Page 242 - DEDU505_TEACHER_EDUCATION_ENGLISH

Teacher Education

Notes Examples of school system factors are:
• Distribution of responsibilities across educational authorities
• School governance and autonomy
• Structure of schooling
• Curriculum, academic standards, learning time
• Market mechanisms / school choice
• Allocation of resources within school system
• Career and reward/incentive structures for teachers and school leaders
• Teacher education and certification policies
• Roles and views of stakeholder groups
Examples of school-level factors are:
• Socio-economic context of schools
• Management, leadership and distribution of responsibilities within school
• Professional activities of teachers and other school personnel
• Teaching and learning arrangements
• Community and family involvement
• Learning conditions, support structures
In the next Sections, this paper will further analyse the five main areas of the conceptual framework.
These are central in the development of a comprehensive teacher evaluation model:
• Design and governance
• Evaluation procedures
• Competencies for evaluation and for using feedback
• Use of evaluation results
• Implementation

26.2 Aims and Objectives of Teacher Evaluation

Two major purposes: Teacher evaluation has typically two major purposes. First, it seeks to
improve the teacher own practice by identifying strengths and weaknesses for further professional
development – the improvement function. Second, it is aimed at ensuring that teachers perform at
their best to enhance student learning – the accountability function.
(i) The improvement function: Teacher evaluation for improvement focuses on the provision of
feedback useful for the improvement of teaching practices, namely through professional
development. It involves helping teachers learn about, reflect on, and improve their practice.
This typically occurs with account of the school context so professional development
opportunities of an individual teacher are aligned with the school development plan.
(ii) The accountability function: The accountability function of teacher evaluation focuses on
holding teachers accountable for their performance associating it to a range of consequences
for their career. It seeks to set incentives for teachers to perform at their best. It typically
entails performance-based career advancement and/or salaries, bonus pay, or the possibility
of sanctions for underperformance. Teacher evaluation for accountability is summative in
nature and usually involves evaluating performance at nodal points in a teacher.s career. It
also works as a means to provide recognition to teachers.
The tension between the improvement and the accountability functions: Combining both the
improvement and accountability functions into a single teacher evaluation process raises difficult
challenges. When the evaluation is oriented towards the improvement of practice within schools,
teachers are typically open to reveal their weaknesses, in the expectation that conveying that
information will lead to more effective decisions on developmental needs and training. However,

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