The release of Estyn’s early insights for the 2024-2025 inspection cycle has provided school leaders across Wales with significant points for reflection. While there is much to celebrate in Welsh schools, one specific area for improvement has been highlighted that requires urgent attention.

Estyn noted:

"...schools do not focus their school improvement priorities, their evaluation of performance or their professional learning sharply enough on pupils’ learning and progress, or on improving the quality of teaching."

While navigating the Welsh education landscape, this feedback is critical. Amidst the implementation of the Curriculum for Wales, ALN reform, and budget management, Estyn is issuing a reminder: activity does not always equate to effectiveness.

If School Development Plans and self-evaluation processes become filled with administrative tasks rather than pedagogical inquiries, the "Golden Thread" between the strategic vision and the learner in the classroom can snap.

Here is how iAbacus helps schools sharpen that focus, ensuring evaluation and professional learning impact directly on standards and the quality of teaching.

1. Moving from "Done" to "Impact"

The Estyn insight suggests that some schools are evaluating provision (what was done) rather than impact (what the pupils learned).

iAbacus is designed to prevent this "tick-box" culture. The platform's unique four-step process—Judge, Verify, Analyse, Plan—forces leaders and teachers to pause and ask the difficult questions.

  • The Analysis Stage: When evaluating a priority in iAbacus (e.g., "Improving reading strategies in Humanities"), users cannot simply list actions taken. They must use the "Helps and Hinders" force-field analysis to diagnose why progress is or isn't happening.
  • The Evidence: iAbacus prompts users to attach evidence to their bead judgement. If the evidence is a policy document, that is administrative. If the evidence is pupil work showing progression in literacy skills, that is focused on learning.

By using iAbacus templates aligned with the National Resource: Evaluation and Improvement (NR:EI), specifically the Learning and Teaching theme, schools ensure every bead slide is rooted in pupil progress.

2. Sharpening Professional Learning (PL)

Estyn highlighted that Professional Learning is not always improving the quality of teaching. In the new landscape of the National Professional Learning Entitlement, generic training sessions are often insufficient.

iAbacus supports a model of PL that is reflective, inquiry-based, and directly linked to the classroom:

  • Individual Reflection: Teachers can use personal iAbacus templates based on the Professional Standards for Teaching and Leadership. Instead of generic targets, they can evaluate specific pedagogical approaches (e.g., "How effective is my feedback in helping pupils improve their work?" ).
  • Connecting PL to the SDP: With iAbacus, individual staff inquiries can be aligned directly with school improvement priorities. If the school priority is "Oracy," a teacher’s personal abacus can track the impact of new oracy strategies on their specific class.
  • Visualising Growth: Teachers can track their journey over time, moving beads as their confidence and competence grow, providing rich, qualitative evidence of how PL is changing their classroom practice.

3. The "Golden Thread" of Alignment

The disconnect Estyn identifies often occurs because subject leaders (AoLE leads) and the Senior Leadership Team are evaluating different things.

iAbacus solves this through Overlay and Stack features.

  • A Headteacher can overlay the self-evaluations of all six Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs).
  • If the school priority is "Improving the quality of teaching," leaders can instantly see which AoLEs are confident and which are struggling.
  • More importantly, they can drill down into the analysis. Is the department discussing administrative compliance? Or are they discussing the Principles of Progression and the Four Purposes?

This transparency allows for high-quality professional dialogue. It enables leaders to challenge vague evaluations and support middle leaders to refocus their gaze on the learner.

4. Supporting the "Barod yn Barod" Philosophy

Estyn’s move away from summative grades to a narrative of improvement requires schools to tell their story effectively. Schools do not need to create new evidence for inspectors; they need to show that they know their school.

iAbacus creates a living, breathing record of the improvement journey. It demonstrates that a school is not just "doing things," but is actively:

  1. Identifying issues in teaching and learning.
  2. Analysing the barriers to pupil progress.
  3. Acting to improve standards.
  4. Reviewing the impact on the learner.

Final Thoughts

The transition to a self-improving system is challenging. It requires a shift from looking at spreadsheets to looking at the child.

By using iAbacus, schools provide their staff with the framework needed to cut through the noise and focus on what matters most: the progress of learners and the quality of teaching.

Ready to sharpen your school’s focus?

Request a personalised demo or start a free trial today to discover how iAbacus aligns self-evaluation with the needs of your learners.