A Study of Greek Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices of Teacher Self-Evaluation

Abstract

Contextualisation Evaluating one’s own teaching practice is a complex activity. The paper that follows draws on Aristotelian thinking to examine the value and the complexity of self-evaluation processes, and the effect on teaching, teacher learning and development. It considers constraints to implementation in a context in which teachers are the sole evaluators of their teaching and the learning occurring in schools and highlights the significant role of the individual, professional and policy contexts in this practice. Abstract: This paper reports some findings of a qualitatively driven study, which investigates Greek teachers’ perceptions of and attitudes towards teacher self-evaluation. The value and meaning attached to the practice of self-evaluation are examined using an interpretative approach and methodological triangulation. Immersion in the context of one primary and six nursery schools provide insights into teachers’ self-evaluation behaviour and the implications for teaching and learning. A randomised sample of 208 secondary and primary school teachers is used to enrich and validate case-studies findings. The findings indicate that the learning acquired via teacher self-evaluation derives from the interaction of teachers’ beliefs, thoughts and dispositions about teaching and learning, with the professional and policy contexts, and frames teachers’ sense of accountability. The paper argues that teacher self-evaluation activities are learning processes driven by will, thought and purpose. However, if teacher self-evaluation is practised only at implicit levels and in ignorance of what it is involved in its practice, it provides minimum chances for teachers to realise the full learning potential of the self-evaluation process and the impact on teaching practice.