needs. They can either comment on each area or carry out a comprehensive review across areas with reference to the domain of Learning and Teaching of the Performance Indicators (Kindergarten):

 Review on individual areas: Schools can comment on each area of the domain of Learning and Teaching of the Performance Indicators (Kindergarten) according to its focus, and can provide relevant children’s performance as evidence of effectiveness.

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“Learning and Teaching”. Schools can make key tasks of “Learning and Teaching” the focus of individual paragraphs in the comments, and can integrate relevant content from different areas to carry out a comprehensive review. Children’s performance can be provided as evidence.

 The emphasis of the commentary is to help schools make accurate judgements to identify the cause of problems or room for improvements. The organisation of content is not the main concern.

33. If the major concerns of schools are relevant to the areas under “Learning and Teaching” and have been reviewed in “2.1 Reviewing the Effectiveness of the Work Plan for the Current School Year”, then is it necessary to review this again here?

 The “review of the effectiveness of the work plan” focuses on the effectiveness of the plan, whereas “Our Learning and Teaching” focuses on a comprehensive review of “Learning and Teaching”. As such, the commentaries for these two parts have different focuses. If the plan reviewed in 2.1 is related to “Learning and Teaching”, then schools can comment on some key issues in 2.2 to carry out a comprehensive review. For example, if a school’s development plan involves a learning area in the school lobby, then even if its effectiveness has been reviewed in 2.1, arrangement of the entire learning environment can be commented on here to give an account of how this learning area is related to the layout of classrooms for illustrating its effectiveness on children’s learning.

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34. What does “Support to Children and Teachers” refer to? Which areas of the Performance Indicators (Kindergarten) are related to the content of this section?

 It refers to all support to children and teachers, including direct and indirect support to children. Support to children can include any assistance for new students, parent education, referral services and etc. Support to teachers can include professional development for teachers, work allocation and etc. Some of these measures can support both children and teachers simultaneously. As each school has different circumstances, they would focus on different areas of support. Schools can decide what to comment on according to their own individual circumstances.

 This part of the review is mainly related to the domains of “Management and Organisation” and “School Culture and Support for Children”.

35. Why should schools pay close attention to “Support to Children and Teachers”?

 The promotion of children’s learning is the core purpose of school work.

Therefore, in addition to curriculum planning and design of teaching programmes, schools should make arrangements for other measures to support children’s learning and teachers’ teaching. When the school situation is reviewed holistically, the effectiveness of support work should also be considered.

2.3 Our Support to Children and Teachers

Other than the above comments, over the past year, what other support was made available for children and teachers to cater for changes in the school or service needs? Please provide a brief account and evaluate the effectiveness of the relevant measures.

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36. Is it necessary to comment on all support work since schools carry out many tasks in this area?

 No. Schools only have to comment on work/measures that were carried out during the past year due to changes in the school situation or for service needs as well as their effectiveness.

37. Schools devote various resources into supporting children and teachers, so why are the comments focused only on the changes of work in the past year?

Can schools give examples of work done in various areas to show the effectiveness in these areas?

 The facilitative framework of the report assists schools in commenting on the changes in support to children and teachers over the past year, to help schools focus on recent development, so they can explore their future work effectively.

 Schools can certainly carry out a holistic review, but the focus of the review should be salient, otherwise it will be difficult to show whether schools have taken relevant measures that correspond to their current situation or development.

38. What can be done if schools have not had any new development in support work?

 After the school situation has been reviewed, if schools have adjusted the goals and strategies of regular support work or made changes to its planning, even though they have not had any new development or substantial change to support work, schools should explain why those changes have been made, and comment on their effectiveness. Examples include changes to the focus of peer lesson observation or format of the parent newsletter.

 If schools have not had any new development to the support work, they do not need to comment on this in detail; however, as the circumstances of schools are constantly changing, corresponding adjustments should also be made.

Schools should regularly assess their needs and pay attention to whether new

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Part Three Development Plan

3.1 Exploring Ways for Sustainable Development

In order to explore future key work for promoting children’s learning, please review the school’s recent development. To come up with major concerns that require follow-ups, please also consider the foundation for development, opportunities and challenges of each key work.

