Establishing and Developing Professional Evaluator Dispositions

A basic principle associated with competent evaluation practice asserts that evaluators should possess the education, abilities, skills, and experience needed to undertake the tasks proposed in an evaluation. For those training evaluators this also means teaching professional dispositions, because an individual’s dispositions (i.e., beliefs and values) influence how they will act as professionals. Personal dispositions held by individual evaluators at times conflict with the values and beliefs of their professional organization. Competent evaluators must be able to manage personal dispositions in ways that allow professional values and positions to guide their practice. In order for evaluation educators to teach evaluator competencies, we must understand the underlying dispositions associated with each competency. We must also identify which dispositions are essential for professional practice. This article discusses the issue of dispositions and the challenges of helping evaluators develop positive professional dispositions.