Quality systems

Aim of the quality system  

The aim of the quality system is to ensure a consistent focus on and systematic approach to evaluating and increasing the quality of the students’ learning, academic level, and well-being as well as staff well-being and professional development. 

The quality system consists of the following elements: 

• Internal evaluation of teaching, learning environment and well-being
• Other elements
  • Staff well-being survey from Copenhagen Muncipality (in Danish “trivselsundersøgelse”)
  • Arbejdspladsvurdeing (APV) (workplace evaluation)
  • MUS (employee development conversations)
  • Report on the EB from the office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools
  • Follow-up plans based on the results of the evaluations

Internal evaluation  

The internal evaluation is done on three levels.  

• On school level, strategic focus points are being evaluated by all staff and students yearly. 

• On class level, each individual teacher asks their students to evaluate their teaching twice each year.  
• On an individual/group level, students have meetings each school year with their class teacher and their subject teachers individually or in groups. In these talks, students reflect on their own practices and developments as learners. 

Evaluation of strategic focus points 

The overall objectives for 2022-2025 as well as the focus points for the school year 2023-24 can be found here.

Based on these overall objectives, strategic focus points with attached objectives and actions are set each school year, and these objectives are evaluated yearly according to the schedule shown below. 

Evaluation of teaching by the students 

Twice a year – in November and April – teachers ask students to evaluate their courses. One of these evaluations is written and one is oral. For the written evaluation, teachers use questionnaires developed by their subject groups as templates and fit them to their specific class.  

The aim of the anonymous questionnaires is for each teacher to reflect on their teaching and to initiate a discussion between students and teacher on the teaching methods and the environment in class. Based on the results of the November evaluation, teachers bring one or more focus points to the MUS in December/January. 

The oral evaluation in April is done in different ways depending on the class and the individual teacher’s preference but will of course include the results from the evaluation in November. 

Student – class teacher talks 

Each S5-class has two class teachers, and the classes have one period of class time each week with the class teachers. The foci of these periods are well-being and academics such as academic honesty and study technique. 

Each S6- and S7-class has one class teacher, and some periods with class time are scheduled throughout the year. 

Throughout the three years, several talks are held between each student and their class teacher. The aims of these talks are different each semester but has a strong focus on the students’ abilities as reflective learners, on setting and evaluating goals and on cultivating a growth mindset.  

Student – subject teacher talks 

Students receive four school reports each year in S5 and S6 and two in S7. Each of these school reports contains a class mark (the A-mark). The two semester reports in January and June also contain a B-mark based on the B-tests in December/January and June. Furthermore, the report in June contains an annual mark (the C-mark). You can read more about the marking scale and the school reports here.

Subject teachers will talk with their students once a year either individually or in groups. The aim of these meetings is to talk in more detail about the students’ learning progression and offer specific tools in the specific subject. S5- and S7-students will talk with their subject teachers during the month of November, while S6-students will talk with their subject teachers in January. 

This does not mean that subject teachers never have other meetings with students, as they will of course talk with students at any time throughout the year, if they feel that it is necessary.  

Student well-being survey 

Every year students are asked to answer a larger well-being survey. The results from the survey are being treated by the student well-being committee and their contact teacher, and based on this survey, the well-being committee will arrange a well-being morning at ESCPH. The questions in the survey will be the same every year to ensure that progress can be followed.

Other elements 

Other elements related to the quality of the Upper Secondary includes well-being of staff members and evaluation of the academic performance of students at the Baccalaureate exams compared to students at other European Schools. 

Staff well-being survey 

Copenhagen Municipality conducts a well-being survey among staff members every second year. The results of the well-being survey are forwarded to management and are discussed at the various bodies at the school (MED, Trio). Here, the results are analysed, and action plans are made to support the work with the physical and psychological work environments at the school.  

Arbejdspladsvurdering (APV)  

Whenever significant changes occur at a workplace or at least every three years, a larger workplace evaluation is carried out, where staff members offer their input on the changes and the impact this have had on their working environment. The work on this is done by management in collaboration with the AMRs and may take as a starting point the results from the latest well-being survey.  

Staff-management talks 

Staff members have 2-3 individual and one subject group talk with management each year.  

The first talk is a voluntary individual check-in talk and is done in September. The aim of the talk is to ensure that each staff member has had a good start to the year. The check-in is mandatory for new employees.

The employee development interview (MUS) is held in December/January each school year and takes as a starting point individual reflections from the teacher as well as the result from the student evaluation in November. The aim of the MUS is to ensure the continuous development of staff and workplace. 

The third talk around March centres around the allocation of hours for the coming school year. 

The fourth and final talk is held in the spring and is a talk in subject groups on the work done in the current school year as well as wishes and visions from the subject groups. 

Report on the EB from the office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools 

Every year around January, the office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools and the European Baccalaureate Unit publishes a report on the results of graduates from the summer session. The report allows for a comparison between students at ESCPH and students from other schools. The reports can be found at this page. 

We have extracted the most important information for ESCPH and collected that and our comments in this document.

Follow-up plans 

To summarize the following evaluations are done throughout a school year: 

• Evaluation of strategic focus points 
• Student well-being survey (from spring 2024) 
• Staff well-being survey and APV 
• Baccalaureate report  
• Class teacher feedback from student-class teacher talks  

The results of the evaluations are discussed in the relevant parts of the organisation (MED, Trio, Student Council etc), and action plans are made in response to these findings.