About EPS

All schools are in a constant state of change and development. In your school this may be associated with curriculum changes, new assessment processes, roll growth, or community expectations.

• Are you confident all your staff “own” the change process?
• Are you reacting to external pressures without a comprehensive plan?
• Does your PD plan address everyone’s needs?

In many cases when you look at school evaluation or attempts to help move schools forward in their development it's often an imposed judgement that is made from an external evaluator or consultant. The power of the EPS2.0 is that it is a tool that allows a school to 'hold a mirror' up to itself to determine where it is in relation to the key dimensions for school development.

One of the most powerful things about EPS2.0 is that it develops a high level of ownership and commitment through the ability of everyone to contribute their perceptions of where the school is at the moment, and then engages everyone in participating in determining the way forward. 

Successful school development requires considerable professional learning, responsiveness to the needs of the context, and ongoing critical reflection.  

The EPS2.0 online tool provides you with valuable base-line information that will enable you to plan your whole school development.

You will be able to identify the shared values and beliefs of your school community, ensuring that all subsequent development work builds on this foundation.

The EPS2.0 online tool has been designed for use by all schools, large or small, urban or rural, primary or secondary. Anyone who has responsibility for providing leadership within a school will find the EPS2.0 self review tool of enormous benefit, saving countless hours of data gathering and background information seeking, providing them with an objective overview of the current state of affairs in their school. 

The framework of the EPS2.0 was initially created through work with a group of key principals and school leaders, and has been used successfully in dozens of Australian and New Zealand schools over the past five years. 

The EPS2.0 tool is developed around a framework of three key dimensions, represented as segments of a pie referred to as the 'polar diagram' (see below). These dimensions describe the broad areas of concern that a school must address in order to fully develop as a place where powerful learning takes place, and student potential is realised.

The three dimensions are:

	Philosophical Frameworks A deep exploration of the fundamental nature of educative purpose, learning, knowing and knowledge.
	Community and culture Addressing the development of a learning culture and learning community.
	Techniques, strategies and structures The tools to implement the philosophical frameworks including the design of, the use, and allocation of people, time, space and place.

Each dimension is divided into six elements that focus specifically on areas where further work and development can be undertaken. These elements are represented as segments on the polar diagram (see below).

The polar diagram provides a simple, yet powerful way of 'mapping' the areas of relative strength across all 18 elements, and of representing the overall 'positioning' of a school. 

The coloured areas of each segment reveals the relative strength of the school in relation to that particular element. The extent to which the colour reaches out to the perimeter of the map reveals the mean (average) based on the input of all staff. Other lines appearing within each segment reveal the maximum and minimum responses, providing some idea of the range of responses in each element.

Different views of the polar map are available in the reporting process (see below), providing insights into what the various groups of respondents have said. 

The results from all staff input is fed back in two ways:

Online Users can interact with a series of graphs and diagrams to drill down further into the data. Individuals are able to view their personal survey results immediately after they have completed the survey. After a set period of time (determined by the school) all of the data is collated into a school view and school leaders and staff can view this to understand the 'bigger picture' for their school.  Staff who enter a personal PIN at the registration stage will be able to return to view their personal results at any stage, and compare these with what the school view reveals.

Printed report Once all of the input has been completed, a substantial report can be dynamically generated in PDF form providing multiple views of the data in each of the 18 elements, and summaries for schools to use in developing their action plans. The printed report can be generated in two versions, one with and one without the comments that have been entered by staff in the survey.

CORE Education Ltd

CORE Education is a not-for-profit educational research & development organisation with an international reputation for support and promotion of the use of new technologies for learning across all education and training sectors.

CORE conducts quality research and evaluation relating to a range of national and international educational programmes in early childhood, schools, tertiary and industry sectors. CORE regularly reports to individual educational institutions, government, and international bodies on emerging trends involving the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education.

See: http://www.core-ed.net

Dr Julia Atkin

Julia is an education and learning consultant with over 25 years experience in the educational sector. Her work in education has spanned educational research, curriculum design, consultancy and teaching at all levels.

The focus of Julia’s work has been researching how people learn. Through both formal research and action research in educational settings Julia has developed a set of principles of effective learning that are embedded in the design of the EPS2.0. Julia is currently working in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the USA with businesses, industry, universities and schools to design and develop quality educational programs and services based on these principles of effective learning.

See: http://www.learning-by-design.com