ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the purposes of school self-evaluation, pointing out that, although of value in schools' preparation for an inspection, a more important function is to help a school to keep its work under regular review. It describes some self-evaluation frameworks supplied by various agencies in the UK to help schools conduct evaluation of their performance. The chapter looks at how primary schools can review their provision for science. Since school evaluations by inspectors are partly based on school self-evaluations, frameworks used for self-evaluation generally mirror those used in inspections and are often, but not always, created by government agencies or local authorities. School improvement through self-evaluation begins by the school selecting a focus for self-evaluation during a certain period, since it is not expected that all aspects are taken on at once. Although Ofsted no longer provides the Self-Evaluation Form for schools, it continues to provide a form for Early Years Foundation Stage providers which can be completed online.
