The Complexity of Judgment in the Everyday Work of Educators

Opening Statement

Judgment, as a process and as an outcome, is a common human experience and act. In our everyday lives, people make judgments and are the subject of other people’s judgments. In everyday terms, we can make quick judgments, suspend judgment, hold on to an earlier judgment despite new evidence, and develop our ability to make sound judgments.

Judgments are made in social interaction for purposes determined by human beings (Blumer, 1969). As Beista and Burbles (2003) put it, “human beings do not simply react, but [they/we] react on the basis of their interpretation of our actions” (p. 75). It is human beings who develop judgment (discernment), exercise judgment, and judge how to proceed. Those involved are reciprocally responsive in their actions and interactions. The judge uses reflexivity and evaluation in “selection, determination and interpretation” (Frega, 2010, p. 603). Judgment entails weighing and selection, and, by consequence, the discarding of other possibilities. Davis, Sumara, and Luce-Kapler (2008) state, “At issue here is the realisation that every act of knowing is partial—in the two-fold sense of ‘incomplete’ and ‘biased.’ Such selections are not innocent nor benign” (p. 7). John Dewey “judgment as the selection and rejection decisions regarding relevant evidence for an evaluation; that is, the gathering of what is important to take into account and what is not.” ¹ Judgment is therefore interpretive and involves both a process and an outcome.

School principals and teachers experience judgment as well as make judgments in their assessment and evaluation practices related to children’s learning. For example, in classroom and school data-based or evidence-based decision making, “Any thoughtful person engaged in data collection and analysis, of course, quickly discovers that these essential processes can entail considerable judgment making” (Duke, 2019, p. 2). Judgments are involved in determining what evidence to collect. Manageability factors such as available resources in time and costs may be taken into account. Consideration of what evidence to give weight to in subsequent decision making also requires judgment decisions (Duke, 2019). Judgment is therefore integral to educational assessment, evaluation, appraisal, decision making, and problem solving.

The context or situation of judgment is a significant aspect in Dewey’s (1916/2006) understanding of judgment as this is where judgments are made and the enactment of consequences plays out. In any situation, being judged through interaction with a judge or appraiser, along with the consequences, can feel very personal, at least, for the person who is the subject. Thus, when attempting judgment of individuals, we need to recognize that there are relationships between judge, subject, and the situation.

Judgment concerns what is valued, whether specified or not, and whether it is clear whose values are involved in judgment. That is, evidence is not there to be “observed, assembled and arranged” (Dewey, 1938, p. 489). Judgments are made on the basis of evidence in relation to some reference point. This reference may be explicitly apparent (such as formal standards or criteria), more tacit (such as the judge’s point of view or values), or broader perceived socio-cultural norms. It is likely that the reference points used in any judgment will be a mixture of these things.

Dewey (1938) also emphasized the temporality of judgments. Frega (2010) summarized Dewey’s idea:

Temporality is a constitutive trait both of situations and judgements; situations evolve over time, and judgement is not the punctual utterance of a propositional content but is rather a spatial-temporally complex process subject to contingent constraints. (p. 599)

Although connotations of the word judgment seem harsh and absolute, Dewey reminds us that judgment is more contingent than propositional. According to Dewey, any judgment is, therefore, not as fixed or as final as commonly held connotations of the term, or uses of the outcomes, might suggest (Earl Rinehart, 2017). Things that are settled and unquestioned can become unsettled through change, and new questions arise. In education, for example, situations, relationships, values, people, policy, and purposes change; past judgments need to be reviewed and revised. A continuity of further processes of judgment is required.

The collection that follows alternates literature references and anecdotes to illustrate judgment exercised and experienced in the everyday work of principals and teachers. My aim is to re-consider our understanding of judgment in everyday work of these educators. The structure and form chosen for this project echoes that of Ron Pelias’s (1994) piece on performance in everyday discourse.

Body

To start with, there is no judgment if criteria are simply “taken from outside and applied.” ² Judgments are made in relation to values. What is being valued? Whose values are being used?

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The advisor for senior boys, Mr. Dennys, was very concerned that Aaron did not always wear socks to school. Aaron’s mother, on the contrary, slept through mornings, including on school days. Dennys did not succeed in his attempts to get her opinion.

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Both judge and judged are in the situation with reference points related to expectations, values, and norms. They are in relation and “partially constitute the points of reference.” ³ Judge, judged, and points of reference are inextricably linked.

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The new school principal thought the school’s annual Santa lunch—with carols sung by a 60-member children’s choir—both frivolous and too religious. After hearing the response from teachers. he reversed his decision and allowed the lunch to go ahead. Still, he was surprised at the large turnout of parents and how much everyone enjoyed the choir singing songs like “Deck the Hall.”

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Dewey thought of judgments as actions that are “better, wiser, more prudent, right, advisable, opportune, expedient etc.” ⁴ Are they always? What about quick judgments or judgments held unquestioned and unexamined for some time? When put into action, is a judgment simply the imposition of a judger’s values over another person’s?

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Ruby told me she did have a husband and wife come and see her once, early on in her time as principal there. They had both been on the school board and she knew that they had caused a huge ruckus. She said,

They just wanted to put me in my place. So, I don’t know, it was all about their kids but honestly, it was just all about them coming over here and asserting themselves a bit actually. So that was interesting, because I didn’t really know the purpose of their visit, and I just said to them, “I can’t say I agree with you.” I just kind of stood up to them nicely.

