School Improvement through Competency Assessment

Education evidence shows underperforming schools often have school leaders who do not have the necessary competencies, or interest, to bring about the required change. Etio (formerly Tribal Education Services) brings its knowledge of what works in school improvement to support decision makers implement change.

At the request of a GCC Ministry of Education, in 2020 Etio were invited to support the Ministry’s school improvement programme through a competency assessment of school Principals in underperforming schools.

As part of their school improvement programme the Ministry needed an independent view on the quality of school Principals who led school receiving inadequate ratings in national school inspections. In recognition of the sensitive nature of the project, Etio needed to approach the work with authority, yet empathy and ensure the Ministry were well informed throughout the process.

Based on international literature and global experience applied to a local context, Etio worked in partnership with the Ministry to design a set of competency standards that outlined what knowledge and skills school leaders need to have to lead change in a school. With the awareness of the importance of this project first and foremost to the children at the schools, Etio applied empathetic design to its approach to assessing school Principals against the competency standards. This started with the assumption that the Principals have significant experience and skills to offer but may not be well suited to the role of a school Principal.

The first assessment involved testing generic skills with an aptitude assessment. This looked at verbal reasoning, numeracy and critical thinking and covered many of the required competency standards. The second assessment involved interviewing the Principals and allowing them to reflect on their job role and personal strengths and weaknesses. This allowed the assessor to observe knowledge of specific aspects of school leadership that are necessary to lead change. The final assessment involved the Principals ranking themselves against the competency standards.

The results of all assessments were collated by a Etio Education Workforce expert and a report designed to highlight strengths and recommendations. The findings showed a strong correlation between Principals who expressed enthusiasm for their jobs and higher scores in the assessments. Those who did not score as well often expressed job dissatisfaction.

The considerate approach to the assessment process allowed the Ministry to have constructive and positive conversations with the Principals about their futures and ensure outcomes were well received by Principals and the school community.

The findings of this project allowed Ministry decision makers to make a case for moving disengaged and unsatisfied Principals into other job roles, including back into teaching roles they had enjoyed in the past. The experience contributed to a culture shift in the Ministry of taking into account personal interested and competency when appointing school leaders.

New school Principals with experience in high performing schools were moved to the inadequate school to implement school improvement programmes.

Ministry Representative:

‘The findings highlighted some fundamental challenges for some of the Principals. In one case, the Etio assessment identified the Principal had severe dyslexia which explained why he was unable to write a school self-evaluation report. However, the same Principal was an excellent teacher with a gift to engage students and help them learn. The processes allowed us to let him go back to teaching and appoint another school leader without upsetting anyone’.