Lesson observations vary a lot between departments and schools. They can be casual drop-ins or formal calendared events. They can come from welcome open-door policies or an atmosphere that incites terror and anxiety in those under the microscope.

But Covid has changed all of that. For many, observations stopped altogether. 

Now that they are starting to come back, it raises questions about how much we’ve missed them, if at all. Are they a good way of developing teachers or simply a box-ticking activity? 

Here are four tips for making them meaningful, supportive and developmental:

1. Keep it real

Teachers should be encouraged to leave out the bells and whistles, and deliver a real, everyday lesson during an observation.

The point of observations is to help staff develop, so if you deliver an all-singing, all-dancing lesson, your feedback is going to be on how to improve a performative lesson. The result is a wasted opportunity to get valuable insight on what happens in the classroom day to day.

Feedback needs to be applicable in a genuine, everyday scenario, not on the way you deliver a whizz-bang observation lesson.

If you’re the one being observed, let the students learn, and don’t feel that just because you are being watched, you need to be occupied at all times. After all, teaching is about how learning happens, so let it happen.

2. Focus on outcomes not methods

The observation should be focused purely on what the students were able to get out of it, not fixated on how they got there.

If you are observing, don’t go in with expectations of how it should look in terms of particular activities, pace or assessment for learning.

Every teacher will have their own style and just because something works in your classroom, it doesn’t mean that’s the way everyone else should be doing it. Egos should be checked at the door and feedback should never be “do it like I do it”.

Instead, focus on the students: what are they doing and learning? What are they struggling with and how is this addressed?

3. Make it a conversation, not a report

If you are observing, don’t just pass on your judgement and walk off. Instead, question why decisions were made or why aspects were delivered in the way they were.

Don’t assume progress was or wasn’t made; ask the expert in the room why what they did was best suited for their class. Only then should you advise them if what they’re doing needs improvement.

For observers, this conversation needs to include you listening to the observed teacher’s rationale behind the lesson. 

And if you are the one being observed, then you need to ask questions - it is important that you understand the rationale behind the feedback. Keep in mind that observations are supposed be a learning experience for both parties.

4. Make it useful

Consider whether the feedback you give is actually helpful. Vague statements like “use better questioning” won’t help someone who doesn’t know how to question better. 

When you give targets, make sure you are explaining the “why” as well as the “how”. Then you can make suggestions to help them to reach these outcomes.

At the end of your feedback, ask yourself, both as the observer and observed teacher, are these targets practical, understood and focused on developing the teaching?

Bhamika Bhudia is a teacher of English and lead teacher at a secondary school in North West London. She tweets as @MissMika_Eng