The influence of teachers’ expectations on principals’ implementation of a new teacher evaluation policy in Flemish secondary education

The implementation process of teacher evaluation policy is often problematic. In this regard, it is crucial to understand principals’ sensemaking of teacher evaluation policy since their understandings influence the implementation process. While a growing body of research shows that principals stron...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Educational assessment, evaluation and accountability evaluation and accountability, 2015-05, Vol.27 (2), p.129-151
Main Authors: Vekeman, Eva, Devos, Geert, Tuytens, Melissa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Assessment
Belgium
Correlation
Education
Education policy
Educational evaluation
Educational Policy
Expectation
Foreign Countries
High schools
Interviews
Job descriptions
Performance evaluation
Principals
Program Implementation
Qualitative Research
School administration
School principals
Secondary education
Studies
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher Dismissal
Teacher Evaluation
Teacher evaluations
Teacher Improvement
Teachers
Teachers, Rating of
Testing and Evaluation
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Summary:The implementation process of teacher evaluation policy is often problematic. In this regard, it is crucial to understand principals’ sensemaking of teacher evaluation policy since their understandings influence the implementation process. While a growing body of research shows that principals strongly shape teachers’ policy understanding, little is known about the way principals’ sensemaking is influenced by teacher expectations about new policy. This qualitative study, drawn from interviews with principals and teachers in 13 secondary schools, indicates that the new teacher evaluation policy in Flanders (Belgium) is implemented by principals and supported by teachers in various ways. The findings of this study show this was the result of the process of discrepancy reduction between the initial standards principal set and the expectations that teachers had for the implementation of the policy. These findings underscore the complexity of teacher evaluation and help policy makers to understand that “the best” implementation of the teacher evaluation policy probably does not exists. Moreover, this offers important insights for principals in how they best lead the implementation of teacher evaluation.
ISSN:1874-8597
1874-8600
DOI:10.1007/s11092-014-9203-4