Why do we spend lots of time watching our colleagues teach? Why do we also spend lots of time talking to our colleagues about their lessons? The cynic will say "because we have to", "it is part of the appraisal cycle" and so on, and this is true if there is a culture in the school that lesson observations and feedback are activities that are done to colleagues rather than with them. Some may suggest that there are times when we observe in "OFSTED" mode so that leaders and teachers are ready for inspection, however I believe that there is only one way, one philosophy, and one motivation behind lesson observations, and that is to develop teachers to improve outcomes for children.
It is true that lesson observations should form a key piece in the monitoring and evaluation life of a school, but by developing a philosophy that says the M&E side is a fortunate by-product of a more constructive lesson observation philosophy then it is more likely that observations will help to raise standards.
Within a cycle of leadership there will always be tension at the beginning. Lesson observations will be tense but the way the observation is handled and the manner in which feedback is conducted will sow the seeds for increasingly productive observations in the future. So what did I do? You've possibly seen me ramble on about "5+2 Ps" elsewhere in this blog; this set the expectations for the lesson and colleagues knew what I would be looking for. But also, and very importantly, I told them how I would be conducting the feedback. It is at this point that you can make a real difference. My colleagues knew that the feedback would be around the ideas of Purpose, Planning, Pitch, Pace and Progress and that they would be leading the feedback. That last bit is the radical part. Rather than feeding-back to the teacher, the feedback then becomes a reflective dialogue. As my colleagues knew what they would be discussing they evaluated their own lessons and were able to analyse the effectiveness of the lesson. Before I started on my 5Ps crusade the feedback I gave was like the feedback I had received, tell them the good and bad points and then tell them (or invite them to tell me) what to do better. This approach is different, the feedback becomes mentoring and not simply a M&E activity. The result of this is that the observation and feedback become real opportunities for staff to development.
When a culture of understanding and respect has developed within a school then all sorts of opportunities open up. For example I wanted to develop the leadership capacity of less experienced teachers. Because no teacher feared observation I was able to arrange for teachers to be observed by their colleagues with me also in the room. Now nothing new here except for my role in the room. I wasn't observing the lesson, I was observing the observer. Throughout the lesson I would whisper in their ear, pass them notes, get them to take up certain positions and point to things so as to develop their observing capacity. After the lesson I would ask them to brief me about the lesson and then I would observe them to the debrief with the class teacher. You may think that this all seems a little expensive in terms of time, but the impact of developing staff to undertake meaningful lesson observations is immense.
My experience of an OFSTED inspection in 2015 will last with me forever. I observed a lot of lessons with the inspectors and then they watched me giving feedback to 4 or 5 colleagues. Each time I started with "well how do you think the lesson went?", and every time I immediately had the teacher leading off with statements about progress, pace and pitch. This wasn't feedback, this was dialogue, this was staff development, and it was no surprise to me that every lesson would have been graded at least "good".
It is true that lesson observations should form a key piece in the monitoring and evaluation life of a school, but by developing a philosophy that says the M&E side is a fortunate by-product of a more constructive lesson observation philosophy then it is more likely that observations will help to raise standards.
Within a cycle of leadership there will always be tension at the beginning. Lesson observations will be tense but the way the observation is handled and the manner in which feedback is conducted will sow the seeds for increasingly productive observations in the future. So what did I do? You've possibly seen me ramble on about "5+2 Ps" elsewhere in this blog; this set the expectations for the lesson and colleagues knew what I would be looking for. But also, and very importantly, I told them how I would be conducting the feedback. It is at this point that you can make a real difference. My colleagues knew that the feedback would be around the ideas of Purpose, Planning, Pitch, Pace and Progress and that they would be leading the feedback. That last bit is the radical part. Rather than feeding-back to the teacher, the feedback then becomes a reflective dialogue. As my colleagues knew what they would be discussing they evaluated their own lessons and were able to analyse the effectiveness of the lesson. Before I started on my 5Ps crusade the feedback I gave was like the feedback I had received, tell them the good and bad points and then tell them (or invite them to tell me) what to do better. This approach is different, the feedback becomes mentoring and not simply a M&E activity. The result of this is that the observation and feedback become real opportunities for staff to development.
When a culture of understanding and respect has developed within a school then all sorts of opportunities open up. For example I wanted to develop the leadership capacity of less experienced teachers. Because no teacher feared observation I was able to arrange for teachers to be observed by their colleagues with me also in the room. Now nothing new here except for my role in the room. I wasn't observing the lesson, I was observing the observer. Throughout the lesson I would whisper in their ear, pass them notes, get them to take up certain positions and point to things so as to develop their observing capacity. After the lesson I would ask them to brief me about the lesson and then I would observe them to the debrief with the class teacher. You may think that this all seems a little expensive in terms of time, but the impact of developing staff to undertake meaningful lesson observations is immense.
My experience of an OFSTED inspection in 2015 will last with me forever. I observed a lot of lessons with the inspectors and then they watched me giving feedback to 4 or 5 colleagues. Each time I started with "well how do you think the lesson went?", and every time I immediately had the teacher leading off with statements about progress, pace and pitch. This wasn't feedback, this was dialogue, this was staff development, and it was no surprise to me that every lesson would have been graded at least "good".
Hi Mark, I enjoyed your article on feedback and agree - the whole purpose of observation is to improve teaching and learning. Those who feel it is to "measure" are missing the point. The point of "measuring" is to then improve teaching and learning. Cut out the middle man I say!
ReplyDeleteI also recently started my own blog - www.teachingandlearningguru.wordpress.com . I'd appreciate any comments on my articles. Many thanks, Andy