Since becoming a NQT mentor, I have focussed on keeping
observation feedback brief and actionable. Remembering how much there is to
think about and how little bandwidth there is to consider how to improve, I
have tried to strip back feedback and focus on a small number of areas that are
practical.
One reason for this is reflecting on my own NQT experience
and some of the nebulous feedback I was given. I completed my NQT year in a
school with an ‘interesting’ approach to teacher development and I have
recently been looking back at some of the most useless observation feedback I’ve
received.
I mention this not as a judgement of the observer but as a
reminder of how much feedback to trainee teachers really isn’t that useful.
1.
‘Did all kids understand what you were
teaching?’
I recall constantly being asked this as a new teacher. The
short answer of course is no, not all kids will ever have fully understood everything
I have taught. Should I ever reach that stage I will be sure to blog about how
I have achieved this miraculous feat.
Sometimes it was accompanied with a ‘gotcha’ moment when the
observer quizzed a pupil on something in the lesson and they got it wrong. The
problem with this feedback is that it does not change anything about your
teaching practice. There is nothing you would do differently following this.
There might be something in how you check for understanding
or something about the clarity of the teacher explanation that led to
misconceptions arising, but simply asking if some pupils didn’t understand what
was taught is useless.
2.
Where is the challenge?
There is nothing wrong with looking for extra rigour so
pupils are forced to think more deeply. This was a failing in my early lessons
and it was right that this was pointed out. The problem with this feedback is
that it does not help increase the level of challenge.
What would be useful is a subject-specific discussion around
what challenge looks like for a particular topic or what additional knowledge
could be taught to deepen pupils understanding of a topic. Invariably, what
this meant was that there should be more ‘challenge questions’ used or pupils
should ‘make decisions’ or discover answers for themselves.
It wasn’t until Teach First directed me towards some reading
on ‘desirable difficulties’ and reading Daniel Willinghams ‘why don’t students
like school’ that I developed an understanding of what being cognitively active
actually meant. A discussion around this would be infinitely more useful than
being asked to ‘provide more challenge.’
3.
Increase/ Decrease the pace of the lesson.
At different times I have been told to increase or decrease
the pace of the lesson. The problem here is that it is meaningless. What does
it mean to increase the pace of the lesson. Speak quicker? (anyone who has
heard my Glaswegian method of public speaking will attest that speaking too
slowly is not going to be an issue for me!) Go through content faster? Ensure
pupils practice less on content before moving on?
I think the problem with this feedback is that it falls into
two separate camp. On the one hand what people mean is to make it ‘engaging’ it
should be whizzy with lots of activities and a lot going on. This is feedback
that should be actively ignored.
On the other hand, it might mean that there needs to be more
checking for understanding to get a sense of when pupils understand a topic
before building on that with extra knowledge that pupils can link to what has
been taught. This is useful to know but still not practical. Much more useful
would be a discussion around methods of checking for understanding and
obtaining a whole class response.
4.
There is not evidence of pupil progress
in the lesson.
This always infuriated me. As well as once again being
useless feedback, it is a comment which can never be disputed. Pupil progress
will occur over time so will never be shown in a lesson observation. Professor
Rob Coe’s findings on poor proxy’s for learning has been widely shared and
excellently demonstrates the inefficacy of looking for evidence of learning
from a lesson observation.
What is more useful is to point to parts of a teachers
practice that they can improve upon to improve the clarity of their instruction,
design of activities to lead to independent student practice of quality of
feedback to students.
I think a problem is people are not trained in how to
support a new teacher (myself included.) The biggest lesson for me a NQT mentor
has been threefold. Make it brief, make it specific and make it actionable.