Basis For Self-evaluation Research Articles

Ofsted, quality assure yourself! Applying current inspection criteria to assure the quality of current inspection

With tongue in cheek, I have modified key paragraphs in the current school inspection framework to help those monitoring inspections for quality-assurance purposes judge the quality of inspection teams. Reading them reveals the demanding nature of those expectations and raises the question as to how far inspectors can reasonably be expected to meet them – just as the same question can be posed to problems of the original paragraphs when applied to school teachers and leaders. The modified framework might also be used as the basis for self-evaluation by inspection teams or as a feedback form for schools to submit after an inspection.

Raising independent-learning awareness: An action research in dance practice course in Indonesia

Students’ independent-learning awareness in dance practice course in Indonesia tends to be weak. Most students only do learning during class meetings with their lecturers. This research aims to raise students’ awareness of independent learning in dance practice course by optimizing daily assessments needed by students as the basis for self-evaluation in conducting learning outside class hours. Lecturer evaluation notes in this daily assessment format were given to students to be used as a reference in improving the weaknesses of each student’s ability to master the course material of each meeting. This research was conducted with an action research design that implements seven stages of critical and reflective learning in a series of three main stages in action research, namely pre-action, action, and post-action. The participants were 37 students at a university in West Java, Indonesia. The research results showed that students in the dance study program did not yet have high awareness of independent learning. This learning condition has a largely influenced the mastery of the keurseus dance material given in the course. However, through action research, we provided treatment to improve students’ learning methods so that their abilities can be further improved by applying several critical-reflective steps. The results of this research illustrate the effectiveness of teamwork in finding learning solutions for students in finding effective learning rhythms outside of class hours.

Strategic alignment and implementation of codes of conducts in organisations

Using the example of the automotive industry, this paper explores with a view to the many scandals in this particular branch (such as the Dieselgate scandal) how the values declared in the codes of conduct in this industry can be practiced in a more sustainable manner in daily business. This is because the branch has been not short on declared values, or the many strategic and operative guidelines to follow. A solution to this challenge thus likely only can be expected from a systemic approach. Based on the assumption that the level of appeal of a code is a vital but by no means sufficient prerequisite for internalisation of values, firstly indicators have been developed to assess the appeal of a code of conduct, such as the topicality of scope, comprehensiveness, relevance, comprehensibility of language and content, formal design and didactic transformation. Using these criteria, 18 codes of conduct have been analysed of companies from the automotive industry and the devised pool of criteria condensed to the key attributes that define the measure of appeal of a code. In the follow-up step, experts have been approached to give their opinions on how the values declared in the codes of conduct can be implemented in a more sustainable manner in strategic and operative alignment of corporate and management culture. This is because alongside a topical and didactically structured code of conduct, the likelihood of internalising values is higher where also the corporate organisational structure and process flows as well are adjusted for compatibility with such norms. With the aim to make the codes more effective, a total of 10 main scales and 62 criteria have been determined. Three of the scales deal with the didactic and content design of the codes, five with the organisational structure, corporate processes and controlling and two with qualifications and personal growth. The values of the variables on the scales are comprised into a summary value that represents the development level of a corporate value culture. The summary value and profiles can be used as benchmarking references and a basis for self-evaluation as well as a dynamic value management. The scales aid successful internalisation and implementation of the value culture as part of corporate culture.

Providing Palliative Care: Oncology Nurses' Perceptions of Their Self-Reported Abilities.

Oncology nurses are pivotal in the provision of primary palliative care. However, nurses working in oncology settings, where the goal is often curative, may lack knowledge about and comfort in providing palliative care. The purpose of this study is to determine how oncology nurses perceive their ability to provide palliative care services to patients and their families. Using Benner's theory of skill acquisition as a basis for self-evaluation, this cross-sectional, descriptive pilot study surveyed oncology nurses. All participants reported ranges from capable to very capable in ability to provide precepts of palliative care. Results showed a small but statistically significant association between years of experience and perceived ability to honor patient and family preferences, provide patient and family support, appreciate demands placed on families, and provide supportive services to caregivers.

Female “Thin Ideal” Media Images and Boys' Attitudes Toward Girls

Both boys and girls are exposed repeatedly to “thin-ideal” images in the media, that is, images of unrealistically thin and attractive women. As yet, however, little research has examined the impact of these images on boys. In the present study we investigated the effect of exposure to televised thin-ideal images on boys' attitudes toward girls. The participants were 354 boys aged 13–15 years, who viewed either 20 commercials that epitomized the thin-ideal for women or 20 commercials that contained no such images. They then rated the importance of 10 characteristics, including slimness and physical attractiveness, in their choice of partner or girlfriend. Appearance schematicity, a trait measure of the extent of investment in appearance as the basis for self-evaluation, was also assessed. It was found that schematicity was positively related to boys' importance ratings of attractiveness, slimness, athletic ability, muscularity, and popularity in a girlfriend. Further, boys who scored medium (but not high or low) on appearance schematicity were influenced by the commercials. These findings suggest that the media may have an indirect impact on girls' body image through influence on boys' expectations and evaluations of girls' appearance.

