School Performance Review and Development (SPRAD) was a major innovation in school
evaluation in the Australian Capital Territory. One of its aims was to encourage teachers
and parents to work together in evaluating and developing policy across all areas of school
life: Administration and Management, Finances, Curriculum and Assessment, Staff and
Student Welfare and overall School Climate.
SPRAD is different from other forms of school review in that it is system-initiated but kept
under the control of the participants. The ACT Department of Education and Training
supplies the resourcing and consultative assistance.
One of the hopes for SPRAD was that, in bringing teachers and parents closer together, it
would create a greater understanding of where each group stood in relation to the other
and strengthen parent/teacher relationships.
The focus areas for this study were parent participation in classroom and related activities,
the various channels of information employed within the school such as school
newsletters, reports and interviews, specific notices and letters relaying matters peculiar to
class groups and school sectors, parent/teacher information-sharing sessions,
parent/teacher involvement in board and P & C activities, and other forms of formal and
informal contact.
The study highlights the differences and similarities between teachers and parents in
relation to "professionalism" and "partnership", and areas of conflict highlighted by
Beacham & Hoadley (1979) who discuss the Fortress Model of Schooling, and Darland
(lanni et al: 1975) who writes of the "anyone can teach attitude" displayed by many
members of the public, i.e. the attitude that because all people have had some experience
of schooling, then their opinions on education carry as much weight as those of the
professionals; the feeling that what was good for them is good for their children, because
they have "been there, done that" and teachers do not really know very much more than
they (the public) do.
SPRAD was seen to be a helpful factor in developing some aspects of parent/teacher
relationships. Satisfaction with parent participation in classroom activities had increased
overall despite some drops in actual parent presence at the activities because of the
movement of children into the Senior areas of the school. Another example was the
lessening of the degree of dissatisfaction with teachers' professional development
programmes, especially pupil-free school development days.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219150 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Orreill, Anthony John, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Professional & Community Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Anthony John Orreill |
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