Self-evaluation - a story to fear or celebrate?
Jacky Tiotto
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Ofsted's new children's services inspection arrangements place far greater emphasis than the previous regime on leaders' self assessing what we do and why.
So what is the most successful way to prepare and present a self-evaluation - one that supports our local inspection and acts as the much-needed lubricant to the Ofsted machine?
I have spent time reflecting on the words I heard recently from an Ofsted official, that such an evaluation "should not be hard to write", because there should be nothing in it that I don't already know or use in my daily oversight of children's social care. The Ofsted official went on to explain that "all we want to know is what impact you are having, how you know and what you are doing to improve?"
For a second, I believed in the simplicity. It wasn't long before I felt uncomfortable with my own questions: what actually are our headline achievements and what is our evidence, do we know if we are making a difference and how would we know, what does this or that phrase reveal? By sharing an area of strength that is potentially disputed could we be accused of not knowing our area? What is the consequence of being open about areas we need to strengthen? Will this mean we require improvement?
Is it any wonder that, like me, most children's services leaders are cautious about this new thing called self-evaluation?
But is it new? Every day we evaluate how well we are doing. We spend hours in meetings, talking about our performance, preparing for scrutiny, responding to complaints and compliments, sharing opinions and making decisions about practice and process. We read the criteria that describe "good" and we mostly agree. So what is different about making this story available to others and very specifically to Ofsted?
I like the idea of self-assessment because it gives us some control over our story while deepening our understanding. However, we have a complex story to tell as though it were a simple one. We have to communicate our context without seeming to make excuses. We want to present our best without being unrealistic. We want to be honest without creating unnecessary plot lines that distract from the whole. On top of this, we need luck and a fair wind so that the unpredictable does not mean that our story is out of date on the day it is read.
In the end, a judgment will be made. With so many factors influencing what that outcome will be, I have concluded that the only way to approach an evaluation at this time, is to explain what we are trying to do, why we are trying to do it, how well we think we are doing it and the work we do to continually improve.
My hope is that a transparent and honest account is met with an appreciation of the complexity that exists to balance support to families and the protection of their children.
- Jacky Tiotto is director of children's services at Bexley Council
- See Inspections Clinic