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02/07/2014

Evaluating the evaluation process

SACE (South African Council for Educators) is managing the Continuous Professional Teacher Development or CPTD system for educators. Educators should at the same time be encouraged, guided, supported and rewarded by this system. Indeed the idea is that educators are able to accumulate professional development points for their relevant efforts. SACE evaluates and endorses programmes of providers, ensuring they are relevant and of sufficient quality. The Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance (VVOB) supports the improvement of this process.

Continuing professional development

From 2 to 4 June 2014 SACE evaluators, members of the endorsement sub-committee, SACE staff and provincial education department officials gathered to share and learn more about effective continuing professional development (CPD) practices and reflect on their current practices. The reflection resulted in a list of challenges. Communication between the different stakeholders was identified as a common challenge; evaluators sometimes have a different understanding of what their role is and how the tools can be used; evaluation process and tools could improve. The SACE CPTD system creates a unique opportunity to improve teaching and learning, but it could be strengthened, based on insights from research to what entails effective CPD.

Professional Learning Communities

Bringing teachers together to learn with and from each other is an effective CPD strategy. These groups are called Professional Learning Communities (PLC). PLCs are currently being established in many provinces, but many people have different understandings on what PLCs are. The concept of PLCs was unpacked and again related to the CPTD system. Can the system do more to encourage all teachers to participate in such communities? How should they be rewarded for that?

How to evaluate?

Participants then discussed two possible new tools to strengthen the evaluation process. Based on insights about effective CPD they set the first steps in creating a rubric for the evaluation of programmes submitted by providers.

A rubric can be described as a document that articulates expectations by listing criteria and describing levels of quality from excellent to poor. Rubrics can thus be used to assess but they can also be used to inform about expectations. The idea of a rubric on CPD would be that it would be the basis for the assessment by the evaluators and the endorsement committee, the basis for the requirements communicated to the providers and the basis for the monitoring and evaluation of the endorsed trainings.

Participants discussed and identified criteria and levels of achievement. They then started working on descriptors. These drafts will be further discussed and a rubric will be compiled. This should enrich the evaluation process as well as better inform guidelines and feedback for the providers.

Participants also discussed the matter of site visits. The idea is to also monitor and evaluate provider’s programmes on site. This will allow evaluators to have a more complete view on the delivery and impact of a programme and ensure better quality of the trainings for educators. During the workshop they discussed a protocol for site visits of various types of courses.

More news to come

SACE is planning to publish a newsletter. Such newsletter will inform a wide variety of stakeholders on events and evolutions. The participants of the workshop brainstormed on the name of such a newsletter, discussed target groups and identified topics to be covered. The newsletter will definitely cover events such as this. Expect a newsletter soon!

A full report of the workshop with hand-outs of all presentations used, can be provided on request.