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Parker Palmer (1998) wrote in The Courage to Teach that

a good teacher must stand where personal and public meet, dealing with a thundering flow of traffic . . . as we try to connect ourselves and our subjects to with our students, we make ourselves, as well as our subjects, vulnerable to indifference, judgement, ridicule. ⁵

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Carys told us she dyes her hair because she knows that the children in her class do not want a grandmother for their teacher. A mother? Well, perhaps. We listening women nodded: obviously.

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Interpretation, by the person who is making the judgment, is necessary, and is that which connects what is happening in the specific situation to the reference points being used. ⁶

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The District office staff receive the results for Grade 4 tests from Mountainview School. “Oh dear,” they say.

With a steady school roll of 112 but a typical turnover of one third of students, Mountainview’s school leaders are more focused on attendance and transition issues.

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Decisions about the relevance and importance of evidence are made in relation to “the situation at hand.” ⁷

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According to the Washington State principals I spoke to, they are hardly “seen” by busy superintendents. Really, it is the appraisal evidence they load into the online repository that gets counted/weighed in the evaluation of their work. These principals commented that this evidence is often, then, of tasks they need to do anyway, such as completion of state testing or completion of teachers’ appraisals: the filling in of spaces in an online template.

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Inference and judgment belong “to action, or behaviour, which takes place in the world.” ⁸

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[E]ducation, health care, construction and the public sector in New Zealand appear to be most lenient regarding the acceptability of tattoos. “Ten years ago lots of people had tattoos but they were invariably covered up in some way to be able to do certain types of work, but now, . . . you see everyone with tattoos, it’s great.” ⁹

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Judgments are of the time. Judgment is more complex than a timely decree. Situations change. Judgments are subject to the constraints of existing conditions. ¹⁰

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One principal’s appraisal report included this statement: “Disclaimer: This report concerns the performance of the principal as defined in her job description and performance agreement. Although related to compliance and accountability, this report should not be regarded as a complete analysis of such matters.” ¹¹

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The outcome of judgment modifies consequential action(s) and is the basis for future action. ¹²

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A teacher felt the student’s attention slipping away and decided her unease was because what she was teaching was too easy for the student. Her response was to modify the lesson to make it more of a challenge. The student’s attention increased and “the flow of teaching was re-established.” ¹³

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Deweyan judgment aims [emphasis added] to assess the quality of an effect on a situation and not to define the intrinsic value of something. ¹⁴

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From the way school board members had talked at his interview and subsequently, Sydney felt confident he was a “better match” than “the last principal” as “the kind of principal” the school was looking for. They had made it clear they expected a school principal to be present, visible, and active during school and at relevant events. He said, “We had Agricultural Day last week and I was running around like a blue-arsed fly,” and they said, “It was great to see you out there, talking to the Kindergarten people and helping with the sausage sizzle, do the raffle prizes and all that.”

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Judging and judgments are relational in terms of being multifaceted and subjective. ¹⁵ The process, the outcome, and any consequences of judgment are experienced by the person on the receiving end.

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“I’ve been disappointed overall with the school board’s involvement in my appraisal. I feel that I don’t get the acknowledgement and I feel let down by that. The school’s running along well. The principal has had an appraisal. It’s obviously gone well—great, what’s the fuss? I haven’t made a fuss. I just think if it wasn’t going well, the board would be in there wouldn’t they—so why can’t I have the good feedback?” ¹⁶

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Judgment of practice is . . . “a necessary and ongoing activity. Necessary, because human beings constantly need to make decisions and settle questions and because judgement accompanies situations in their dynamic evolution and should be responsive to the changing nature of factors, needs and aims.” ¹⁷

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Closing Statement

Principals and teachers as educators make judgments and are also judged in their everyday work. Duke’s (2019) definition of judgment highlights the decision making in the face of the unknown, temporary or contradictory in the making of judgments: “Judgment is the ability to arrive at and make a choice when faced with incomplete information, uncertain conditions, and/or competing goals or values” (p. 6). Thus, judgment is a process and an outcome, situational and interpretive. Judgment involves social/human interactions for human purposes.

To someone outside a given situation, a specific judgment may seem irrelevant or harsh. For example, whether Aaron wears socks to school or not is a judgment I consider irrelevant to his learning and I said so to Mr. Dennys at the time. Judgments, as interpretations involving values, may be left unspoken by the individual, acted on in interaction with a subject in a specific situation, or naturalized through policy with extensive implications for unknown as well as known subjects. As such, judgment may be an explicit exercise of power. Blumer (1969) emphasized the influence on a judger by those who are “powerful.” The person making the judgment will weigh another’s opinion by who they know, who they represent, how organized they are, if they might get “vociferous, militant and troublesome” (p. 201), or be quickly forgotten. The question is, then, whose judgment counts in judgment?

The illustrations presented here remind us that the person who judges is present in the circumstances of that judgment. The “criteria” or reference points used in making a judgment may not (all) be explicit nor shared and that, contrary to common connotations, judgments are better understood as temporary. It was this understanding of a temporal dimension that justified Dewey’s hope for better future experiences. Dewey’s understanding that the stability of knowledge (values or norms) as only for a time signals a need for further inquiry, further judgments, and further decision making. The purpose in formal and informal judgments in the everyday work of educators is, for Dewey (1929), for education “to be more enlightened, more humane, more truly educational than it was before” (p. 39).