Abstract
School Self-Evaluation (SSE) is an important component of any school evaluation system for
monitoring the quality of education and school effectiveness. School self-evaluation (SSE) is a
term used internationally while internal whole school evaluation (IWSE) is the South African
equivalent for the term. Aligning with the international trends that shift from external school
evaluation towards school self-evaluation, South Africa’s Whole School Evaluation (WSE)
policy also expects that all South African public schools conduct Internal Whole School
Evaluation (IWSE) annually. This study explored the link between intended purpose, perceived
purpose and realised purpose through the perceptions of the stakeholders on the IWSE
implementation in their schools. A mixed-method study was undertaken to gather perspectives
and experiences of various stakeholders regarding ideal, actual and challenges faced when
implementing IWSE. Four schools with five participants from each school (School Management
Teams, SMT, and Educators) participated in the interviews and 141 responses from 11 schools
(SMT, Educators, Support Staff and parents from the School Governing Bodies, SGB) completed
an online questionnaire.
Guided by the Systems theory and School as a Learning Organisation theory as theoretical
frameworks, I explored how IWSE is considered together with other accountability and
improvement instruments and demonstrated that the impact of the culture of suspicion and
distrust from Apartheid is sadly still very alive. The same suspicion and defensive attitude,
together with a lack of openness (and sometimes capacity) to reflect and self-critique, often lead
to over-reliance on outside agencies (e.g. state), a compliance mentality and underrealised
improvement logic of IWSE. Other explicit linkages between IWSE and schools becoming a
learning organisation are also limited. This study confirms with both international and local
literature that capacity and attitude remain two main concerns for effective self-reflection and
school improvement. Besides the historical legacy of distrust and resistance in South Africa’s
education system, the perceived value of a relatively subjective instrument and exercise (which is
not unique to South Africa) also remains another thorny obstacle to a positive attitude towards
IWSE and its greater acceptance or practice. The study found that the process of IWSE/SSE in
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the sampled schools was dominated by the SMT and is done mainly for compliance rather than
for school improvement.
Keywords: School Self Evaluation, Internal Whole School Evaluation, Whole School
Evaluation, South Africa.