Key Work in the Future Foundation for Development Opportunities/Challenges

39. Have schools known well the development of recent years after completing the review of 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3?

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Schools will essentially have a grasp of the performance of various aspects of work through the comprehensive review of 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. Yet, since the circumstances of schools develop continuously, schools should survey their situation to remain aware of changes, both internally and externally, as well as whether there are opportunities to create favourable conditions for development:

 Internal conditions: For example, establishing a curriculum leader post or receipt of a donation

 External conditions: For example, a new housing estate built or improvements in transport facilities nearby

 Created conditions: For example, participation in teaching programmes of external organisations or expansions of school premises

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By carrying out a holistic review and surveying their situation, schools will be able to review the development of recent years. The following figure illustrates this concept:

Holistic review Survey school situation Changes in

external conditions

Changes in internal conditions Focused

evaluation Comprehensive

review

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40. How should schools come up with “Key Work in the Future”?



When schools carry out the evaluation for 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, they should have come up with some “Recommendations for Further Improvement/Development”. This should be helpful for drafting “Key Work in the Future”. Schools can:

 Consolidate related items

 Follow up the items that can be dealt with immediately, such as improving daily schedules or purchasing teaching aids

 Decide on items that can be left uncompleted for next year depending on the urgency of them



After making the above considerations with an integration of the findings from surveying the school’s situation, schools will be able to come up with “Key Work in the Future” from the perspective of promoting children’s learning.

41. Will the “Key Work in the Future” become the major concerns for next school year?



Not necessarily. After schools have come up with “Key Work in the Future”, they must also consider the foundation for development as well as their challenges and opportunities. This can help schools think about their situation from multiple perspectives:

 Foundation for development: the existing conditions or foundation for carrying out relevant work

 Opportunities: the conditions or circumstances that are favourable to relevant work

 Challenges: the difficulties that will be encountered whether relevant work is carried out or not.

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[Example]:

Key Work in the Future

Foundation for Development

Opportunities/Challenges Strengthening

communication and

collaboration between

management and teachers

 Employees agree with the school mission and are aware of their rights and responsibilities

 Staffing is stable and staff get along well

 All teachers have attained the Certificate in Early Childhood Education or a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education

 A newly appointed Supervisor values human resources and believes that the synergy of the teaching team will promote school development. He plans to donate $100,000 for staff training activities

 The School Head will soon be retiring so a successor must be actively cultivated



After having listed the “Key Work in the Future”, schools should analyse the foundation for development, opportunities and challenges, so as to formulate a work plan for next year with regards to the urgency of tasks and the timing of development. Therefore, not all “Key Work in the Future” needs to become a major concern of schools. However, schools can follow-up any

“Key Work in the Future” that is not urgent and can continue to monitor the availability of resources and opportunities for promoting development while waiting for the right timing to plan and implement a particular work.

42. Schools are required to examine the foundation for development, opportunities and challenges for each item under “Key Work in the Future”.

How will this process of consideration be helpful when determining major concerns and work plans?



Schools will become aware of the foundations for “Key Work in the Future”

as well as the changes in the internal and external school conditions. After balancing the needs and potential difficulties, schools can decide on a suitable number of appropriate major concerns.

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3.2 Major Concerns 1.

2.

43. How can schools use the review of the school situation when drafting the work plan for next year?



After analysing the holistic review and surveying the school’s situation, schools can summarise the findings to determine “Key Work in the Future”.

By analysing the “Foundation for Development” and the

“Opportunities/Challenges”, schools can identify “Major Concerns” and draft the “School Work Plan for Next School Year”. See the illustration below:

44. What should schools note when identifying “Major Concerns”?



Points to note:

 The ultimate aim of a major concern is to promote schools’ sustainable development and children’s learning.

 With reference to objective conditions, work priorities and resources, schools are advised not to identify more than three major concerns.

Holistic review Survey school situation Changes in

external conditions

Changes in internal conditions

Created conditions

Focused evaluation Comprehensi

ve review 2.1-2.3

Promoting children’s learning Key work in the future

Identifying major concerns

Drafting the school

work plan for

next school

year

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3.3 School Work Plan for Next School Year Objective for Major Concern ( ): ……

Task Objectives

Strategies/

Tasks

Time Scale

Success Criteria

Evaluation Tools/

Information

People in Charge

Resources Required

Remarks

45. Why must schools come up with a work plan for next school year before the end of the current school term?



By doing so, schools can have a clear direction and detailed work procedures for the “implementation” and “evaluation” in the next school year.

