Applications for evaluations

Applications for evaluations 2014

All independent schools that would like to be included on the IQAA bookings calendar for quality evaluations in 2014 are encouraged to make application as soon as possible in order to secure a favourable date for their evaluations.

(For details see Contact Us page.)

Onsite Training, 2014

Onsite Training, 2014

NEW TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS FOR IQAA's SECOND CYCLE OF EVALUATIONS

There will be some changes to the previous training arrangements that were used in the first round of IQAA evaluations. This first round ended in 2012.

These new arrangements apply to the second 6 year cycle of IQAA evaluations that commenced in 2013.

In the past, for each school that was to be evaluated in a given year, the principal, and as many as possible of the School Evaluation Team [SET], were required to attend a two day School In A Mirror[SIAM] orientation workshop. A per capita fee was charged for attendees.

The previous two day workshops have now been discontinued.

There will still be a training fee for 2013 and onwards, but, when compared with the rising costs and inconvenience of the previous two day workshops, schools will be better off under the new system.

The fee for training for 2013 will be adjusted from R4 500 to reflect cost of living increases. The cost will be posted on the website and on information sent to schools planning to undertake their second cycle evaluation in 2014.

The new approach to training is that the time spent by the mentor in the first visit to the school will be devoted to on-site training of the principal and the SET in the essential steps to be followed in the school's self-evaluation. This time will also be used to determine timelines for each step.

This would allow the mentor, principal and SET to work closely together on the essentials in the context of each school's particular needs and circumstances. This was not possible under the old arrangements.

The advantages of the new arrangements include:

  • Eliminating most of the costs that schools currently have to meet in order to attend a workshop.
  • As well as per capita fees [to be replaced by a flat fee], schools have also had to meet costs such as transport to and from the workshop, accommodation and some sustenance costs in certain cases and any replacement teacher costs.
  • Eliminating the need for senior school staff to be absent from their schools for the best part of two days.
  • Under the new arrangements senior staff would not have to travel to the workshop and stay overnight. They would, amongst other things, be available to deal with urgent school matters on the spot. The demands on their time would also be reduced considerably.
  • The school's mentor(s) can give much more personal and detailed attention to a school's particular questions and issues than is possible in a large workshop.
  • If the first mentor/SET meeting is held on a Saturday, or after school hours, then the school does not have to meet any teacher replacement costs. Even if there are some replacement costs they would be far less than under the previous arrangements.
  • Exposing all of the SET to SIAM training.
  • The proposed new arrangements increase the chances that all SET members will be well trained because the training will take place on school premises by the school's assigned mentor.

These new arrangements were discussed with a range of ISASA member schools to measure the level of support and to discover any problems. There has been a high level of support for the new arrangements.

Services

IQAA Services

Customised services (contact IQAA for details)
School Quality Assurance Evaluation (School in the Mirror)
School Improvement Plan Implementation Evaluation
Governance Evaluation
Opinion Survey Service

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The Independent Quality Assurance Agency (IQAA) provides quality assurance through evaluation of schools.

IQAA also encourages an attitude and atmosphere of constant internal self-evaluation in schools.

IQAA is based in Cape Town, South Africa and operates in many African countries.

IQAA began pilot evaluations of schools as early as 2004. It has subsequently assessed over 700 schools in southern Africa, including Angola, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. While the major part of IQAA’s work is related to the independent school sector in South Africa, the company has been involved with quality assurance for NGOs and INTEL. Currently, the Independent Quality Assurance Agency is embarking on work in Zimbabwe and Nigeria

Each school evaluated, its pupils, staff, parents and community, are given complete respect and concern by IQAA, especially in relation to the school's own distinctive mission, ethos and aims. All of IQAA’s services can be tailor made to suit the specific needs of individual schools and other clients.

The Opinion Survey service is now  available online to parents, learners and teachers, in both  English and Afrikaans. This service should benefit all participating schools. All that is needed is access by the school community  to computers, laptops, iPads, tablets or phones with 3G capacity. The service is particularly useful to schools with boarding facilities, as it enables parents to give instant feedback without the necessity of handing out or collecting survey forms.

    Ideas to Consider

    Changing the Mirror

    Quod vides in  speculo, si non placet, speculum non iuvat mutare.

    If you look in a mirror and don’t like what you see, it doesn’t help to change the mirror.

    Confront your reality

    You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be.

    ~ Jim Stockdale, quoted by Jim Collins

    Crooked Stick

    To make a crooked stick straight, we bend it the contrary way.

    ~ Montaigne

    Facts

    Do not think of making a case for a particular point of view.  Let us just have the cold-blooded facts.

    ~ Winston Churchill

    Failure and success

    … until we have begun to fail we have no way of working out our success.

    ~ Thomas Merton

    Greatest of Faults

    The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.

    ~ Thomas Carlyle

    Largest room

    What is the largest room in the world?

    ~ Room for improvement.

    Medicine, Law, Teaching

    If  surgery and the law were practised as privately as teaching, we would still treat most patients with leeches and dunk defendants in millponds.

    ~ Parker J Palmer

    Quality of decisions

    If we are to learn to improve the quality of the decisions we make, we need to accept the mysterious nature of our snap judgments.  We need to respect that it is possible to know without knowing why we know and accept that – sometimes – we’re better off that way.

    ~ Malcolm Gradwell

    School Improvement

    The process of school improvement cannot be viewed as a stuttering sequence of disjointed activities. Rather, it must be introduced as an integral part of life and professional activities in the school.

    ~ St Benedict’s Prep School