Product Description

This book draws on ground-breaking work with the National Union of Teachers to demonstrate a practical approach to identifying what makes a good school and the part that pupils, parents and teachers can play in school improvement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110323 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
'Improvement occurs when people are not put on the defensive. It starts with questions in your mind about what you are doing and it accelerates when you share them with others engaged in the same enterprise. This book provides the questions and the means to accelerate improvement. It's a must for those serious about successful schooling.' - Professor Tim Brighouse, Chief Education Officer at Birmingham City Council

From the Back Cover
Schools must speak for themselves. In a political and economic climate in which school performance is made public, it is dangerous for schools to allow others to speak on their behalf. Performance tables and inspectors reports can only tell a partial story. Sometimes they get it wrong.

It is futile for teachers to complain that they are misrepresented. Self-critical and self-confident schools are information rich. They know how to tell their story for themselves and they welcome the external account as another source of evidence, another view on policy and practice.

This book illustrates how schools can tell their own story. It draws on ground-breaking work with the National Union of Teachers to demonstrate a practical approach to identifying what makes a good school and the part that pupils, parents and teachers can play in school improvement. Its usefulness to, and use by, classroom teachers to evaluate their classrooms will prove to be its greatest strength in an ever expanding effectivene

Customer Reviews

Dated research techniques
We have, I hope, moved on the main tenets of educational research now, away from the flawed reliance on questionnaires. Let us not lose the ground gained by a number of esteemed researchers throughout the 1990s. I could not recommend this book to anyone seeking a considered and visionary look at an education system. The very slack use of questionnaires is most disappointing. We in the field of education must not rely on this technique. There are many original books in this area but I could not describe this as one. Very poor.

A disappointing attempt at serious research
A most disappointing attempt at serious academic research. One must question the core research methods employed by the author. The out-dated reliance on the use of questionnaires lays doubt on many of the findings, especially with the clear poor return rates. Statements are often not supported with evidence, with too many references to secondary and superseded works. Unfortunately many of the findings add little to some of the research which was coming out of England in the early 1980s.

My best book for 20 years
This is an essential read for any school, any teacher who is genuinely interested in improving the quality of teaching and learning in their school. It is probably the best book I have read in the last twenty years. I unreservedly reccomend it.