XFacebookYouTubeLinkedInEmail

Search results for: lesson observation

Need a new search?

If you didn't find what you were looking for, try a new search!

Turning the tanker: lesson grading

2014-10-29T15:24:18+00:00October 29th, 2014|Featured|

I spent a good part of the past year or so railing against the injustices of lesson grading: My impatience with some Ofsted inspectors 24th July 2014 Ofsted: The end of the (lesson grading) affair 4th June 2014 Should Ofsted judge ‘quality of teaching’? 26th May 2014 A horror story: Does Ofsted get it wrong again? 23rd May 2014 Ofsted inspectors continue to do whatever they like 21st May 2014 Watching the watchmen: Is Ofsted fit for purpose? 16th March 2014 The mystery of Oldfield School’s missing Ofsted report 17th March 2014 What inspirational teaching looks like according to Ofsted 18th February 2014 What I learned from my visit [...]

Ofsted: The end of the (lesson grading) affair

2014-06-04T22:11:27+01:00June 4th, 2014|Featured|

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. Ralph Waldo Emerson Back in 2011 I started to decide that grading lessons was wrong. I wasn't exactly sure how to justify this decision beyond the fact that I could see how it warped teaching, made lessons unbearably superficial and put everyone thought an awful lot of completely unnecessary stress. Since then I have put together, what I feel is a pretty convincing case on why it is wrong (on every conceivable level) to grade individual lessons. In December, after sharing these views with the thoroughly charming, 'right-leaning' chaps at [...]

Still grading lessons? A triumph of experience over hope

2014-03-17T11:21:08+00:00February 8th, 2014|Featured|

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. Francis Bacon To paraphrase Rob Coe's seminal research, yesterday's National Teacher Enquiry Network (NTEN) conference at KEGS in Chelmsford was a triumph of experience over hope. just hoping we're doing the right things is potentially worse than useless: it might be downright damaging. This was a gathering of teachers and school leaders from a wide range of settings, all of whom are focussed on trying to move from a 'hopeful' approach to improving teaching and learning to a more expectant one. Finally there might the first faint glimmers of a new [...]

The Cult of Outstanding™: the problem with 'outstanding' lessons

2014-01-16T13:26:35+00:00January 16th, 2014|learning, myths|

First of all I need to come clean. Up until pretty recently I was a fully paid up member of the Cult of Outstanding™. Last January I considered myself to be a teacher at the height of my powers. In the spirit of self-congratulation I posted a blog entitled Anatomy of an Outstanding Lesson in which I detailed a lesson which I confidently supposed was the apotheosis of great teaching, and stood back to receive plaudits. And indeed they were forthcoming. I was roundly congratulated and felt myself extraordinarily clever. And then Cristina Milos got in touch to tell me that there was no [...]

How can we make classroom observation more effective?

2014-02-22T13:00:21+00:00January 14th, 2014|learning|

If the belief that it's possible for untrained observers to pitch up in lessons and grade their effectiveness is comparable to a belief in witchcraft, (and Professor Robert Coe's research confirms that this is the case) where does that leave us as a profession? Observing lessons is the fetish du jour of almost every single school and school leader and, even if we informed and honest enough to accept that learning is invisible and that it's nigh impossible to get two observers to agree on the quality and effectiveness of a lesson, we're probably unwilling to let completely let go the [...]

Don't trust your gut: a little bit more on the problem with grading lessons

2014-01-13T11:34:37+00:00January 13th, 2014|learning|

This evening, there will be debate on the role lesson observation in England's schools with such educational luminaries as Professor Robert Coe, David Weston (the man behind the Teacher Development Trust), Lead Ofsted inspector Mary Myatt, Sam Freedman (Director of Teach First and ex-special advisor to Gove),, Dame Alison Peacock (Headteacher of The Wroxham School) and, er... me. Quite what qualifies me to participate beyond having a big gob and a stubborn streak a mile wide I'm not sure. However, I'm pretty damn excited to have been asked and, despite suffering with an appallingly debilitating cold, am sure it will be an excellent event. [...]

Get ahead of the curve: stop grading lessons

2014-06-04T20:39:29+01:00December 11th, 2013|blogging|

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead Over the past few years I’ve been articulating my objections to Ofsted in general and classroom observation specifically. Being a simple soul I was under the impression that whilst these observations may have struck a chord with some teachers, the rest of the world continued rotating in blithe indifference. Other education bloggers seem to be regularly name checked by Michael Gove or invited to meeting at the DfE, but not me. Altogether now… So imagine my [...]

Are teacher observations a waste of time?

2013-08-24T15:18:16+01:00February 24th, 2012|assessment, training|

"I never allow teachers or school leaders to visit classrooms to observe teachers; I allow them to observe only students". John Hattie (2012) I've been mulling this statement over for the past few weeks and it seems to boil down to this: are we interested in how teachers teach, or how students learn? It's become a truism in recent times to say that just because a teacher is teaching there is no guarantee that students are learning anything. But, if you walk into a classroom it's hard not to look at the teacher. Especially if they're standing at the front delivering [...]

Using mini whiteboards in English

2023-03-31T16:34:52+01:00October 9th, 2022|English|

According to TeacherTapp, 72% primary and 45% secondary teachers use mini whiteboards (MWBs.) There are big variations between different subjects in secondaries with 69% of MFL and 57% science teachers claiming to use them but just 28% of English teachers. Why might this be? Are MFL and science lessons just better suited to using MWBs? Are English lesson much more concerned with the kind of extended writing that best lends itself to exercise books? Judging from the poll responses above, primary teachers appear to be more concerned with checking students' understanding during lessons. Charitably, we might claim that in secondaries [...]

Intelligent Accountability: An overview

2020-11-07T12:23:08+00:00October 24th, 2020|leadership|

My new book, Intelligent Accountability: Creating the conditions for teachers to thrive is out now. The argument I make is that while accountability is wholly necessary for teachers to thrive it is too often applied unintelligently and so backfires. I discuss a set of principles designed to get the best out of teachers, thereby getting the best from your students. And when I say ‘best’, I categorically do not mean piling stress onto teachers in the hope of gaming exam results. By creating the conditions for teachers to thrive, we are likely to get much more of what we want: better exam [...]

Toggle Sliding Bar Area
Go to Top