Council Conclusions of 16 December 1997 on the evaluation of quality in school education
C 1/4 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 3. 1. 98 COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS of 16 December 1997 on the evaluation of quality in school education (98/C 1/03) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, integration of schools into their environment as a criterion of quality; Having regard to Article 126 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, (7) Whereas evaluation is also an important element for assuring and, where appropriate, improving quality; (1) Whereas the Socrates programme, Action III. 3. 1 of invites the Commission to and which, promote experience on questions of common interest; exchange of in particular, information the (2) Whereas evaluating quality in school education is one of the priority themes of the said Action; (3) Whereas the Commission has, since March 1996, launched various studies and operational activities to examine from different perspectives with the aim of creating a picture of the wide variety and wealth of approaches and evaluation methodologies used at different levels; the question of evaluation (4) Whereas, during the 1997/98 academic year, the Commission will conduct a pilot project directly involving approximately one hundred schools in States participating in the Socrates programme; whereas an Advisory Working Party bringing together Member States’ appointed experts on the evaluation programme will in implementing the said project; in taking part the Commission the States assist in (5) Whereas senior education officials met twice in 1995 tot discuss the quality of education in schools; whereas both meetings considered the question of evaluation from complementary perspectives, thus stressing the richness approaches adopted in the Member States; and diversity of the (6) Whereas the meeting convened by the French Presidency in June 1995 considered the evaluation of pupil achievement and whereas the meeting convened by the Spanish Presidency in November 1995 selfÜ looked at external evaluation and appraisal in schools, with particular emphasis on the (8) Whereas the test of the quality of an education system is its schools and whereas it is measured by the progress schools enable young people to make; (9) Whereas developments in contemporary society necessitate more than ever a major effort on the part of the State in favour of education; whereas the effectiveness of this effort should be evaluated; (10) Whereas it is therefore important to report on the quality achieved as a result, also, of the resources invested in education; the OECD’s work on quality, (11) Whereas, in addition to the activities launched by the Union, in particular through the activities of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) and its International Indicators of Educational Systems international (INES) programme as well as the studies of pupil achievement by the International the Evaluation of Educational Association Achievement (IEA), should also be into account, taken for HAS ADOPTED THESE CONCLUSIONS: I. General considerations framework, which comes within SelfÜappraisal as a tool for schools’ development and improvement of quality is based on the idea that a vast range of interconnected factors determine the quality of a the choice of school. Although evaluation criteria depends on the legal, political and the budgetary exclusive competence of the Member States, the professionalism of the teachers, pupils’ learning process, relations within the school, the local environment, the way in which a school is run and the characteristics of a school as an environment are, to no less a degree, all factors determining the quality of a school. the content of integration of school into the its 3. 1. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 1/5 A school’s focus is its pupils and its aim to impart the values, knowledge and skills which they will use during their subsequent education and during their lives as European citizens. Evaluating the extent to which this has been achieved is a major element in determining a school’s quality and the quality of the education it provides. As each school - in cooperation with the country’s relevant authorities - is responsible for the quality of its education, it should also be possible to provide it with tools and procedures that give it a better grasp of the conditions that help its pupils to succeed at school. These tools should make it possible for a school, according to its needs, or, where appropriate, under existing school programmes, to record the progress which it enables a young person to make as a person, as a pupil and as a citizen of tomorrow. II. In conclusion, the Council invites: A. Member States, in the framework and within the limits of their political, legal, budgetary, education and training systems, to step up their action by increasing their cooperation in the evaluation of quality in school education - the evaluation of pupil achievement - with a view to achieving the following objectives: in particular in - promoting the networking of those involved in the evaluation process at different levels, - analysing and disseminating the results of on studies international comparative evaluating pupil achievement, - promoting the development of evaluation and so tools achievements may be better analysed by schools, learning pupils’ that - disseminating examples of good practice, - evaluating the benefits schools and teachers gain from taking part in the forms of coopÜ eration on offer; B. the Commission, the framework of in existing Community education and training programmes and other relevant Community programmes and initiatives and by taking advantage of the experience gained in connection with existing projects and networks supported under these programmes, to: - strengthen European cooperation and the exchange of information and good practice in evaluating quality in school education, - put to good use and exploit at European level national experience and the results of the studies undertaken at European and interÜ national level, - make the best possible use of the results of the pilot project and ensure, in cooperation they are with disseminated appropriate, followed up, the Member States, and, where that - promote cooperation between Member States with a view to ensuring the emergence of better European expertise in evaluating the quality of school education, and in particular of pupil achievement, - encourage, in connection with existing Community programmes (notably Socrates), the process of making teachers more aware of and, where appropriate, preparing them for, the development and use of evaluation tools and methods, - take account of the importance of the subject of evaluating the quality of school education when considering future cooperation in the field of education