Reclaiming Lesson Observation

Supporting excellence in teacher learning

Matt O'Leary

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317221135
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Reclaiming Lesson Observation explores the latest practice, thinking and research in lesson observation, putting teacher learning at its heart. Illustrated throughout with practical examples from a range of education settings, each chapter contains a rich variety of state-of-the-art, evidence-based case studies to demonstrate how new approaches to observation can be applied in practice.

The book is split into four easily accessible parts:

• making the transition to ungraded models of lesson observation
• recent research studies in lesson observation
• peer observation, coaching and mentoring
• innovations in observing classroom practice.

With a carefully chosen team of contributors, from senior leaders and managers to classroom practitioners and education researchers, this book provides an informed perspective on how to maximise the use of observation, and most importantly, implement proven successful schemes to improve the quality of teaching in the classroom.

Reclaiming Lesson Observation is for all practising educators who want to break free from the constraints of performative lesson observation to redefine and reclaim it as a powerful tool for teacher growth, on which to build sustainable, collaborative communities of teacher learning.

PART I

Making the transition to ungraded models of lesson observation

1

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

Transitioning from performative to informative models of observation

Louise Taylor

Introduction

Scenario one

The year 2000: 8.15am at ‘Green School’, a medium-sized language and business school in London. It was a misty Monday morning in west London. Sara was excited as she had been reading an article about independent learning and was anxious to try out some of the strategies with her class. She wanted to get in early to grab Stuart, the school’s academic advisor, before the start to ask him to pop in and give some feedback on the session. She particularly wanted him to focus on Ali and Stefan as she knew they might struggle with one of the tasks. Stuart always had brilliant insights to offer, particularly at noticing the impact on individual learners.

Scenario two

The year 2010: 7.45am at Purple College, a large further education (FE) college. It was a grey Wednesday morning and Amy arrived at work with a feeling of dread. Her annual observation was scheduled for 9.00am and she rushed around gathering all her materials, the cut-up text envelopes, the differentiated worksheets, the detailed plan, the mini-white boards, the post-it notes and, of course, fumbled in her bag for her USB stick. Would the computers work? In the last observation she was told she had not used enough technology, even though the levels of learner engagement were commented as ‘high’. She never really felt the feedback was useful. It was so formulaic and there was always that dreaded question ‘So how do you think it went?’, but she just had to tick all the boxes, as having another ‘requires improvement’ judgement would have implications for the whole year …

Do these scenarios sound familiar? Which of the approaches do you think would stimulate teacher learning and improved learning experiences and outcomes for students?

In the first scenario I was Sara, working as a language teacher in a highly successful language school which had continuously exceeded quality standards in all areas of British Council inspections over many years. The observation approach in the school was informal, feedback in the form of discussion and qualitative and informative in nature. Observations were on an invited basis from teachers. Observers were either the academic advisor or colleagues and were usually triggered by the teacher experimenting and wanting a critical friend’s view on the experimentation. Teachers at Green School were energised by their observations and used these to refine and interrogate their practice. In contrast, the second scenario has been described on numerous occasions by those working in further education (FE) colleges where they have experienced and interpreted observation largely as a tool to quality assure, using an Ofsted 1–4 grading scheme (Hatzipanagos and Lygo-Baker 2006: 421). Their observations were formal, followed written policies and were carried out by their line managers or a member of the quality team. Feedback related to specific sets of criteria linked to a mixture of pedagogic practice and impact on student learning and achievement.

This chapter seeks to contribute to the observation debate by taking the reader on a short journey along a metaphorical ‘yellow brick road’, which two FE colleges have taken to transition from the performative type observation practice experienced by Amy at Purple College to the more informative observation approach experienced by Sara at the Green School. The thinking is fuelled by a belief that ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ there are models of observation which stimulate deeper teacher engagement and reflection on and innovation in their practice. Drawing on the perspective of two case study FE colleges, The Rainbow College and The Yellow Brick College, the chapter will explore the context and rationale for their transition to different models of observation, how these models have been implemented, what they look like and reflect on their impact and effectiveness.

Context and the rationale for transitioning to different models of observation

Many of the teachers at institutions such as Purple College told a similar tale as to how ineffective the impact of their observations was on their own learning as teachers (Taylor et al. 2009). Rather than refining practice, at times it led to a distortion of practice as they sought to follow what they believed their observers required from them or the criteria demanded. This can lead to the normalisation of practice in observation, as highlighted by O’Leary (2013a), which is based on prescribed notions of excellent or good teaching and can lead to teachers playing the game of observations, becoming ‘compliant tutors’, ‘taking no risks in their teaching’, ‘retreating to safe methods of teaching, transmitting via handouts and PowerPoint presentations’ (Coffield et al. 2014: 3). The desire of many colleges to interpret or enshrine the dominant discourses of Ofsted and ‘best practice’ toolkits can lead to a passive approach to pedagogy. This has been fuelled by tick-box observation criteria which can undermine teacher learning and development, thus serving to detract from the development of knowledge and skills within a specific, contextualised situation. The tick-box observation approach often seeps further through the system to appraisal and inaccurate and unhelpful teacher ‘labelling by number’ which over-simplifies teacher performance and potential and can result in an unrealistic picture of teaching and learning quality.

