Developmental classroom observation as a component of monitoring and evaluating the work of subject departments in secondary schools

Abstract

The formal observation of teachers at work in the classroom has not been a common practice in many schools in the past. However, there are growing pressures for this to take place both in relation to the sharing of good practice between colleagues and as one source of evidence for the assessment of the performance of teachers. The objectives of this small-scale research are to investigate the perceptions of some secondary school teachers about classroom observation as an aspect of departmental monitoring and evaluation, and to work with them in order to devise a developmental approach which is suitable for situations where formal observation has not taken place to any great extent before. As a result of partner observation in one school involving the researcher as «outside partner’ and teachers as ‘inside partners’ an approach to classroom observation is being developed as a means of raising confidence and getting the process started.