The Documentation for the School System Evaluation and the Teachers Professional Development: A University-school Collaborative Research in Italy

The continuous professional development of the teacher (CPD) has long been considered a prerequisite for the career and also for economic progress. CPD must be compared to standards which also make it possible to construct validation systems for the teachers’ skills in progress. The issue of teaching professionalism emerges also in the Italian legislative debate. We outline the research “The continuous professional development of the teacher: from the Improvement Plan to the appraisal”, conducted with a group of 33 schools in Southern Italy, the University of Bari and Unione Cattolica Italiana Insegnanti Medi (UCIIM, teachers’ association). The research project investigated the documentation of practices (connected with school’s self-evaluation, teacher evaluation and appraisal procedures) to improve the quality of teaching and to develop teacher professionalism. Three phases of research training occurred: a) The first phase involved a specific document analysis of “Rav” and “PdM” (acronyms for Self-Assessment Report - Rapporto di Auto-Valutazione - and Improvement Plan – Piano di Miglioramento). These documents were presented to the teaching staff and served as the primary materials for self-evaluation and decision-making. b) In the second phase, referred to as "professional development," the skills audit and standards were introduced and collaboratively developed with the teachers. These documents formed the foundation of a teacher's professional development program. c) The third phase was dedicated to "merit appraisal." It focused on selecting and analyzing the best appraisal sheets, which were considered the primary documents for assessing merit and promoting teachers. The school staff involved over 300 people, including teachers and principals. The results of the study underlined: the impact of the documentary practices introduced by school evaluation system on professional development; the importance of university- school collaboration supporting school-based assessment and teachers' professional development, shifting from a top-down orientation to more teacher self-regulating initiatives; the methodological- educational choice of principals as teachers’ tutors.