Αυτοαξιολόγηση σχολικής μονάδας: Απόψεις διευθυντών/ριών πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an increased interest abroad and in Greece by academic and political circles for the evaluation of school units whether it is external as an inspection or concerns the school self-evaluation. The law passed on school self-evaluation in 2020 caused a lot of unrest to the principals and teachers. Many expressed either their opposition or their concerns about the implementation of the school self-evaluation. The purpose of this research is to highlight the views of primary school principals regarding the concept of evaluation and the recent low regarding the school self-evaluation (ΦΕΚ 111 / A / 2020). The sample of the qualitative research consisted of 12 principals of primary schools of Western Thessaloniki, 8 males and 4 females. The semi-structured interview was used as a research tool. The interviews took place from 13 February 2021 to 19 March of the same year. Τhe hybrid thematic analysis was used as a research technique. Its advantages are located on the one hand in the utilization and connection of the data with the pre-existing theory with the "top-down" processing and analysis and on the other hand with the freedom and flexibility that the researcher enjoys to highlight through his material topics that may not have in the past studied or occupied extensively the literature, moving "from bottom to top". The results showed that while all the principals were in favor of the evaluation as a concept, they nevertheless criticized it, characterizing it as untimely and inapplicable due to coronavirus, bureaucratic and difficult to understand. The majority argued that the proposed indicators meet the needs of school self-evaluation, while there were principals who focused on failures and omissions of indicators. Nearly half of the executives also mentioned fears and concerns related to the way the school self-evaluation is implemented. Data also emerged on their proposals for evaluating either in-school or out-of-school parameters. Half of the principals did not express any further proposal. The rest were mentioned various the need of "bottom-up" evaluation to senior executives and agencies. We conclude that a significant percentage of principals are skeptical or even negative about the implementation of self-assessment. They may not have been adequately informed or trained by the state. Perhaps any briefing was brief and failed to adequately address their questions and concerns on the subject.