Evaluating
Teaching and Learning: The Departmental Review
Tom Sherrington
One of the key issues for us, as it is in any school, is
to ensure that the quality of teaching
and learning is as good as it can be. This requires
us to engage every teacher and every department in a continuing cycle of
evaluation, feedback and planned improvement. Over the last two years
the main vehicle for this process has been our Departmental
Review, as I described in this post.
The key aspect of this process is that individual observations
and scrutiny processes
are conducted under the umbrella of a whole departmental
review so that collective learning
is undertaken in parallel with the development of
individuals:
Teaching 1
Originally, our main aim was to ensure that we captured
as much developmental value
as we could from the formal observation process. We
even ditched giving OfSTED grades for a year to reclaim the core purpose of
observation as a feature of CPD rather than primarily
an accountability mechanism. However, with the framework
changing so many times
since our last full inspection in 2006 (yes… that’s
right!) we invited a team of external observers
last summer to help keep us up-to-date and we’ve returned
to the grading this year
as part of the second cycle of the process. We’ve
learned a great deal about the value
and impact of external visitors making snap-shot
judgements and about our self-belief
in terms of the quality of what we’re doing.
In thinking about the next cycle, next year, two
key observations have been important to me:
I watched a lesson alongside an observer taught by
someone who I believe is a cast-iron teaching expert, who year on year secures
extraordinary outcomes and who I feel knows their subject so well that if they
think teaching a certain way is appropriate, no-one bar none (and certainly no
inspector) could really argue. So how on Earth did we end up accepting that
this lesson segment
was judged ‘Good’ without running the observer out of
town? I’m ashamed of myself
for allowing that to happen. Not enough differentiation?
Get away….. Nothing about the overall, long-term experience of learning
in this teacher’s lessons is less than outstanding;
it was the snap-shot observation process that was flawed.
In the second year of our Departmental Review cycle we
have kept the Line Managers the same
as in the first. I was involved with Art, History,
Maths and DT – a good cross-section.
After two years I now feel I know the teachers in these
departments in a well-rounded sense;
some I know so well that a one-off lesson observation
couldn’t really change my view
of their overall impact on learning outcomes. It could be
dazzling or it could have some weaknesses but I know enough context to put that
in the right perspective. I also now understand in some detail how progress and
feedback are monitored over time, what excellent work looks like
by the end of the course in each subject across the
ability and age range and what the key areas
of concern are around matching pedagogical developments
to measurable outcomes.
The point is that it has taken me two years to develop
this knowledge…
and now the observations just slot in to a big picture
without being overly important in themselves.
I have also been keen to embed the thinking that
underpinned my post
‘How do I know how good my teachers are?” into our
formal processes more explicitly.
With these ideas in mind, we’ve been looking to develop
what I call a ‘longitudinal’ process,
that moves us far, far away from the limits of snap-shot
observations. Our most recent Middle Leaders meeting explored this issue
and there seemed to be a few key tensions to absorb:
1. We want a highly developmental process where
lesson feedback helps us to improve;…
but we can’t meaningfully separate that entirely from
accountability responsibilities.
2. Snap-shot processes are inherently limited but
adding other elements and taking a more longitudinal view does also add to the
level of scrutiny (albeit scrutiny that already exists).
It’s an unavoidable double-edge: a chance to
demonstrate the good work you are doing
is also another moment of scrutiny.
3. Middle leaders are primarily interested and
skilled in supporting in a collegial style
but are also responsible for maintaining standards in
their area – which must include
securing improvement and tackling underperformance
whenever issues are identified.
4. Student work, with the organic record of feedback,
represents the best evidence
of the routine practices of individual teachers and of
the department in securing progress over time but work sampling can be
cumbersome and is, de facto, a source of scrutiny pressure.
5. Subject specific processes allow for more subtle
fine-tuning
but there is a need for a fair and transparent process
that allows standards to be consistent.
Thinking about all of this we’re suggesting that the best
way to move forward is to develop the Departmental Review Process to
include more formalised elements and here is the current proposal:
Departmental Review: work in progress.
Most of these things are happening already; we just need
to make sure that they happen consistently. The exact timing and sequence
of these elements is flexible
so departments can absorb them in a way that works for
them.
There are two
elements that need to be more explicit:
The Assessment, Feedback and Progress Review: Making
sure the Line Manager and HoD engage
in dialogue across the year about the nature of marking
and feedback and how this leads to
progress as shown in books, tests, pieces of work,
folders – or wherever.
Regular engagement with this would avoid a cumbersome
one-off collection process ;
however it is done, line managers and HoDs need a
good overview of the nature of students’ work in each class and how this is
informed by the feedback dialogue.
Line managers are obliged to educate themselves about the
long-term outcomes
in their subject areas…so that any observation has a
broader context.
It isn’t good
enough to extrapolate from what you see in just one lesson…
Student Focus Group: This is for the HoD to
organise or delegate, with a simple report-back
to the department and line-manager on the key strengths
identified and suggestions
that students make. It’s a powerful source of
constructive information that HoDs
can manage with appropriate ground rules and so on.
I’ve suggested this is biennial
because that keeps it in proportion in terms of effort
and information value.
There is also the opportunity for departments to re-draft
the school’s OfSTED-referenced lesson observation template into a be-spoke
departmental version that is more relevant for their purposes. In each
of my line-management areas, I feel we’d get better value from a
subject-specific set of observation criteria and that will be an area for us to
develop in the coming year.
So, that’s where we are now. No pain no gain as
they say…. but I’m optimistic that this approach, enabling the scrutineers to
getter ever closer to the true picture of learning and achievement,
will be successful. And if OfSTED ever do come… I will
say,
‘Sorry, we don’t do that false snap-shot thing; it’s not
good enough for us… we have a better way.’
Update January 2014: Today we decided to ditch
lesson observation grades.
With growing disquiet around grading and evidence from
Professor Rob Coe amongst others, highlighting the flaws in the grading
process, we’ve decided not to give them.
Instead we will develop our use of feedback following
lesson observations so that
perceived strengths and areas for development are
expressed clearly.
For example, if a lessons are slightly less than ideal,
the scale of improvement needs to be conveyed in a way that is different from
when lessons are actually quite poor. With Lesson Study finding favour
with more teachers, the snap-shot drop-in approach seems less and less
satisfactory.
https://headguruteacher.com/2013/06/03/evaluating-teaching-and-learning-the-departmental-review/
You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneously recall – or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve
read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com which takes
advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your opinions, experience and questions are welcome. M'reen