TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION. Teachers in Their Own Mirror

Transcription

1 TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION Teachers in Their Own Mirror

2 Evaluation in Education and Human Services Editors: George F. Madaus, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Daniel L. Stufflebeam, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A. Other books in the series: Madaus, G., Scriven, M., and Stufflebeam, D.: Evaluation Models; Viewpoints on Educational and Human Services Evaluation Hambleton, R., and Swaminathen, H.: Item Response Theory Stufflebeam, D., and Shinkfield, A.: Systematic Evaluation Cooley, W. and Bickel, W.: Decision-Oriented Educational Research Sirotnik, K. and Oakes, J.: Critical Perspectives on the Organization and Improvement of Schooling Wick, J.: School-Based Evaluation: A Guide for Board Members, Superintendents, Principals, Department Heads, and Teachers Glasman, N. and Nevo, D.: Evaluation in Decision Making; The Case of School Administration Gephart, W. and Ayers, J.: Teacher Education Evaluation Madaus, G. and Stufflebeam, D.: Education Evaluation: Classic Works of Raphy W Tyler Gifford, B: Test Policy and Test Perfonnance Osterlind, S.: Constructing Test Items Smith, M.: Evaluability Assessment Ayers, J. and Berney, M.: A Practical Guide to Teacher Education Evaluation Hambleton, R. and Zaal, J.: Advances in Educational and Psychological Testing Gifford, B. and O'Connor, M.: Changing Assessments Gifford, B.: Policy Perspectives on Educational Testing Basarab, D. and Root, D.: The Training Evaluation Process

3 TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION Teachers in Their Owo Mirror by Lya Kremer-Hayon University of Haifa ~. " Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kremer-Rayon, Lya. Teacher self-evaiuation : teachers in their own mirror I by Lya Kremer-Rayon. p. cm. -- (Evaluation in education and human services) Includes index. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Teachers--United States--Self-rating of. I. Title. 11. Series. LB2838.K ' 44--dc elp Copyright CI:) 1993 by Springer Science+Business Media New York Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1993 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Printed on acid-free paper.

5 CONTENTS Prologue Vll 1 The context of teacher self-evaluation: Environmental, educational and personal antecedents Pedagogical knowledge and self-evaluation Models of educational evaluation: How can they inform self-evaluation practitioners? The content of self-evaluation Teaching perceptions and orientations: Criteria for self-evaluation The quantitative-qualitative debate: Is it relevant to teacher self-evaluation? A prelude to evaluation tools Qualitative methods of evaluation Quantitative forms of recording and analyzing teaching processes Professional sources of support: School principals, peers, and university professors Epilogue References Subject index Author index

6 PROLOGUE The emergence of teacher self-evaluation as a topic of interest may be understood on several grounds: Historically, the democratization of Western societies was followed by a shift from a traditional orientation in education towards a more open and progressive one. Within the traditional orientation the teacher is viewed as a technician, a consumer and implementor of research findings (Apple, 1986). This orientation advocates teacher and subject-matter centered teaching styles. Similarly, supervision of teaching is becoming more teacher- rather than supervisor centered, and is aimed at developing teachers as researchers of their classrooms and as

7 Vlll Teachers in their Mirrors independent learners of teaching in general, and of their own teaching in particular. The shift. from a traditional toward a progressive educational orientation may also be accounted for by the growing perception of teaching as a profession. Only recently has teaching been divorced from the rigorous criteria of professionalism that have been defined by sociologists and vis-a.-vis which occupations, including teaching, were judged to be professional. The work of Schon (1983), in which he developed the concepts of reflective practitioners and of epistemology of practice, and that of Shulman (1986) in which he developed the concept of pedagogical knowledge have contributed to the perception of teaching as a profession of unique expertise. Accordingly, not all criteria that apply to the characteristics of knowledge in other professions apply to the field of education. Moreover, teaching has been enriched with a large body of research and knowledge, resulting in the need for a prolonged period of study, and in tum in the emergence of teacher autonomy as a recognized need and right of the professional teacher. Consequently, the teacher is viewed as a reflective practitioner, who "becomes a researcher in the practice context... not dependent upon categories of established theory and technique... who constructs a new theory of the unique case" (Schon, 1983, p. 68). A total dependence upon the evaluation done by others stands in contradiction with the idea of professionalism. As long as evaluation was based mainly on the extent to which teachers successfully applied teaching models and adhered to didactic principles and to written curricula, supervisors could best do the job of evaluation. The shift. in the perception of teaching as a profession turns a part of the evaluation role over to the teacher. It is the classroom teacher who can best sense the subtleties that occur in the teaching situation. Helshe knows every individual pupil's background, the uniqueness of the classroom and of each individual in it; helshe has a time perspective of past experiences and achievements in the classroom along with expectations for the future, and is the only one who can be the day-to-day classroom researcher, who can follow the continuity

8 Prologue ix of the teaching/leaming processes. Furthermore, the teacher's self-evaluation is an ongoing activity, as compared with the evaluation by outsider professionals, and thus it can provide continuous feedback for self-improvement and professional development. The recent societal call for teacher accountability constitutes an additional element that contributes to the need for self-evaluation: teachers who strive for accountability must create for themselves an ongoing activity of evaluation. Teacher professionalism implies "an obligation to review periodically the nature and effectiveness of one's practice... to continue to develop one's practical knowledge by personal reflection" (Eraut, in press). The developing trend toward teacher self-evaluation is a natural and direct result of the changes that occurred in educational attitudes, of the pedagogical knowledge growth, and of the perception of teachers in the process of professionalization. Finally, it is worthwhile mentioning that the threat and anxiety that often exist in the supervisor-supervisee situation are diminished in the process of self-evaluation. This fact adds a psycholo~cal advantage to self-evaluation. In view of the emerging need to develop teachers as professionals who evaluate their own work, it is the aim of this book to present the foundations of self-evaluation as well as self-evaluation models and tools that are likely to help educational practitioners to evaluate their own teaching, and thus raise the level of their professional functioning. The chapters of the book are presented in view of the mentioned aims and organized in a sequence that accords with the following rationale: The introduction of self-evaluation into the routine of teaching practices must be preceded by the understanding of the social and educational contexts which generate its need. Teachers must be convinced that self-evaluation is a necessary constituent of professional development and a helpful element in achieving educational aims. Consequently, the starting point of the book is the social and educational contexts which call for teacher

9 x Teachers in their Mirrors self-evaluation. The recognition of this need is a necessary but not a sufficient condition: In order to engage in self-evaluation that is conducted on a professional level, teachers must possess the relevant pedagogical knowledge. Hence, concepts of pedagogical knowledge, its content, criteria, and tools for self-evaluation are proposed and analyzed. Because self-evaluation is only one element of the broader scene of evaluation and a total reliance on this element may narrow its perspective, cooperation between teachers and other professionals - school principals, colleagues, supervisors - is proposed and discussed in the final chapters of the book. The book is intended to serve several groups: student teachers whose socialization into the teaching profession should include the perception of self-evaluation as an inherent part of teaching; the student teachers' supervisors who are expected to help in developing the knowledge and skills that are needed for purposes of self-evaluation; teachers, school principals, and university instructors in departments of teacher education, who are interested in teacher's growth and in the development of teaching as a profession.

10 TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION Teachers in 'lbeir Own MiITor