Peer Observation Programme (Looking At Different Teaching + Learning Focuses)

This is a programme of peer assessments in education. It contains 16 different peer observation sheets, each having a different teaching and learning focus.

The benefits of using different teaching and learning focuses in peer observations are:

• By giving each peer observation a different teaching focus to observe, it will encourage teachers to think about different areas of teaching and learning.
• It will ensure that completing a series of peer observations every year remains interesting.
• The process is less threatening and judgemental.
• The aim of observation is to think about the teaching and learning area of focus and for all staff involved to learn from the experience. The quality of the lesson itself is not to be analysed.

Peer Observation Sheets Included:

1. Behaviour Management
2. Differentiation
3. Questioning: Pitch
4. Questioning: Intent
5. Questioning: Different Questioning Activities
6. Questioning: Differentiation Through Questioning
7. Questioning: Pupil Involvement
8. Individual Pupil Engagement
9. Class Engagement
10. Teacher’s Use Of Language
11. Language Directed At
    An Individual Pupil
12. Teacher’s Movement (Monitoring)
13. Links To Other Subjects
14. VAK
15. Who Leads The Learning?
16. What I Can Use In My Own Teaching

This resource programme also includes an introduction text and a powerpoint presentation that can be used to launch the peer observation programme in a staff meeting.

Organisation Of The Peer Observation Programme:

• Teachers agree to complete a peer observation.
(More than one teacher can observe one member of staff)
• A meeting between the staff involved is held before the observation in which the time of the observation and the lesson focus is decided.
• The teacher being observed plans the lesson with the teaching and learning focus in mind.
• The lesson is observed with the observer completing the relevant peer observation form.
• The teachers hold a post-lesson discussion, both completing the details on the observation form and discussing the lesson focus in detail.
• The observer completes their peer observation record chart and shared it with the SLT.
• The number of peer observations required in a year is decided by the SLT, but staff may wish to conduct more observations than this.