School principals’ perceptions and requirements of school evaluators

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of school principals of the evaluator’s role and to learn about their requirements of school evaluators. Design/methodology/approach: The current study is based on the qualitative paradigm of data collection and analysis. This paradigm provides a profound a description of the phenomenon in the context in which it takes place, based on the respondents’ perceptions and how they interpret their experiences. In the course of the study, the authors used semi-structured in-depth interviews. Findings: Findings indicated that principals had regarded the role of the school evaluator mainly as that of an expert, a managerial partner and an implementer of school evaluation culture. Research limitations/implications: The interviewers were the teachers who had been trained for the school evaluator’s position. Practical implications: The “school evaluator” and the principals bear the complex task of evaluation on their shoulders, and their success in fulfilling it depends on their insights about how to delineate and implement the evaluator’s role. The paper outlines some crucial benchmarks for resolving the issue of role definitions between them. Social implications: As a relatively new profession, derived from other professions and research areas, evaluation has no solid, historical occupational legacy in schools. This paper broadens the merit of school evaluator as the facilitator of quality assurance. Originality/value: The increased responsibility placed on schools, the demand of accountability as well as transparency, have obliged the schools to broaden and deepen the internal evaluation activities. This paper reveals the essence of school evaluator’s role and suggests some key points for his/her valuable work.