Model for Multicultural Nutrition Counseling Competencies

A model for multicultural nutrition counseling competencies for registered dietetians was developed and tested. Six hundred four registered dietetians who were members of The American Dietetic Association Public Health Nutrition Practice Group or directors of dietetic internships and didactic programs in dietetics were selected by a stratified random sample method and were mailed a survey. Respondents rated each of 46 competencies using a Likert scale to delineate how essential each competency will be for entry-level dietetians in the next 10 years. Of the 60% who responded (n=363), 94.4% met the study selection criteria. Most were white (85.7%), spoke English as their primary language (96.8%), and had a master's degree (64.4%). Many (37.9%) worked in community/public health facilities or organizations, and 50.4% provided nutrition counseling or education to clients culturally different from themselves. Exploratory principal components analysis extracted 3 factors with 28 competencies loading on them: multicultural nutrition counseling skills, multicultural awareness, and multicultural food and nutrition knowledge. Subjects responded similarly whether or not they provided nutrition counseling to culturally different clients. Secondary analysis revealed no significant interaction or differences between how bilingual dietetians and those of color scored items in the 3 factors. The resulting model is a guideline that can be used by educators to enhance dietetics education and training and by public health nutritionists as a basis for self-evaluation and selection of continuing education opportunities to enhance their multicultural nutrition counseling competence. J Am Diet Assoc. 2000;100:1178-1185.

War Painters and Western Science

This essay focuses on one epoch in one culture, the “war painter” system in Nazi Germany, and considers its social trappings (professional, political) as characteristics shared by another epoch and culture, evaluation systems in contemporary Western science. The parallels are instructive not only for a self‐critical sociology of knowledge such as that envisioned by Karl Mannheim and Alvin Gouldner, but moreover as an anthropological test of cultural relativism as explanation.If society with its fixed hierarchies can no longer give us a safe orientation and a basis for self evaluation, we must for that very reason meet the challenge of developing a new pattern of orientation based upon a deeper and more genuine human truth…. This is the real task of the democratized age, and it is a task yet to be done.

Responding to classroom behavior problems among deaf children.

Common patterns of responding to the emotional/behavioral problems some deaf children exhibit in the classroom are compared. School programs serving deaf children can use this comparison as a basis for self-evaluation and planning.

SOCIAL REFERENTS AND SELF-EVALUATION IN EXAMINATIONS.

Abstract : Students were asked after each of three examinations to estimate (1) what score they would obtain on that examination, (2) their minimal goal (the lowest score with which they would be satisfied), (3) the average score obtained by students in that class. Data from 562 respondents are analyzed to determine the bases for self-evaluation. Before making their estimates on each of the exams, 272 students in a 'Referent' condition were given the average score of male pre-medical students. The remaining 290 respondents, in the 'No Referent' condition, were not given any such information. With no social referent, and no experience on the first examination, correlation between predicted and obtained scores is very low (r = .21). Accuracy of prediction increases on successive examinations, reaching a correlation of .42 on the third examination. Where there is no social referent and no experience, there is autistic distortion--a tendency to overestimate one's performance. Such distortion is particularly evident among students who score poorly. Autism is reduced on successive examinations, and particularly when a social referent is provided. The social referent results in much greater accuracy in the first examination, compensating for lack of experience. Other factors in self evaluation and evaluation of others are also examined. (Author)

Self-derogations in young retardates and special class placement.

The article reports a segment of a larger investigation into the efficacy of special homogeneous classes for educable (Binet IQ 60 to 85) mentally handicapped (hereafter referred to as EMH) children. It is suggested that the implications of this research are relevant to the social psychology of deviancy and childhood, generally. Advocates of special classes for EMH children contend that, among other advantages, these classes promote in the children the acquisition of a more nearly realistic and healthy self-concept. This contention is based upon the assumption that regular class placement confronts the EMH child with standards so out of reach that he has no substantial basis for self-evaluation. It is further assumed that the EMH child who works in a setting wherein he can operate at a rate that is consistent with his learning characteristics will thereby learn to recognize the reality of his assets and liabilities. Past investigations (1, 2) of academic progress in special classes offer little clear-cut evidence for or against the utility of these classes. However, the bulk of studies tend to support the contention of superior social adjustment for the EMH child placed in a special class (3, 12). Jordan and DeCharmes (7) suggest that this superior social adjustment may be attributed to the EMH child's fear of failure experienced in a regular grade, due to the pressure for academic achievement; this pressure is not felt by the child in the special class. While the argument for special class placement is generally accepted, it overlooks the implications of the placement itself on self-concept. The question must be raised: What impact is there on the youngster's self-perception when he is singled out from a classroom of friends and neighbors