Teaching observation in your organisation
What are the key features of effective practice?
In the section ‘Individual learning plans in your organisation’, two key aspects are identified that relate to effective practice:
First, the need for structural changes within an organisation to support the development of new teachers and, secondly, the use of an individual learning plan to identify and structure the development needs of new teachers. This tool could be particularly useful in integrating the taught and practical elements of the course and in providing for the student a coherent approach to their development.
Observation has an important part to play within an organisation: as well as contributing to summative assessment and ‘gatekeeping’ qualified teacher status, it is also an integral part of mentor, tutor, peer and management support for new and existing teachers. A clear message from the pilot projects across all the themes - mentoring, ILPs and teaching observation - was that there has to be a coherent approach to the process of observation and record keeping to ensure that they are meaningful and not repetitive.
The different types of teaching observation - developmental, summative assessment and quality assurance - can mean that recording teaching observation becomes over-burdening, and makes it difficult to see this as part of an individual as well as an organisational quality improvement process. Although it is important both that developmental observations of the type carried out by a mentor are clearly recognised as distinct from that of assessment for qualifications and also that appropriate confidentiality is maintained, a whole-organisational approach to teaching observation (and to mentoring and ILPs) would support quality improvement.