School Self-Evaluation
School self-evaluation (SSE) is an important process influencing the quality of the education provided for children and young people in schools. Since its formal introduction to the Irish school system in 2012, schools have engaged with the process in varying ways to advance aspects of teaching, learning and wellbeing.
In Ireland, SSE is designed as a process of collaborative, internal school review that is focused on school improvement. It is envisaged as a process which is based on sound, reliable information from a range of sources and perspectives – including information about the learning experiences of children and young people and how they are doing in their learning. It is also meant to be an inclusive, participatory process involving school management, all staff, pupils/students and their parents/guardians. As such, it is a rights respecting process – acknowledging the role of these stakeholders and actively facilitating their participation in the process.
SSE is supported by a quality framework, Looking at Our School (LAOS) 2022, which provides a set of criteria or descriptors of quality in schools. LAOS is, in essence, a set of standards against which schools can consider how well they are performing