LEARNING TO LEARN
Identify areas of developmental interest for next year during appraisal process ( May )
Summarise learning points from the year on appraisal form
Allocated to a learning community ( Summer holiday )
Third learning community meeting ( April INSET )
First learning community meeting ( September INSET )
Informal drop in observations focused on area of interest
Informal drop in observations focused on area of interest
Second learning community meeting ( January INSET )
Figure 1 : The proposed instructional coaching cycle
Best practice guidelines for lesson observations : A proposal to move away from the appraisal season ‘ flurry of lesson observations ’ culture .
Elen Harris , Teacher of Geography and ITL Research Fellow
Lesson observations are generally seen as something to do only during the appraisal and review season ( Lent - Summer term ) as a ‘ tick-box ’ activity to enable full completion of the required paperwork for appraisal / review . Among many staff there can be a reluctance to ask if an observation is possible outside of this window , further exacerbating this culture . Even if staff are actively wanting to observe others to gain ideas and develop their practice , available time can often be a barrier to this being enacted . Additionally , HoDs in many departments do not conduct lesson observations at all outside of this window , leading many staff to only have one full observation every two years , and observations are often not developmental , with poor quality feedback provided . This article aims to propose a new model , and provide best practice guidelines for observations to keep developing our pedagogy for the benefit of our students .
A summary of the proposed instructional coaching cycle can be seen in Figure 1 . Within an appraisal / review process , each member of staff identifies 2-3 areas of pedagogical development which they are most interested in for the following year . These could inform one of their appraisal targets , or be standalone , on top of these targets .
The ITL analyses this information and places colleagues into small groups of approximately four people who are all interested in the same theme to become a ‘ Learning Community ’ for the following academic year . As a community the group meets once per term , for a short period on each of the INSET days , to discuss literature / reading / other sources in their area of interest . It is suggested that INSET days are best placed for this to alleviate the issue of finding the time required , which is a big issue with the instructional coaching model ( Sims , 2019 ). At this meeting goals for each of the community members are discussed and agreed and a cycle of informal drop-in lesson observations is planned . This ensures that over the course of a term / academic year there is a carousel of observations between members of the community , focusing solely on feeding back on , and improving , the area of pedagogy focused upon within that learning community . This is done in an informal , non-threatening , way , following the best-practice guidelines for lesson observations , using the instructional coaching method , below , to provide constructive feedback and guide next steps on attaining goals . Evidence suggests that instructional coaching is the most effective kind of teacher CPD currently available ( Sherrington , 2022 ), having a ‘ better evidence base than any other form of CPD ’ for the beneficial impact on student outcomes ( Farndon , 2019 ), and
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