Tushar Tamhane is a Central Associate with Adhyayan. Read more about him here.
Every parent would want their children to be enrolled in a good school. But how does one define a ‘good school’? Even in the 21st century, the parents look for certain aspects like – school timings, principal reputation, board results, connection with the coaching institutes, aided/not aided, medium of instructions etc. However, a concerned parent will always look for the quality of education imparted in the institution more than any other aspect. The dilemma for them exists too, as what parameters define the quality of education within the schools is yet unknown. Is there a science to evaluate school performance was the question that came to me, as an Educator coming from a science background. I believe that it is very subjective in nature and is defined by the present needs of the person.
Even said that, is there a school specific tool, which is quick, simple and reliable to measure the school’s overall performance? It is important for a parent to understand and know how the school is performing today and in the present rather than looking at its past glorious history. Of course, there might be surveys carried out by third part agency, which has outdated questionnaire and responses. These surely do not collect enough evidence to base any judgement as a stakeholder.
On the contrary, I had a great learning opportunity with Adhyayan team who had 85+ years of combined expertise in the schooling domain, to understand and experience ‘definition of a good school’ all in action. The diagnostic designed by the founders is rooted in years of experience of conducting over 1,000 school audits globally. The diagnostic guides school communities in undertaking their own structured reviews so that they can evaluate their current effectiveness against national & international best practice.
The challenge in this process is not to carry out prejudices but to observe without any judgements – a skill which is very crucial and needs to be developed. The 6 Key Performance Areas identified to be the driving factors of a good school are looked upon at the same time in context with each other. This gives not a piece meal but a holistic developmental action plan and the onus is entirely on the stakeholders. The comprehensive report presented by Adhyayan along with the Quality Standard Award gives the school community along with its stakeholders a clear view of their existing performance and the direction to move forward.
Self-review is a concept, which is rather alien in our system, and it is worth attempting so as to leave the school to think and take action on an ongoing basis.
Curious! Yes, why not, then please get in touch with Poonam Choksi, Operations & Marketing Manager at Adhyayan – poonam.choksi@adhyayan.asia.
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