46. What main items are included in work plans? What is the relationship between the items?



The main items of work plans are objectives for major concern, task objectives, strategies/tasks and success criteria, etc. These items are interrelated (see the figure below*):

* The number of task objectives, strategies and success criteria is determined according to the school’s situation and the nature of the plan.

Objective for Major Concern

Strategy Strategy

Success criteria Success criteria

Success criteria

Success criteria Success criteria Strategy

Strategy Strategy Strategy Review

Review

Determine

Determine Strategy

Task Objective 2

Task Objective 3 Task Objective 1

Success criteria

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

The objectives are the core of the whole plan as they provide guidance when drafting strategies and success criteria. They also guide schools in implementing the whole plan. When the plan is completed, schools can use the success criteria and the information collected to review the extent to which goals have been achieved and to evaluate the effectiveness of the whole plan.

The various aspects of the plan are all closely related so schools should view the plan as a whole by making full and detailed consideration from the planning stage onwards.

47. Why should schools need to set task objectives if they have already set objectives for major concerns?



“Objectives for Major Concerns” are the overall objectives of the work plan and provide a direction for the whole plan. The task objectives, which are more detailed and specific, allow the overall objectives of the plan to be achieved in a more precise and systematic manner.

48. What main points should schools pay attention to when setting task objectives?



Points to note:

 Task objectives should correspond to the objectives for major concerns

Under the objectives for major concerns, all task objectives should share the same direction that lead to the achievement of the ultimate goals.

 Task objectives should correspond to schools’ situation and be set after consideration from multiple perspectives

In order to achieve the objectives for major concerns, schools can think about the needs of different stakeholders, with reference to the nature of their own plans and pace of school development. For example, if a school sets “Enhancing children’s interest in reading” as an objective for major concern, when setting the corresponding task objectives, the school can think from the aspects of teacher training, resource utilisation,

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 Task objectives need to be clear and focused

Task objectives should be as clear and specific as possible to show the anticipated effectiveness when carrying out the task. Having clear task objectives will help guiding the planning and implementation process and will prevent the work plan from going astray.

49. Is it better to set more task objectives? Is it better if these tasks cover more aspects of the domains and involve more stakeholders?



No. Objectives should be set according to the nature of plans and the current situation of schools, such as manpower and resources, the readiness of different stakeholders (for example, the background/sense of belonging of parents or the ability/workload of teachers), future development plans, and etc.

Whether a plan is good or not should not be determined by the number or coverage of objectives.

50. How should “Strategies/Tasks” be determined?



Schools must first understand how big the gap between the expected outcome and the status quo is before they think about ways to narrow the gap (see the figure below).



Various strategies/tasks may be required to realise one task objective;

therefore, measures should be considered from different angles and schools should take into account the nature of the plan and the needs of stakeholders

Task objective

Strategies

Status quo

Expected outcome

Thinking of ways to narrow the gap Understanding how big the gap between the

expected outcome and the status quo is

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expected outcome). It can target the needs of teachers, with reference to the school’s current situation, to conceive suitable strategies from multiple means, such as encouraging staff communication, reviewing work allocation and providing staff training, to facilitate the achievement of the task objective.



Instead of adopting any innovative approach, schools can achieve the task objective through carrying out daily practices. However, attention must be paid to whether they meet their development needs and whether timely adjustments are made to ensure the effectiveness of the strategies.



In addition to the above points, schools should also note the following:

 Reasonable time arrangement

When setting the time scale for strategies/tasks, schools should pay attention to whether time allocation is reasonable. If the plan is implemented over a relatively long period of time, an interim review should be arranged to obtain an early understanding of the implementation of the plan so that timely adjustments can be made.

 Good use of resources

Available resources, including internal and external ones, should be considered and used to complement the implementation of work for enhanced effectiveness.

