Article 20 of the CCNL 2002-2005 for the school managerial staff provides for the check of the results and the manager’s assessment He/she is responsible for the results of his/her managerial action, taking into account his/her competences due to the typical functional structure of the institutions to which he/she is assigned.
Directive 36 of 18th August 2016 is concerned with the assessment of the headmaster’s activity and rules its procedure, with particular reference to the organizational and managerial actions implemented by the headmaster, related to the objectives given by the managerial role and the results obtained.The headmaster’s is carried out by the evaluation units set up at the Regional School Offices and is based on the Headmaster's Portfolio. Each External Evaluation Unit (EEU?NEV) is made up of a technical or administrative or school manager acting as coordinator and two experts with specific and documented experience in organizational and assessment fields.There are three highlights in the headmaster’s assessment process: the creation of the regional evaluation plan and the set-up of the evaluation units, the drawing up of the portfolio by the headmaster himself and the evaluation of his/her activity.
The Portfolio is the support and accompanying tool for the whole assessment process, also guides, analyses, and reflects on the tasks and skills required by the headmaster in the exercise of his/her functions, as well as a tool for support for professional development and for the collection of significant documents, for self-evaluation and assessment. The Portfolio becomes an integral tool of a process of "organizational and managerial improvement of school institutions" as far as the headmaster’s competences are concerned. (paragraph 4, article 6 of Presidential Decree no. 80 / 2013).
The specific version of the Portfolio for headmasters is divided into four parts. The first (professional registry) is drawn up by the headmaster; it is a mandatory and public part where the headmaster highlights the main training and professional experiences including any contributions provided to the participation of the school in significant projects, experimentations and competitions. The second part concerns the headmaster’s self-evaluation and his/her competences, it is a large optional section for the reflection on his/her own work, on his/her strengths and weaknesses for a professional improvement.The headmaster may fill in a free field to describe the context in which he operates. Although optional, I believe the headmaster should focus on the "context and resources" section, highlighting conditioning and strategic choices made especially if his/her institution is set on an area at risk or in any case problematic, limiting professional action.
In the third part " Objectives and professional actions ", the headmaster includes documents he/she considers most significant and specific to his/her expertise; it will be necessary to show off the incisive actions implemented to pursue the improvement objectives included in the appointment letter. He/she should concentrate his/her choice on some significant and organic actions with respect to the analysis developed in the Self-Evaluation Report (RAV) and describe them briefly enclosing files and / or a few significant useful documents.The assessment process is aimed at the enhancement and professional improvement of headmasters in order to reach a progressive increase in the quality of the service. The assessment process takes place on an annual basis, consistently with the three-year appointment.During this school year, I am experiencing the trial year evaluation: I could not have chosen a worse year to test my skills, including facing the coronavirus problem! Joking aside, the year of assessment of newly appointed headmasters has some new features. The period of training and testing lasts one school year, during which the headmaster must be in office effectively for at least six months.
The training project for newly appointed headmasters is aimed at enriching professional skills, connected with the profile of the headmaster and related to the area of the school system, the legal administrative area, the professional and training area. The training course consists of face-to-face (50 hours) and tutoring (25) training activities. The basic idea is that of participatory governance of educational institutions, based on European style leadership.The tutor activity will be carried out by school managers who, if appointed in good time and not in February, would have to support the newly appointed headmasters in the complex phase of entering the new role, through moments of peer comparison: moments of “peer review ", tutoring, support and consultancy. The tutor is required to draw up a final report on each newly appointed headmasters, to be sent to the USR Director General by 30th June, which relates the accompanying activities carried out and includes the preliminary opinion on the new headmasters’ professional skills.
The criteria and professional areas subject to evaluation are:
✔ Possession and execution of managerial and organizational skills aimed at correctness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of managerial action;
✔ Possession and execution of skills for the development and enhancement of human resources;
✔ Possession and execution of competences concerning relations with the school community, the territory and institutions;
✔ Possession and exercise of skills concerning the analysis of the school context where the school acts, as well as the planning of initiatives aimed at its improvement.
The assessment process starts from the documentation produced by the newly appointed headmasters who, following the tutoring, the training activities carried out, the concrete dynamics of his / her work context, produces a collection of the most significant actions undertaken by May 30th 2020. For each of the four areas of evaluation, the newly appointed headmaster prepares a short report concerning an organizational activity / project / focus / strategic action related to one of the descriptors. The report includes the presentation of an act drawn up by the newly appointed headmaster showing off "the mastery of his/her professional skills".The assessment procedure ends with a final judgment expressed by the Regional Director General.
Clara Peruzzi, laureata cum laude in Lingue e letterature straniere presso l’Università degli Studi di Bari, Dirigente Scolastico presso il Secondo Circolo Didattico San Giovanni Bosco di Terlizzi (BA) e ex-docente di lingua inglese di scuola superiore a tempo indeterminato da ventisei anni, con esperienza quadriennale di lavoro presso le Nazioni Unite a Vienna (IEAE), nonché traduttrice in lingua inglese, francese e tedesca presso il Tribunale di Trani, è docente formatrice delle insegnanti di scuola primaria di lingua inglese specializzata in didattica della lingua, formatrice per corsi per adulti e ragazzi con certificazioni CAMBRIDGE di vario livello e referente esami TRINITY. Negli anni ha curato vari volumi collettivi e ha pubblicato “The First English Book for Teachers and Headmasters 100%”, “The English Book for nursery and primary school teachers”, “L’inglese per i docenti di scuola primaria e dell’infanzia” e il videocorso “Let’s start learning English together- from 0 to B1”.