How to evaluate your subject or department

Read on for details of 7 key actions to take when evaluating your subject or department, with tips and resources for analysing results, conducting pupil voice surveys and creating an action plan.

Last reviewed on 12 May 2025
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 1619
Contents
  1. Analyse and evaluate your department’s results
  2. Use pupil voice
  3. Scrutinise pupils' work
  4. Focus on your subject's particular features
  5. Observe teaching and learning
  6. Evaluate the impact of your leadership
  7. Create a departmental action plan

Analyse and evaluate your department’s results

Your analysis will depend on the measurements you use for attainment and progress over time.

You can compare your pupil attainment data year on year, and with other schools. Your analysis will also help you see where individual teachers are being most effective.

If you use teacher assessment as part of the progress measure when analysing pupil progress, triangulate this with work scrutiny and moderated work analysis, to help make sure you can be confident the analysis is correct.

Read more about using data to support school improvement.

More support with evaluation

If your school has Whole School membership of The Key, keep a look out for new leadership courses in our CPD section on subject leadership, managing data and more.

Use pupil voice

It's important to communicate with pupils about their experience of your subject.

If