 Appointing a suitable person-in-charge

When appointing staff to different tasks or coordination roles, schools should consider the rights and responsibilities of staff, their capabilities, fairness and support to staff. Coordinators should be responsible for task implementation and making regular evaluations so that the implementation of tasks can be ever improved.

51. Why do schools need to determine “success criteria”?



Success criteria are determined to help evaluate whether objectives have been achieved, or the extent to which objectives have been achieved. Therefore, schools should provide detailed conditions to specifically show the extent to which the objectives have been achieved.

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52. How should “success criteria” be developed?



The following should be considered when developing success criteria:

 Relevant to objectives

Success criteria should reflect the extent to which objectives are achieved instead of whether the strategy was successfully implemented.

 Concrete, measurable or observable

The expected outcomes should be measurable or observable. A collection of qualitative or quantitative data can be used as the evidence for the achievement of objectives.

 Reasonable and achievable

The schools’ circumstances and the current status of development must be considered in order to come up with a set of reasonable and achievable success criteria.



Schools can consider using several success criteria to reflect the extent to which individual task objectives have been achieved. This can also be done to evaluate work effectiveness based on the nature of the plan, from the perspective of different stakeholders, to fully reflect the achievement of an objective.



^Example:

Task objective Success criteria*

Enhancing children’s knowledge and interest in planting

1. More than 90% of children and their parents are willing to participate in the “Seedling” programme 2. More than 70% of children are able to talk about the

growth of their plant in the third phase of the programme

3. More than 70% of parents agree that their children have gained more knowledge and interest in plants 4. Teachers have observed that the majority of

children take active care of plants in the classroom during the whole programme

* The number and nature of success criteria depends on the task objective.

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53. How can schools collect information for review?



The following table lists the advantages, limitations and precautions of some common methods used by schools. Schools should select the suitable data collection method(s) based on their own circumstances:

Advantages Limitations Precautions

Interviews

• Respondents can freely express themselves

• The body language of respondents can be observed

• Interviewers can follow-up responses when necessary

• It depends heavily on the skills and experience of the interviewer

• Selective listening of interviewers can happen

• The interviewer’s attitude and

language can often influence the respondents; for example,

respondents would feel nervous if the interviewer has a serious facial expression

• It takes a long time for detailed

interviews

• Data is not recorded uniformly which makes statistical analysis a difficult task

• The purpose and arrangement of the interview must be explained to respondents

• Respondents should be interviewed in a form of language most appropriate to their background

• If the respondent’s reply is unclear, interviewers can paraphrase the reply to clarify the meaning

• The interviewer should not let

personal views affect the respondents

• Subjective judgement should be avoided

• Interviewers should be sincere and friendly

Questionnaires and surveys

• It is easier to collect a large quantity of information and data

• The questions and answers are standardised which makes it easy for

processing and statistical analysis

• Respondents may not find an answer which fully reflects their true

opinions/feelings in the pre-determined answers

• Respondents may misunderstand the question

• Respondents may provide false responses

• Questions must be specific and the wording of questions must be precise and appropriate

• Guiding or double- barrelled questions should not be asked

• A pilot questionnaire or survey can be tried and revised before it is made official

• The answers that

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Advantages Limitations Precautions

Observation

• The situation can be observed directly

• This can be used as a basis for question design on surveys or interviews

• The presence of an observer may result in a change of attitude or discourse of the person being observed

• Data can be biased if the observer

selectively focuses on and analyses certain information

• Relatively time- consuming

• Data is difficult for conducting

statistical analysis

• It is necessary to establish a focus for the observation and have a systematic method of collecting required data

• Subjectivity should be avoided. The

emphasis should be on concrete evidence and objective analysis

• The person being observed should be disturbed as little as possible

Children

analysis s work’

• Children’s learning

performance and feelings can be grasped

• This will not hinder daily learning activities

• It is very easy for teachers to be subjective when analysing children’s work

• Analysis is time consuming

• Guidelines and assessment focus can be established

• A group of teachers does the analysis together for

enhancing objectivity

Documents anddata analysis

• A deeper

understanding of what has led to the current situation

• Flexible time arrangements

• Documents and data may not be complete or intact

• Collation and analysis is time consuming

• Relevant information can be classified systematically in order to make the analysis and judgement more easily