The hegemonic practice of grading observations as a central initiative to develop quality has continued despite a number of voices identifying the negative backwash of graded observations on the quality of teaching and learning (e.g. Coffield et al. 2014; O’Leary 2013a, 2013b, 2014; Washer 2006; Wragg et al. 1997). Many graded observation models also appear to be confused or contradictory in purpose. Is the purpose to promote quality improvement (which would necessitate a process which is supportive and developmental and encourages teacher learning) or quality assurance (which would seek to simply assure against particular standards)? Many practitioners view observation as a managerial response bound up with the accountability agenda where, ‘rather than being seen as a constructive tool that engages with practice it becomes viewed as a management tool’ (Hatzipanagos and Lygo-Baker 2006: 421). This has left many teachers, like Amy in the second scenario, feeling judged, criticised and disengaged from the process (Taylor et al. 2009). Observation models which imply that if we can ‘fix the teacher’ all will be well ignore many other influences and conditions for student progress outside the control of the individual teacher (Hattie 2015: 5). This, in turn, relates to a deficit model of teacher competence stemming significantly from political and public concerns that poor teaching and poor institutions are not improving and can detract and divert institutions away from wider issues in educational provision. This has implications for the way in which the teaching role is being defined, developed and supported and also ‘functions to pre-empt or silence alternative answers to the question of what causes low standards in FE’ (Wallace 2002: 81). The practice in colleges of using a graded observation profile to define the quality of teaching and learning can lead to a cul-de-sac if other factors are ignored.

There has been a seeming inability within performative graded observation practice to grasp the notion that an initiative which alienates a significant body of people upon whom its practices impact is doomed to fail. The flawed aim of many educational organisations striving to observe and capture outstanding teaching and learning in one-off observations, whilst perhaps emanating from a lofty ambition of quality improvement, frequently falters and becomes distorted in the messy and complex practice that lies beneath. Assessing teaching and learning practices based on a tiny fraction of a teacher’s annual working hours (approximately 0.00079 per cent) can only engender superficial judgements or snapshots of quality at best, and can mask both poor and good practice, detracting from the efficacy of overall strategies for improvement. The tiny fraction of work activity observed in annual observations can often lead to a plethora of processes proclaiming to engender effective development but, due to a weak evidence base and lack of in-depth analysis, only serve to promote surface learning rather than the sticky and challenging unpicking of practice needed to support deeper learning.

O’Leary describes lesson observation as ‘one of the most widely debated and hotly contested initiatives to affect teaching staff in the FE sector’ (O’Leary 2013b: 6). The ‘heat’ of the debate is underpinned by the perception of many teachers, like Amy in scenario two, that graded observations fuel de-professionalisation and innovation inertia. The ‘normalisation’ (O’Leary 2013a) of graded models of observation over the last two decades within an educational context has deep within it many elements of what Shore (2008) describes as ‘cognition traps’, leading to a series of institutional or national ‘blunders’. These blunders stem from: (a) ‘Infomania’; the trap of maintaining an obsessive relationship to information (clinging to inaccurate and scientifically suspect observation profile data); (b) ‘Static Cling’; the trap of failing to accept that circumstances have changed (ignoring widely cited evidence against graded observation as an effective assurance or improvement tool) and (c) ‘Exposure Anxiety’; the fear of being seen as weak or of being risk adverse, (the trap of colleges fearing inspection and the high-stakes nature of inspection outcomes). This can lead to a collision between the ‘business’ of colleges and the ‘business’ of inspection. The fall-out from this collision is experienced through observation models set to ape perceived expectations of Ofsted serving in some cases to subvert the very standards inspection was seeking to raise.

Colleges are highly complex organisations, often with fragmentary physical contexts due to multiple sites of delivery and have been subjected to continuous change, funding cuts and restructuring in response to the hyperactivity of changing government priorities and policy (Coffield 2008: 44–45). This has impacted significantly on staff morale and has served to contribute to a ‘two-college’ divide Coffield describes between senior managers and staff in many organisations (2014: 158–161). Sennett’s question posed in The Corrosion of Character is particularly apposite for colleges: ‘How can mutual loyalties and commitments be sustained in institutions which are constantly breaking apart or continually being redefined?’ (Sennett 1998: 10). One response is for colleges to creatively review and realign their observation processes to situate these within a context that will be more informative at individual and institutional levels, address the cognition traps many colleges have fallen into, ignite teacher curiosity in their craft and inform overarching strategies. This may serve to reduce the alienation and innovation inertia experienced by teachers and ameliorate the two college divide or dysfunctional tensions and contradictions ( James and Biesta 2007: 158) thus supporting a more engaged workforce.

Drawing on the national research study he conducted on behalf of the University and College Union (UCU), O’Leary suggests there is an ‘increasing appetite for change in many institutions across the sector’ (O’Leary 2013b: 6). For both case study colleges (Rainbow College and Yellow Brick College), concerns with a graded observation process and flirtations with different approaches began in 2011.

The appetite and desire for change in Rainbow and Yellow Brick emanated from many of the factors outlined above and emerged out of a clear sense in both colleges that their current systems were not having the desired impact in either: (a) developing teachers and improving the quality of teaching and learning or (b) providing a robust and reliable assessment of quality. There was also a recognition in these colleges that their observation models were elevating a focus on teachers as the central controllers of student achievement (Hattie 2015: 5).

How were the new models at Rainbow College and Yellow Brick College implemented? And what do they look like?

In two medium-sized general further education colleges, Rainbow and Yellow Brick colleges, similar processes were adopted in terms of developing a refreshed teaching and learning strategy, undertaking staff consultation, research and literature reviews, setting up a change group to steer the new strategy, developing and realigning the observation scheme, providing training and assessing and evaluating its impact. Both colleges recognised the need for clear communications, branded their strategies and held staff information/dissemination events. In the Yellow Brick College, the implementation of a new teaching and learning strategy was captured through a video made by a team of students in the college and recorded teacher views, learner views, manager views and was shared with staff at the end of the ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Introduction Reclaiming lesson observation as a tool for teacher learning
• I Making the transition to ungraded models of lesson observation
• II Recent research studies in lesson observation
• III Peer observation, coaching and mentoring
• IV Innovations in observing classroom practice
• Index