The Role and impact of middle leadership and management on the Implementation of school self-evaluation in primary schools in the Republic of Ireland.
Quinn, Irene
(2021)
The Role and impact of middle leadership and management on the Implementation of school self-evaluation in primary schools in the Republic of Ireland.
Doctor of Education thesis, Dublin City University.
This study examines the role and impact of middle leadership and management
(MLM) in implementing school self-evaluation (SSE) in primary schools in the Republic of
Ireland (ROI). It is a mixed methods social research combining both qualitative and
quantitative methods. The methods to be employed to acquire the data for analysis are
1. A documentary analysis of the three policy documents issued by the Department of
Education and Skills (DES) regarding MLM in primary schools Looking At Our Schools: A
Quality Framework for Primary Schools 2016 (LAOS 2016), School Self-Evaluation
Guidelines 2016 (SSE 2016) and Circular Letter 0063/2017 Leadership and Management in
Primary School (Circular 0063/2017).
2. Online questionnaires completed by primary school principals and teachers.
3. Interviews of primary school principals and teachers and a retired Assistant Chief DES
Inspector.
The above documents are the seminal policy statements issued by the DES concerning
the subject of this thesis, namely the inspection and evaluation rubric of the inspectorate
(LAOS 2016), the process of self-evaluation to be conducted by schools (SSE 2016) and the
role to be played in both by school senior and middle leadership and management (Circular
0063/2017).
There has been a lot of research in recent years into school leadership and evaluation
and this has influenced the emergence of these documents. The three key policy documents
are examined closely with regard to the role of MLM in implementing SSE in schools.
Concepts such as distributed, instructional and collaborative leadership are explored in the
documents and are further examined in the online questionnaires and interviews. The
research aims to evaluate the scope and extent of the role and impact of MLM in primary
schools in implementing SSE in practice.