Peer observations are when people are
observed by someone at the same level, usually meaning a fellow teacher rather
than a senior member of staff such as a Director of Studies. The person who
observed then gives some feedback, which could be anywhere from a simple "Thanks,
I thought it was great" to written feedback based on an observation task form
they have been given or have chosen.
Although peer observations are no substitute
for regular observations by people with more experience and knowledge of
teaching, being observed by and observing your colleagues does have some
advantages even over that more formal kinds of observations. Because of that
and the advantages listed below, many schools at least think about running peer
observations occasionally or as a regular part of a CPD programme. Teachers,
however, do not always see the advantages when it means more time and effort
for them without any obvious effort from the management, and it can take a real
focus on how to use the advantages to the full and avoid the disadvantages
listed below in order to make a system of peer observations run smoothly from
Day One. Please note that the number of disadvantages outnumbering the number
of advantages below in no way means I don't recommend peer observations, which
I do, very strongly.
The
advantages of running peer observations
1. It can save management time
This could mean a DoS being able to do
something else when they would be sitting through a class, or on them being
able to concentrate on observing people who need more help. See Disadvantages
below for tips on how to make sure that teachers don't get the impression that
peer observations are just to save management time and to make sure that it
really does save management time.
2. It's good training for teacher training and ELT management
If people want to move up the TEFL ladder,
sooner or later they are going to need to observe other people and give them
feedback. Starting with peer observations means they can get that on their CV
in a low pressure way, and means the management can see how people coped with
that when they are interviewing for promotions. For teachers to be really ready
to move into doing more formal observations where they might be grading teachers,
they will need to get to the point where they can give written feedback in
several different formats, including a lot of raw data on what went on in the
classroom and comments that seem factual rather than subjective.
3. Teachers might take feedback better if it comes from other teachers
As teachers could have other issues with
the management of the company or be more nervous if they think they are being
formally assessed, they might take suggestions on how their class could have
been improved better if it comes from a fellow teacher. You can increase this
effect by making the feedback on the lesson something that the management never
hears, with the DoS only following up how the observation process went. Letting
teachers pair themselves up can also help make sure they get comments from
someone whose opinion they respect and they will be happy to get constructive
criticism from.
4. You can double or triple the number of times each person is observed
Theoretically you could do even more peer
observations due to the lack of management time needed, but as teachers should
be using them as a stimulus to reflect on and change their own classes they
will need a lot of time between observations in order to turn their new ideas
into new classroom practices they can get feedback on. You can make sure that
peer observations are not a substitute for formal observations by regularly
scheduling observations by senior staff, e.g. twice a year, and fitting a set
number of peer observations in between each one.
5. Teachers can get different feedback from different people
This is obviously a good thing, and one
which can be further developed by matching teachers with people who have very different
teaching styles and by having each observer especially looking for different things,
e.g. use of time, use of space or classroom interactions.
6. Both the person being observed and the person observing learn
This is the biggest advantage of peer
observations. Teachers observing not only learn how to observe, but also see
different ways of doing things in other people's classrooms and can see both
good things and bad things that will make them reflect on what goes on in their
own classroom.
7. It makes the teachers understand how difficult observing and
feedback can be
When teachers have experienced trying to
put a positive spin on criticism of someone's lesson, they should hopefully
understand the difficulties the DoS has next time they are being officially
observed.
8. It can take on a life of its own
As unlikely as it might sound to someone
dreading the next observation of their lessons by their DoS, in two of the three
places where I set up peer observations for the first time the experience was
so positive for the teachers that they ended up asking each other to do further
observations without any involvement from the management. If only I could say
all my CPD efforts had been that successful!
9. It can boost a teacher's confidence
Although teachers observing other people's
lessons can tend to underestimate how much hard work the teacher is putting in,
they still get a much more realistic picture of how other teachers are doing
than they would get from just hearing the laughter coming through the wall. The
result is almost always a more realistic idea of how they are doing in the
classroom, and therefore an ego boost.
The
disadvantages of running peer observations
1. Teachers seeing a "better" teacher can lose confidence
This is rare and would probably mean a
crisis of confidence had already started, but seeing someone who is (seemingly)
effortless in the classroom can be the last straw for some teachers. If you
suspect there is any such teacher in the school, you could leave peer
observations until the crisis is over, make sure he is observed by someone who
can tell him or her "Really? It seemed you were having a great time to me" or
have them observe someone so senior that it is no surprise that they appear to
find teaching easier.
2. Teachers seeing a "worse" teacher can get slack
The negative version of a teacher's
confidence being boosted by seeing the less than perfect lessons of others (see
Advantages) is that they could think "My lessons are already better than that.
What was I putting all that effort into them for?" It can be difficult or
impossible to spot that thought process going on in teachers, but you can try
to counter it by having observation tasks that ask teachers to reflect on what
they learnt as well as what they can teach the person they were observing. You
can also make sure they get useful feedback when they are observed, that
teachers do get rewarded for consistently giving particularly good lessons, and
that everyone gets to observe someone who has lots to teach them as well as
someone who they can teach lots to.
3. Teachers need training on how to observe and be observed
At a basic level, teachers need to be
introduced to a range of different observation tasks (looking at classroom
interactions, use of time, language used by the teacher, staging etc etc) and
different ways of writing that data down in a factual way. Ways of cutting down
on the amount of training that is necessary before peer observations can start
include just giving teachers observation feedback forms with clear written
instructions, and getting a volunteer from the teachers to give a workshop on
observing and being observed.
