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Self-evaluation is not simply a process, or an event sparked by an external stimulus but should be the core ingredient of continuous improvement in every school where the teachers and school leaders are the key agents of change. Get self-evaluation right … and the school functions like a well-oiled machine where everyone knows and understands their own roles and responsibilities, expectations and boundaries are defined and clearly articulated, and activities have a purpose. When this happens, the evidence collected makes a meaningful contribution to the school’s evaluation of its own performance and feeds into a cycle of leadership decision making to drive improvement. Unfortunately, in recent years, the term ‘self-evaluation’ has become synonymous with inspection, audit and accreditation for too many people. As a result, the power and potential of true self-evaluation are often lost in translation, especially when used as a management tool rather than a driver for strategic thinking and action. Your school’s self-evaluation should be driven internally and shouldnot be a reaction to external factors and influences. In our experience, too many schools put a lot of focus on micro and macro activities with the result that self-evaluation often becomes an onerous process that is perceived as a burden with the resulting impact of overload on teachers and leaders. Every school should use their valuable time and energy to make self-evaluation a meaningful process that works for them in their own unique context. If this doesn’t happen then monitoring processes are often carried out without a clear purpose and the collection of more and more evidence starts to take over from other important activities and functions in the school. Schools are living dynamic organisations that can change very quickly and it is so important to remember that one small change, whether in staffing or the composition of an individual class of students, can have a significant ripple effect throughout the whole school.  The biggest mistake for any school leader is to assume that one size fits all and that what has worked for them previously, will automatically transfer into a new context. This means that school leaders need to develop flexibility in both the process of self-evaluation and the behaviour of their people towards self-evaluation. Therefore, one of the first things any school leader must do is to accept responsibility for setting the tone through the way they themselves choose to behave towards self-evaluation. We have identified six main ways that school leaders often behave – which of these metaphorical characters best describes your behaviour at the moment and what does this mean for your school Registration is now open for the Middle East Teaching and Learning Conference. This is a virtual conference for educators, taking place on August 24-25, 2021. Registration is free. Register now at www.meteachingandlearning.com.