Common questions about school self-evaluation
Questions evaluation teams keep asking, answered briefly, with a pointer to the reference wherever one exists.
- What is the difference between self-evaluation and external evaluation?
- Self-evaluation is a process a school carries out on itself, through regulated internal procedures against the Authority's standards, to identify its strengths and its priorities for development. External evaluation is carried out by a body outside the school; the first is a development tool the school holds, and the second is a judgement passed on it by others.
- Why "التقويم الذاتي" rather than "التقييم الذاتي"?
- Because in the Authority's usage التقويم is the whole process: gathering evidence, analysing it and judging it, then building an improvement plan on it; التقييم is assigning a score or a value. The two are not synonyms, and the official documents use التقويم. On the same basis the word for a survey is استبانة, not استبيان.
- What are the domains and standards of school evaluation?
- Four domains: school administration, teaching and learning, learning outcomes and the school environment. Eleven standards sit under them, each with its own indicators. The framework reference on this platform sets all of them out in the Authority's own wording, indicator by indicator.
- What is evidence, and what does documenting it mean?
- Evidence is what shows a practice actually happened, such as a document, a photograph, minutes or a survey result, and it is tied to the indicator it serves rather than collected on its own. Documenting it means the evidence stays attached to its indicator and its date across successive evaluation cycles, not that it is gathered into a folder.
- How is an improvement plan built on evaluation results?
- The plan starts from the shortfall the evaluation exposed in a particular indicator, and derives from it the objectives, then the actions, owners and timescales. A plan is not built on the evaluation unless it names the indicator it addresses.
- Who takes part in the self-evaluation team?
- The school leader, deputies and teachers, with families and learners taking part through the data-collection instruments. Evaluation is collective by nature; for many indicators, only the people doing the work know where the evidence is.
- Does Farqad accredit a school?
- No. The platform is a self-evaluation tool the school holds, and it grants no accreditation and issues no regulatory judgement. Its role is limited to documenting what the school gathers about itself, organising it and presenting it, and accreditation and external evaluation remain the Authority's alone.
- Does the platform replace official platforms?
- No. The platform is not connected to the official platforms and does not replace any official procedure. Its role is limited to organising and documenting the school's internal work so it is ready when asked for, and it submits nothing to any body on the school's behalf.
- Can the framework and the guide be read without an account?
- Yes. The framework reference, the self-evaluation guide and the help centre can all be read without signing in. An account is needed to run an evaluation cycle inside the platform, not to consult the reference.
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