4. It can actually take more management time
As well as training teachers to observe
each other, the DoS will need to schedule two people for each observation (the
person observing and the person being observed), and deal with any disagreements
that arise. Once you have convinced teachers of the benefits of peer
observations you can leave them to schedule themselves, but they will
inevitably need a bit of a push and chasing up after when it is first set up,
and possibly again when the intial enthusiasm has dropped off. Lower labour
ways of doing all these things mainly consist of posters and forms where
teachers sign up when they have done various parts of the process.
5. Teachers might think they know better than the person who observed
Due to the personalities or differences in
level of experience of the teachers involved, this can be a factor- but then it
can be a factor when DoSs are observing too. This is another example where the
observation tasks and the training should concentrate on getting hard data that
can't be argued with, such as the number of times the teacher spoke to each
student or what students were doing when the teacher wasn't watching. You can
train teachers on this by doing a task in the workshop on observations where
teachers rate sentences from oral or written feedback (real or made up) on how
factual or subjective each sentence is.
6. Teachers might think that it is just CPD on the cheap
Unfortunately, most of the ways of tackling
this impression involve more work for the management and take away the time
savings advantages. Ways of using that time to help with this point include the
managers checking how the observations went, giving workshops and feedback
workshops on observations, and observing someone formally at the same time as
the other teachers are in peer observations. The DoS could also sit in on some
observations and feedback sessions to give feedback on the feedback, or take
part in the peer observations as just another teacher.
7. The feedback might not be as useful as feedback from the DoS
Learning to do observations is like learning
to teach- it takes time to learn how to do well, however much training and materials
you have before you start. The only exception is if someone is naturally
talented at it, in which case they could be better than the DoS from day one!
Apart from preparing teachers properly and giving them regular practice, the
best solution is simply to make sure that the DoS still regularly observes
everyone as well and that there is a clear distinction between DoS observations
that are mainly from the DoS's perspective to check how things are going in the
school and DoS observations that are there to help the teachers with the things
they want help on, in which they could choose the class that is observed and the
observation task that is used.
8. It could turn into a slanging match
If the DoS has done the interviews
properly, hopefully your school doesn't have too many teachers who generally
get involved in these types of conversations. If it is a problem of clashing
personalities or bad feeling between two particular people, letting people
choose their own observation partners or choosing them carefully so they can avoid
each other are possible solutions. You also might want to think carefully about
whether people observe each other mutually or observe and are observed by
different people. Observing each other doubles the contact they have, but might
make them more careful about what they say in case they are caught out on the
same thing when someone observes their lesson. In a worst case scenario, the
DoS could sit in on the feedback session as a peacemaker, with the excuse that they
are training everyone on how to observe and give feedback.
9. The feedback might be insensitive
This could be a personality trait again, in
which case pairing them up with someone who can cope with quite direct comments
might be a good idea. Otherwise, the solution is just the usual good practice
methods of careful training, well chosen observation tasks and clear feedback
forms.
10. The fact that it is extra work might give people a bad attitude
I've written whole other articles on not
making CPD seem like an imposition, a process that starts at the job interview
and can be a continual effort. Techniques specific to peer observations include
covering a teacher's class so that they can observe someone else without
putting in extra hours; and rewarding regular peer observations with
certificate-like CPD forms, mentions on job references, and promotions.
11. Teachers can use peer feedback comments as a weapon against the DoS's
observation feedback
For example, they could say "All the other
teachers have said that my use of L1 in the classroom is good, I think school
policy is just behind the times on this one". If this discussion occurs it is
probably a sign of deeper problems than just one observation, but there are
ways of avoiding the problem in the short term, e.g. to make the observation
tasks of the peer observations and the formal observation totally different so
that they are not comparable.
12. The students might get the idea that something is wrong
Students might have been in EFL classes long
enough that they know that if an observer appears it usually means that another
student has been complaining, in which case you can imagine they might start to
doubt their teacher is they have observers in every couple of weeks! Solutions
include having regular observations as a selling point in the school brochure
(for reasons of class quality and teacher development), and telling them that the
observer is there to learn from watching their expert teacher rather than to
judge them. Alternatively, trouble making students might think that teachers
are there to check up on them, in which case a quick explanation of the reasons
for having an observation system in the school should suffice.
13. Teachers can just respond to feedback with "I saw you do the same
thing!"
This doesn't have to be a bad thing, as
being held up to the same standards as you ask from others is exactly what
makes peer observations a great tool in pushing you to improve your lessons and
to give realistic and sensitive feedback- in fact, I recommend all DoSs to have
their lessons observed by their teachers too. If, however, this is one of many
tricks of a teacher who cannot accept any constructive criticism, there are
ways round this. The best method is to give the two teachers completely different
observation tasks and feedback sheets.
14. The students might know the teacher
If the students have already been taught by
the person observing, they might be distracted and/ or shy when that person is
in the room. This is exactly the kind of situation teachers will get better at
coping with once they have got used to being observed, with techniques like
using the observer as a classroom resource rather than just letting them sit
there. If they can cope with this, the observer should be able to give them especially
useful feedback due to already knowing the students. If it is a first or second
observation in the school, you might want to avoid this situation by careful
pairing up of teachers and scheduling of observations.
