Peer observation of teaching in degree apprenticeship programmes

Why peer observation of teaching?

Peer observation of teaching is an enabling process, for staff with teaching responsibilities to reflect on and improve their teaching practice. The process is designed to support all teaching staff as they work together to increase the effectiveness of their teaching through the four stages of review: observation, discussion, reflection, and enhancement.

Teaching observation in degree apprenticeship programmes

This process provides an opportunity for reflection, professional conversations and a chance to share and improve on good practice. Degree Apprenticeship programmes should follow the Queen Mary Peer Observation Policy. However, the observer must be a senior member of the Degree Apprenticeship team.

Advice and guidance for observees

Before the observation

• Reflect on your practice. In completing the pre-observation section of the teaching observation proforma, there is a space for you to identify anything you would like the observer to pay specific attention to.
• Familiarise yourself with what the observer is going to be looking out for, using the teaching observation proforma as a guide.
• Let the learners know that there is going to be someone else in the room during the session, and that they may be asking questions and interacting with learners during their visit.
• Make sure the observer knows where the teaching session is scheduled to take place
• Make sure the observer has access to any relevant QMplus materials (e.g. pre/post session work)
• Send the observer a copy of your partly completed teaching observation proforma
• Make sure you have copies of any physical teaching materials (e.g. handouts) for the observer.
• Arrange your post-observation meeting with your observer. Ideally, this will take place within 24 hours of the observation.

During the observation

• Relax and teach as you normally would, the only difference between an observed session and a non-observed session should be the presence of the observer
• Don’t be surprised if the observer moves around the room and interacts with the learners
• Stick to your objectives for the session, but make sure you respond to the learners in the normal way. For example:
  • Your session may not be planned to explicitly engage with British Values, but if a student makes a comment about legislation impacting their workplace in the context of a class discussion, then it is worth drawing attention to this and, if there is time, encouraging a deeper exploration of how this affects them as employees in modern day Britain.
  • If your in-built assessment activities show that students have not grasped a concept or achieved a learning outcome in the expected time, do not proceed with the lesson without responding to this. For example you may chose to let the class know that they will be spending longer on this element of k/s/b now and pick up the other planned activities later on in the course or alternatively that you will support them with meeting the objective (e.g. QMplus resources for them to access after the session).

After the observation

• Reflect on how the session went in preparation for your post-observation discussion.
• Complete the post-teaching section of the teaching observation proforma
• Share the completed teaching observation proforma with the Degree Apprenticeship office

Advice and guidance for observers

Before the observation

• Make sure you know the time and place for the observed session
• Read through the completed pre-observation section of the proforma
• Remember, the learners are the focus of any teaching observation, not the educator. You will get the best view of how effective the teaching is by interacting with learners. Consider what questions you might want to ask learners, for example
  • Can you explain what you’re doing and how this links to the curriculum?
  • Do you think this activity relates to your workplace experience or degree k/b/s?
  • Can you tell me what your strengths and targets are for this year/semester/month?
  • What did you learn last week? Does this work follow on from that?

During the observation

• Your notes on the session should be accurate and objective, so as to facilitate a constructive discussion after the observation. To achieve this, use the form to record what you actually see and hear during the session.
• Make sure you have recorded evidence for any value judgements made (if you record any value judgements). For example
  • 'students discussing topic enthusiastically’ is more helpful than, or at least needed to justify a comment like ‘good discussion activity’
  • ‘20 mins into session, learning outcomes still not shared’ is more helpful than, or at least needed to justify a comment like ‘links to k/s/b unclear’
• Make sure you interact with learners during the session. As an observer, you are encouraged to ask questions, ask to see their work and walk around the room during the session. Depending on the focus of an observation, you may already have an idea of which students you want to pay most attention to, for example, if the observee has requested that you focus on specific demographics within the classroom such as BAME students.

After the observation

A key objective of lesson observation feedback is to help validate an educator’s self-reflection or establish there is a gap between educator perception and the reality. Feedback should be constructive, for example if an educator has identified development points but not recognised their strengths, the discussion should be geared towards supporting them to take a constructive attitude to addressing development points while also acknowledging the things that are already going well.

• Plan some of your questions before the discussion takes place so that you can make best use of the time, Potential questions include
  • What impact will this have on the students that you teach?
  • Did the delivery of the session go to plan?
  • What was the rationale behind your planned teaching and learning methods
• As with your notes, keep the discussion as objective as possible. Encourage the educator to support their reflection with examples of what students did/didn’t do rather than their own impressions of how they ‘performed’ as an educator.
• Be open to the fact that having an observer present may have an impact on how the session went. If an educator says that the session went unusually well or badly you, as an observer, should have evidence of their practice beyond the snapshot that you observed through your conversations with learners.
• Observation feedback is an opportunity to plan future development or support for the educator. Make sure you are aware of the support on offer so you can suggest this as a follow-up action for the observee.

Find out more

Read the Queen Mary Peer Observation Policy