The notion of school self-evaluation made inroads into the consciousness of principals and teachers in the wake of a Department publication in 2003, (DES, 2003). During the decades that followed SSE gradually moved towards centre stage. The Programme for Government, 2011 set out specific targets in relation to self-evaluation and school improvement; furthermore the National Strategy targeted at improving Literacy and Numeracy required all schools to engage in robust self-evaluation (DES, 2011c). The publication of guidelines on SSE to support schools as they evaluate teaching and (DES, 2012: “intended learning” 8) and the inclusion of SSE on professional development agendas has schools’ ensured its centrality in the minds and actions of principals and teachers. A further development in the early years of the 21st century was the emergence after more than three decades of discussion and of the Teaching ‘false dawns’ Council. As various sections of the Teaching Council Act, 2001, are enacted the Council assumes added importance in the lives of school personnel; in the areas of registration, the induction of beginning teachers, codes of professional conduct and in the near future in the area of CPD. 2.5 Life and Professional Career History 2.5.1 Forms of Life Writing A further block of literature including works by Gronn, Ribbins, Day, Bottery and others is apposite for inclusion in this review. These writers approached the study of headship/principalship from a life and professional career history perspective. One can categorise a number of forms of life writing within the genre as a whole. English (2006) identified twelve forms of life writing and discusses the contribution that each of these can make to the meaning of the “understanding decisions and actions of He positions and lists the work of leaders” (141). Ribbins as account of a specific episode or event in a portrayals “…detailed or and prosopographies form of group person’s persons’ life/lives” (146) “a
The notion of school self-evaluation made inroads into the consciousness of principals and teachers in the wake of a Department publication in 2003, (DES, 2003). During the decades that followed SSE gradually moved towards centre stage. The Programme for Government, 2011 set out specific targets in relation to self-evaluation and school improvement; furthermore the National Strategy targeted at improving Literacy and Numeracy required all schools to engage in robust self-evaluation (DES, 2011c). The publication of guidelines on SSE “intended to support schools as they evaluate teaching and learning” (DES, 2012: 8) and the inclusion of SSE on schools’ professional development agendas has ensured its centrality in the minds and actions of principals and teachers. A further development in the early years of the 21st century was the emergence after more than three decades of discussion and ‘false dawns’ of the Teaching Council. As various sections of the Teaching Council Act, 2001, are enacted the Council assumes added importance in the lives of school personnel; in the areas of registration, the induction of beginning teachers, codes of professional conduct and in the near future in the area of CPD. 2.5 Life and Professional Career History 2.5.1 Forms of Life Writing A further block of literature including works by Gronn, Ribbins, Day, Bottery and others is apposite for inclusion in this review. These writers approached the study of headship/principalship from a life and professional career history perspective. One can categorise a number of forms of life writing within the genre as a whole. English (2006) identified twelve forms of life writing and discusses the contribution that each of these can make to “understanding the meaning of the decisions and actions of leaders” (141). He positions and lists the work of Ribbins as portrayals “…detailed account of a specific episode or event in a person’s or persons’ life/lives” (146) and prosopographies “a form of group