Improving schools through evaluation: the experience of Catholic schools in South Africa

Abstract

This article addresses the development of quality assurance approaches in South Africa, with particular reference to Catholic schools. It also addresses questions of why whole school evaluation in general has failed to play any meaningful role in improving the quality of schools in South Africa. Reference is also made to specific school cases. The article considers the role of both pressure and support in the education system and ends with some recommendations on how to ensure that school evaluation impacts on school improvement. Catholic education authorities are asked to take note.

Keywords:

• school evaluation
• school evaluation instruments
• school inspection
• school improvement
• Catholic ethos
• Catholic schools

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Anne Baker, Alistair Johnston, Florence Kganye, Dr Richard Hayward and others at the Catholic Institute for their ongoing engagement in school evaluation and improvement, and for their contribution to improving our evaluation approaches over time.

Notes on contributors

Mark Potterton PHD was the former National Director of the Catholic Institute of Education and is currently Principal of Holy Family College, Parktown.

Colin Northmore MEd has worked at the Catholic Institute of Education and is currently Headmaster of Sacred Heart College, Observatory, Johannesburg.

Notes

1. The proprietors of Catholic schools in South Africa are religious congregations and bishops who have founded and own schools. These congregations include the Dominican Sisters, Holy Family Sisters, Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers. The decline in the number of active religious sisters and brothers continues to challenge owners to find new mechanisms for continuing their work and continuing their charisms.

2. The Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) is an associate body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, and acts as the Conference's education secretariat.

3. Schools were segregated in South Africa until 1991. Legislation was enacted which allowed governors in public schools to determine fees and to desegregate schools. Post-apartheid governments made access to all schools by any race group possible. However, schools with better resources put their fees up, and as a consequence have excluded children from poorer families. The government has subsequently introduced ‘no fee’ schools in poorer communities. However, this marketisation of schools has resulted in a two-tier system of schools operating in the country. Alexander (2013) speaks of a de facto two-tier system, with one for the children of the rich and one for the children of the poor. He argues that we cannot talk about levelling the playing fields while ignoring social inequality.

4. This list can easily be expanded and should include improving the salaries and benefits of teachers.

5. Fully Alive was designed to be used in three ways. A school can carry out its own internal evaluation or appraisal; in this instance, the school decides which areas it will look at and reviews these using the school's own personnel. The manual can also be used by a mentor or a critical friend who can guide the school. It can also be used by a team of people who come from an outside perspective to evaluate what happens in a school. (In this situation the school is very aware of the criteria that will be used to make judgements on just how well it is doing.)

Fully Alive was developed to be used in conjunction with the publication Signs of God's Presence. This publication contains a comprehensive set of indicators focusing on the following broad areas to be used to appraise the school's distinctive religious character: Christian commitment, Spiritual growth, Religious diversity, Opportunities for religious practice, The display of Catholic signs and symbols, Concern for the common good, Commitment to the poor, Relationship with parish and bishop/religious congregation, Work of the Catholic Church and its leaders, Religious education programme, Professional formation and development of religious education teachers.

6. Sacred Heart College was founded by the Marist Brothers 150 years ago, and over the years has maintained its Catholic identity in a multifaith community. Today the school is coeducational and represents the demographic profile of the city. The fees at the school are $8000 a year. Loreto School was founded by the Loreto Sisters 100 years ago and has a majority of black children in it. The fees at the school are $3000 a year.

7. The Catholic School Proprietors have developed a specific document for schools to use to evaluate their religious ethos, called Signs of God's Presence. The work of Gerald Grace (2002, 2010) has been used extensively in the formation of this foundation and other documents in the Catholic school community in South Africa.

8. In 2011 and 2012 Mark Potterton was seconded to the National Department of Basic Education to assist with the establishment of a National Education and Development Unit, where he encountered the challenges of State-mandated evaluation in a developmental State. It become clear to him that colleague-implemented school evaluation was far more desirable and effective than State-mandated school inspection systems.