54. What should schools note when choosing “review tools/information”?



Points to note:

 “Review Tools/information” should be linked to success criteria



Schools are advised to select an appropriate method which allows them to understand the opinion/behaviour of stakeholders. For example:

Success criteria Tools / Information for review Most teachers agree

that peer lesson observation will help

• Interviews with teachers

• Questionnaires

• Minutes of lesson observation review

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 Making good use of existing tools/information



To assist in the evaluation of whether objectives were achieved, existing tools/information should be used properly based on the principles of appropriateness, simplicity, feasibility and effectiveness. In addition to designing their own review tools, schools may revise or adapt existing tools (such as by updating items on checklists or questionnaires). They may also use one kind of review tool/information to reflect on the effectiveness of various tasks. After schools have decided on their own data collection methods and review tools, they need to check whether all necessary resources have been prepared and make appropriate manpower arrangements for data collection.



The following diagram illustrates how a school can examine existing review tools/information to save time and maintain the effectiveness of data evaluation:



The EDB provides schools with parent, teacher and supporting staff (clerk and janitor staff) questionnaire templates for reference. Schools can download the questionnaires and the tools for analysis from the EDB website:

Using existing tools/existing information for

review

Revising/adapting existing tools (such as by updating items on checklists or questionnaires)

Can the tools/information be used for reviewing the achievement of objectives?

Yes

Using these tools to obtain data

Developing new tools

Using these tools to obtain data No

Yes

No Examining the school’s existing review tools/information

Making good use of

existing tools/

information

Analysing the data for evaluating effectiveness

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55. Do schools have to use quantitative and qualitative data collection methods simultaneously? Which type of data is more objective and reliable?



Both methods have their own characteristics and strengths, and they are complementary. Schools should choose the method most suitable for their needs. The objectivity and reliability of data depends on the appropriate use of data collection methods.



Schools should keep in mind that reviewing effectiveness is different from doing an academic research. Schools should select reasonable means to review effectiveness so as to prevent from being overwhelmed in collecting too much data. Whether the collected data is quantitative or qualitative, it is necessary for schools to organise, summarise and analyse the data, so as to determine the effectiveness of their plans.

56. Do schools need to set objectives and work plan details for respective years if a particular work is to be completed in phases over several years?



Schools can create a blueprint of development that covers several years and set key objectives for every year/phase to guide the development of the plan. Schools should review the effectiveness of plans at regular intervals according to the set objectives (see 2.1 for details). This helps schools find out where they stand so that they can make timely adjustments until the objectives are achieved.



Schools need to review the effectiveness of the previous year’s plan and consider the changes in the internal and external situations of the school before they draft the next year’s work plan. Therefore, even if a plan will take several years to complete, schools just need to come up with objectives for major concerns and a work plan for the current school year. It is not necessary for schools to come up with detailed work plans several years in advance.

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57. How can the plans be changed/adapted if work effectiveness is unsatisfactory or any problem appears during progress review?



If a problem has been discovered with the plan, schools should revise it.

Besides, it is necessary to identify that the problem appears from which part of the plan. The following should be noted when revising the plan:

 Objectives



Objectives are the most important guideline of a plan. If objectives are set wrong or unrealistic, then besides revising the objectives, the overall plan, including the strategies, success criteria, review tools/information, etc., must all be adjusted accordingly.

 Strategies/tasks



As long as resources allow, different aspects of strategies can be changed according to needs.

 Success criteria



The establishment of success criteria is to evaluate whether objectives or the extent to which objectives have been achieved. Success criteria and objectives are interrelated. When any changes deem necessary, they should both be revised carefully. Otherwise, the aim and accuracy of the effectiveness of the evaluation can be adversely affected.



If the original set of success criteria is too general, schools can make it more specific to clearly define the review scope. In this case, the success criteria are regarded as being optimised rather than being changed.

58. If changes have taken place while the plan was being implemented, where should this be explained?



If changes or revisions have been made because of unexpected events or after an interim review during the implementation of a work plan, these changes could be explained in the remarks column.

