Social Research Essay: Analysis of School Aims and Evaluation Methods

This essay analyzes the mission statement of the Dalat school in Malaysia, focusing on three key aims: spiritual growth, the creation of relevant and innovative experiences, and the promotion of an authentic community. The essay explores how these aims can be evaluated and measured, suggesting methods such as monitoring prayer attendance, assessing student honesty, and evaluating creativity in art and craft activities. It emphasizes the importance of fostering spiritual development, encouraging honesty and genuine behavior, and promoting innovation through various school activities. The essay suggests practical approaches to incorporating day-to-day activities that support these aims, highlighting the significance of charity events, student participation in class discussions, and the need for teachers to encourage innovation in all academic projects. The conclusion stresses the importance of schools in fostering holistic development, including spiritual growth, authenticity, and innovation, to prepare students for success.

Running Head: SOCIAL RESEARCH
Social Research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL RESEARCH
Introduction
It is the aim of schools in each and every part of the world to create a carefree, warm,
disciplined and nurturing environment for students. Such an environment is of vital necessity if
children are to grow and develop in an all-round manner, achieving great heights at both the
physical and mental levels of development. It should be the mission of every school to create an
environment for children that is characterized by fairness, harmony, equality, tolerance,
obedience and love (Clayton, 2013). Children need to be made to enjoy each other’s company by
partaking in various types of scholastic and extra-curricular activities that are aimed at their
physical, mental and social development. To this end, it is necessary for schools to aim at
helping students to interact with each other in the most authentic and genuine way possible. If
children are to grow and develop in a holistic way, then it is necessary for them to develop
spiritually in addition to growing and developing mentally and physically (Clayton, 2013). This
essay looks at three aims mentioned in the mission statement of the Dalat school in Malaysia and
analyses the significance of the three aims, namely the achievement of spiritual growth,
creation of relevant and innovative experiences and the promotion of an authentic
community, by understanding how such missions or aims can be evaluated and measured, what
day to day activities can be incorporated by the school to achieve such aims and to see how well
the school is doing where achieving such aims is concerned, and what it should be doing next.
The development of a personality towards spiritual and religious desired better
personality is known as spiritual development. It is the process of becoming fit for high klevel in
the spiritual world. According to OCED (2013), the aim and objective of spiritual development
can be achieved by the Dalat school by conducting regular prayer sessions. By being a part of
prayer sessions on a regular basis, students are bound to achieve spiritual growth and how far

2SOCIAL RESEARCH
this aim is being achieved is something that can be easily measured by noting down the number
of students who say their daily prayers with dedication. It is also to mention that the prayer
sessions should be those that are carried out at the start of the school day rather than at the end of
it, and should be a time when students are asked to assemble together in a large hall or room,
fold their hands and say a school prayer, that allows them to connect with God, understand the
value and significance of prayer and feel connected with their school mates as well. To some
extent, efforts need to be made on the part of the school authorities to make morning prayers
compulsory, making it easier on their part to ensure and evaluate the spiritual growth of students.
As far as the promotion of an authentic community in the school is concerned, day to day
activities such as lying and cheating during class tests and punishment for the same will tell how
successfully the school is trying to get its students to be honest and genuine. Regular speeches at
assembly about the value and the importance of honesty can also provide data as to the manner
in which the school intends on promoting an authentic community within its walls. The need for
honesty and genuine behavior needs to be made known to students at the outset of every day, in
an attempt to ensure that honesty is ingrained in every student. The data through data to day
activities that is revealed about the accomplishment of school aims such as the aim of achieving
spiritual growth is something that can be captured when attending a school assembly. It will be
easy to see at this point of time, how many students it is, who have assembled at the hall for
prayer and how many of them are actually folding their hands and praying. The assembly hall
every single morning may be surveyed for one whole week to see the number of students and
teachers who gather in the hall for prayer and recite the verses that they are supposed to in order
to attain spiritual growth and fulfillment. This itself will reveal how far the school is able to
achieve the aim of spiritual growth.

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OECD (2013), in this context have further claimed that the aim of creating relevant and
innovative learning experiences is something that can be evaluated and measured by hosting
activity classes, especially art and craft classes from the nursery stage right up to seventh or
eighth grade. Art and craft exhibitions ought to be held by the school on a regular basis for
students at all levels, from nursery right up to eighth grade, in order to see and understand how
well students are able to express themselves through creative works, and what new ideas or
innovations they come up with in order to get their work appreciated by their teachers and their
peers. It is when students are made to partake in artistic activities, especially activities that are
related to the fine arts that they learn to understand what creating and innovating is all about. As
per Clayton (2013), authentic community is the community when people shows up the real
themselves. Students attending the school need to be made to understand that lying can have
serious consequences, while honesty is something that will earn them praise and recognition. In
order to promote an authentic community, the school authorities need to enforce upon students
the importance and the need for simple living. The students need to be encouraged not to show
off in front of others should they come from very wealthy families, and the use of fancy gadgets
and technological devices is something that ought to be discouraged within the school setup.
Students need to be made to appreciate each other’s company. They need to understand the value
of living harmoniously within a community and this is something that is possible only if students
spend less time on technological gadgets and more time interacting with one another. Moreover,
the promotion of this community within the school set up is a an aim that can be evaluated and
measured by first making honesty an act that is mandatory, and the act of deceit and lying
something that is shameful. Careful attention must be paid at the time of conducting class tests

