Reykjavik

1.	The schoool			(REYKJAVIK)
2.	SEFES Final Analysis
3.	Methods And Instruments	3.1.	dartboard evaluation
		3.3.	weblog
		3.4.	photo evaluation


				(ICELAND)

Click here for an evaluation presentation (PPT)!

SEFES – ‘SWOT’ analysis of the Icelandic team

On May 10 2006 the Icelandic group held a meeting to discuss the whole project. All the participants in the project through the years where present. We discussed a few topics / questions and identified positive sides and problems to each of them. So this is maybe not a typical SWOT analysis, but still it should be useful!

Self-evaluation as a theme

We were all agreed that self-evaluation is a very important theme and that we have all become better aware of its importance in education, both personally as teachers and from the general point of view of the school. Most participants thought the most important field to carry on working on was peer evaluation and it will be promoted as part of the our school’s development at a special meeting on June 8 where a group of teachers will be working on development of the school.

The only negative thing about the theme was that some of us felt that it was not specific enough, and this may have caused some confusion in the work on the project.

The conclusion I would reach regarding this is that during the work on the project the work showed us which direction is most important and so it was actually a good thing to start so generally.

Implementation at home – using the ‘tools’

Most of us had positive things to say about the use of for example the target evaluation, photo-evaluation etc. However it seemed to many of us that it was difficult to find time to work on this and that maybe some kind of concessions regarding work load or pay would be good to get projects going. Furthermore it is very important to keep colleagues informed and interested because scepticism from colleagues and superiors is a major obstacle to this kind of work.

Number of participants

In Iceland the group was rather large. This is positive because it ensures wide dispersion of the project’s aims within the school, but it is negative because it can mean that the roles of individuals become unclear and there is a risk of misunderstanding. Still it is also clear that by having a relatively high number of participants it can be ensured that some will be active and that the project’s work will be carried on in spite of changes in staff or other problems. As I will mention later this is also a very good thing for the internal communication and culture in the school; bringing people together within our own school as well as within Europe!

Administration – connecting with superiors

At Versló we are greatly blessed by having a supervisor for all international projects who manages all practical details enabling us the teachers to focus on the content of the projects, this is Kirsten Friðriksdóttir, and her contribution cannot be overstated. This shows a general understanding from the administration of the school towards international cooperation and is to be highly commended.

Regarding SEFES we had meetings and brought our work to the attention of our superiors. It seems that they were quite enthusiastic and interested, but still it seems that their focus has not stayed on our project; constant reminding is needed. It is possible that Versló has simply become to big, but it is also possible that our work contributes to a general movement towards school development.

Indirect gains

All participants were highly positive about their involvement in the project and that they all felt that they had become more aware of various aspects of their own teaching and passionate about developing a culture of evaluation in our school. Of course the possibility to meet and get to know all the great people from our partner schools and to get to see what their schools are like reveals to us where we are strong and where we can improve ourselves. As mentioned above it is also clear that participation in such projects provide a space to reflect on various aspects of school life and to strengthen the internal network of teachers, which is sometimes not strong enough because of the very hectic atmosphere at school during the school year.

Meetings

The meetings where mostly considered to have been successful and all the countries where great hosts. We generally feel that working in small groups and then gathering ideas proved to be the most effective method. The bilingual situation was not seen to be a problem, generally people where very positive towards having the project partly in German. A very important aspect is that teachers in the host country can take time of from lessons to take part in the work. The experienced gained from participating and organising such meetings is of course highly valuable.

Conclusion

SEFES has been a great experience and has given extremely valuable results for Versló. All of us are very positive about continuing work in the various fields of self-evaluation, and very interested in participating in future Comenius projects!

Reykjavík, June 2 2006,

Ármann Halldórsson