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xxx Kindergarten 2018/2019

School Report

Appendix

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Content of the School Report

Part One Our School

1.1 School Mission and Goals 1.2 Our Children

1.3 Our Teaching Staff

1.4 Management and Administration 1.5 Safety and Hygiene Measures 1.6 Activities of the Year

1.7 Summary of Expenditure

Part Two Self-evaluation

2.1 Reviewing the Effectiveness of the Work Plan for the Current School Year 2.2 Our Learning and Teaching

2.3 Our Support to Children and Teachers

Part Three Development Plan

3.1 Exploring Ways for Sustainable Development 3.2 Major Concerns

3.3 School Work Plan for Next School Year

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Part One Our School

1.1 School Mission and Goals



1.2 Our Children

The school has classes, which comes up to a total of children, this year. The structure of classes and the number of children are as follows:

Class

AM Session PM Session Whole-day Session

No. of Classes

No. of Children

No. of Classes

No. of Children

No. of Classes

No. of Children Upper KG

Lower KG Nursery

Total

1.3 Our Teaching Staff

(1) Number of Teaching Staff

 Besides the School Head, there are a total of full-time teachers,

part-time teachers, and supporting staff (clerk and janitor staff)

 There was a turnover of teachers last school year, and this accounted for

%

(2) Qualification and Number of Teachers (including the School Head) Teacher

qualification

Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education

Certificate in Early Childhood Education

Qualified Kindergarten Teacher Number of

Teachers

%

(3) Teaching Experience

Teaching Experience 0-3 years 4-6 years 7 years or more

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(4) Teachers’ Professional Development



1.4 Management and Administration

(1) Members of the School Management Committee and their Duties



(2) Administrative Structure

Schools may use words or diagrams to describe the administrative structure of the leading echelons, management, teachers and supporting staff (clerk and janitor staff).

1.5 Safety and Hygiene Measures



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1.6 Activities of the Year

Month Class Activity

1.7 Summary of Expenditure¹

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Part Two Self-evaluation

2.1 Reviewing the Effectiveness of the Work Plan for the Current School Year Objective of Major Concern (1):

Please explain the strategies and tasks that were implemented in the domains of “Management and Organisation”, “Learning and Teaching”

and/or “School Culture and Support for Children”.



 1.

2.

3.

From the perspective of promoting children’s learning, briefly comment on whether the objectives of the tasks were achieved with reference to the success criteria listed in the work plan and relevant data collected.

1.

a.

b.

c.

2.

3.

Recommendations for Further Improvement/Development 1.

2.

3.

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Objective of Major Concern (2):

Please explain the strategies and tasks that were implemented in the domains of “Management and Organisation”, “Learning and Teaching”

and/or “School Culture and Support for Children”.



 1.

2.

3.

From the perspective of promoting children’s learning, briefly comment on whether the objectives of the tasks were achieved with reference to the success criteria listed in the work plan and relevant data collected.

1.

a.

b.

c.

2.

3.

2.

3.

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Please comment on the effectiveness of the domain of Learning and Teaching, and, where appropriate, children’s performance may be included as evidence.



 1.

2.

3.

2.

3.

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2.3 Our Support to Children and Teachers

Other than the above comments, over the past year, what other support was made available for children and teachers to cater for changes in the school or service needs? Please provide a brief account and evaluate the

effectiveness of the relevant measures.



 1.

2.

3.

2.

3.

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Part Three Development Plan

3.1 Exploring Ways for Sustainable Development

In order to explore future key work for promoting children’s learning, please review the school’s recent development. To come up with major concerns that require follow-ups, please also consider the foundation for development, opportunities and challenges of each key work.

Key Work in the Future

Foundation for Development Opportunities/Challenges

1. 



2. 



3. 



3.2 Major Concerns 1.

2.

3.

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3.3 School Work Plan for Next School Year Objective for Major Concern ( ):

Task Objectives

Strategies/Tasks Time Scale Success Criteria Evaluation

Tools/Information

People in Charge

Resources Required

Remarks

1. 1.

2.

3.

a.

b.

c.



2. 1.

2.

3.

a.

b.

c.



3. 1.

2.

3.

a.

b.

c.



Signature of Supervisor:

Signature of School Head:

Date:

School Self-evaluation Manual