The Distributed Evaluation and Planning in Schools (DEAPS) project is proposing to address issues of capacity in schools in the areas of school evaluation and quality assurance. It seeks to do this for the purpose of enhancing social inclusion and combatting issues such as Early School Leaving. Based on an in-depth analysis of modes of evaluation DEAPS argues that the move from a centralized to distributed modes of evaluation is central to the inclusion of marginalized and under-represented voices in the quality assurance debate. Arguing that greater inclusion will facilitate better outcomes DEAPS identifies the lack of capacity in schools to involve other voices – and in particular those of parents, pupils and management bodies - as being critical. To address this DEAPS will: • Provide a conceptual and theoretical overview of Distributed systems of evaluation • Develop a toolkit for schools targeted at developing capacity to include marginalized voices • Develop a MOOC to facilitate distribution of information about DEAPS to non-school based actors ( parents, management etc) • Develop a initial teacher education module for use by HEI’s interested in including DEAPS approaches in their programmes • Develop a project website to distribute all materials in a range of languages The DEAPS partnership – made up of HEI’s from IE (Dublin City University) , TR (University of Ankara) , BE (University of Antwerp) and PT (Instituto Politécnico de Viseu) – is an experienced one with a range of experiences in programme development, training, evaluation, early schools leaving and social inclusion at local, national and European level. Committed to a collegial and iterative process each partner will take responsibility for a number of the 17 identified outputs. The entire partnership will contribute to each output and will use both online and Face to Face meetings to develop final products. Committed to transnational usage the products will be available in the 4 partner languages. It is envisaged that the development of DEAPS will both enhance the capacity of schools to engage in inclusive quality assurance and will provide a mechanism allow groups who are in danger of exclusion find a meaningful voice in how schools judge themselves leading to greater engagement and ownership. This will, in the long term, transform the ways in which we consider what is important in education systems and bring inclusion and involvement to the centre or European education.
This three-year European Union funded project titled ‘Distributed Evaluation and Planning in Schools’ (DEAPS) argues that the move from a centralized to distributed modes of evaluation is central to the inclusion of marginalized and under-represented voices in the quality assurance debate. Arguing that greater inclusion will facilitate better outcomes, DEAPS identified the lack of capacity in schools to involve other voices – and those of parents, pupils and management bodies - as being critical. Objectives: The DEAPS project objectives centered on nine core domains: 1 - Information (A multi-lingual website to disseminate intellectual outputs (deaps.net); 2 - Assessment (Review of DEAPS in partner countries as well as a review of identified themes for DEAPS); 3 - Conceptual Framework (Development of a Conceptual Framework to map out DEAP strategies in schools; 4 - Case studies (and peer reviewed paper) of DEAPS practices in the four partner countries; 5 - Survey and comparative analysis of DEAP strategies in secondary schools in each partner country; 6 - A multi lingual toolkit for schools and other respective organisations to plan and enhance DEAPS in schools; 7 - Multilingual Teacher Training Module for Initial Teacher Education and teacher CPD programmes based on the DEAPS principals and the Toolkit; 8 - A multilingual MOOC that is specifically geared towards those members who are not involved in the day to day operations of school life (Parents and Management bodies) and how they can become involved in DEAP strategies in schools; 9 - Development and launch of final report (available at: http://bit.do/mmdeapsfinal). Number and type/profile of participants and description of undertaken activities: The project consortium consisted of experienced practitioners and researchers from four different institutions and HEI’s including from Ireland (EQI – The Centre for Evaluation Quality and Inspection - Dublin City University Institute of Education), Turkey (University of Ankara), Belgium Flanders (University of Antwerp) and Portugal (Instituto Politécnico de Viseu). Each partner had a range of experiences in programme development, training, evaluation, early school leaving and social inclusion at a local, national and European level. In terms of undertaken activities and as per allocated resources contained in the grant agreement (Appendix 1), all members of the consortium participated in the development and dissemination of all outputs that far exceeded what was in the initial output descriptors. Within this, each partner had overall responsibility for leading the development of each output all of which were achieved with great success. University of Antwerp - UA UA had overall responsibility for the coordination and development of: Output 3 - Survey; Output 4 - Second Publication (survey); Output 14 - Initial, Teacher CPD Module; Output 15 - Pilot Study of CPD Module. University of Ankara - AKU AKU had overall responsibility for the coordination and development of: Output 2: Literature Review and First Publication of DEAPS in Schools; Output 8: Case Studies - Fourth Publication; Output 9- Interim Report; Output 16: Evaluation. EQI - DCU Institute of Education - DCU EQI-DCU had overall responsibility for oversight and management of all aspects of the project and were also responsible for the coordination and development of: Output 1 - The Project Web Site (deaps.net); Outputs 7 - Case Studies; - Outputs 12 and 13: Development and Pilot study of the MOOC; Output 17 - The final report. Institute Polytechnic of Viseu - IPV IPV had overall responsibility for the coordination and deelopment of: Output 5: Conceptual Map; Output 6: Third Publication; Output 10: Toolkit; l Output 11: Pilot Study of toolkit. Results and Impact Attained: The results and impact of the project were considerable and far exceeded what was initially envisaged and planned for the project as part of the grant agreement. The project delivered 17 individual intellectual outputs including websites, surveys as well as academic papers and evaluation reports. Dissemination: Dissemination of project results was considerable. Target audiences included students, head teachers, school staff and parents, policy makers, trainee teachers and initial teacher education providers. The project’s impact on them has been immense as detailed in the individual Output descriptors. The results reached these target groups via various fora such as: via the DEAPS web site; the coordinating partners Twitter account: @EQI_DCU; live stream at the multiplier event; the case studies; the multiplier event; DEAPS workshops; as well as via open access peer reviewed papers. Target groups were also reached on numerous separate occasions at various national, European and International fora as detailed in the record of dissemination activities available at: http://bit.do/dissdeaps2020.