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and examinations to ensure that students are not cheating in the process. If they are, they must be
immediately hauled up, reprimanded and penalized for doing so.
The main aim of any school is to provide both the subject knowledge skills as well as
ensuring spiritual growth of the students. Day to day activities that provide data relating to this is
of course the attendance in the prayer halls. One can judge by looking at the number of students
in the prayer halls and the prayer sessions that are conducted while they are in attendance, as to
how well the aim of spiritual growth is at least trying to be achieved by the school authorities.
Where the creation of relevant and innovative learning experiences is concerned, the day to day
activities that provide data regarding the achievement of this aim is the number of art and craft
sessions that are carried out for a particular class in a week, and the number of art and craft
exhibitions that are held by the school in a month or in every school semester (Biddle, 1988).
The student attendance in these art and craft classes will also provide evidence of how
successfully the aim of fostering creativity and innovation among students is being accomplished
by the school authorities. The more students attend classes pertaining to the creative arts, the
more innovative they get to learn to be with their thoughts and ideas.
When it comes to the creation of relevant and innovative experiences for students, efforts
need to be made to see what kind of creations students come up with in the course of their art and
craft activities. Students who are dedicated learners and who follow the guidance of their
teachers will make an effort to create works of art, that are amateur but which display some type
of innovation or the other. By looking at the number of innovative craft works, it will be easy to
tell how innovative the art and craft learning experience has been for the child. If the majority of
the students in a class are unable to come up with exciting works of creativity, it may be gauged
that the spirit and skill of innovation is not being fostered in students in the way that it should be.

5SOCIAL RESEARCH
Where the achievement of an authentic community is concerned, efforts need to be made
to detect how many students in a class cheat during a class test or during a major examination.
For this purpose, surveillance methods need to be undertaken on the part of teachers and
examination officers to see how diligently and honestly students give their examinations and to
keep track of the number of students who are caught cheating (OECD, 2009). This surveillance
system needs to be kept up for the entire length of the year, especially to see how many students
take recourse to cheating, even after being severely reprimanded or penalized.
While witnessing how prayer activities are carried out during assembly is definitely one
of the effective ways by which students can be made to attain spiritual growth, the school
authorities could also try and get the students to participate in charity events and to engage in the
gift of giving, especially to people who are in need. The importance of sharing and giving to
people who are less fortunate than the students who are attending the Dalat school is something
that needs to be stressed upon them and students need to be encouraged to take part in charity
events and donation drives that are organized by the school, and which are aimed at helping the
poor and the needy. By doing so, the school administration can go a long way in accomplishing
the aim of spiritual growth among students (Clayton, 2013).
The school authorities at the Dalat school should make an effort to get students to come
up with innovative ideas and suggestions when doing classroom projects and during regular
learning sessions rather than only during art and craft activities. When a subject is being taught
in the class, students need to be encouraged to express their views on the content and to suggest
ways and means by which the same content could be different perceived. Novel ways of thinking
and perceiving will emerge as a result of such an interactive activity. In much the same way,
students have to be encouraged to show their innovative skills when doing academic projects as

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well, such as a science project or an English project, and not just when they enter the art and
craft room (Biddle, 1988). This will make them learn various other ways in being innovative.
Thus, there are quite a few ways by which the three aims of attaining spiritual growth,
creating relevant and innovative learning experiences and the promotion of an authentic
community can be evaluated, measured, and improved upon by the administration at Dalat. The
school is a place where children are sent for an all round development and not just for
intellectual learning. It is therefore imperative for any and every school setup to inculcate values
and measures in school that help students to grow spiritually, to learn how to be genuine and
authentic and to be innovative in their thoughts and expressions, so as to stand out in a crowd
and be unique. The Dalat school can go a long way in ensuring that all of these aims are
accomplished by diligently carrying out prayer sessions and ensuring that students are a part of
these sessions, encouraging the gift of giving through charity events and donation drives, and by
getting students to express their innovative skills as best as they can in the classroom set up by
taking part in creating learning experiences such as projects, art and craft lessons, and debates
and discussions during intellectual learning.

7SOCIAL RESEARCH
References
Clayton, Cr. (2013) Understanding Current Reforms to Evaluate Teachers: A Literature Review
on Teacher Evaluation Across the Career Span. Retrieved from:
http://www.nyacte.org/documents/Clayton_2013_Teacher_Evaluation.pdf OECD (2009),
Teacher Evaluation: A Conceptual Framework and examples of Country Policies. OECD
Publishing. Retrieved from: http://www.oecd.org/education/school/44568106.pdf
OECD (2013), Teachers for the 21st Century: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching, OECD
Publishing. http://www.oecd.org/site/eduistp13/TS2013%20Background%20Report.pdf
Biddle, B.J. (1988) Teacher Roles. In Dunkin, M.J. (ed.) The International Encyclopaedia
of Teaching and Teacher Education. Oxford: Pergamon Press. References in the excerpts
can be found in the original works mentioned above.
Riley, K., & Macbeath, J. (2000). Putting Self Evaluation in Place. In K. John Macbeath,
Effective Schools and Teachers - Basic Education Cluster.