2. Peer observation of teaching
A ‘‘collaborative, developmental activity in which professionals
offer mutual support by observing each other teach;
explaining and discussing what was observed; sharing ideas
about teaching; gathering student feedback on teaching
effectiveness; reflecting on understandings, feelings, actions
and feedback and trying out new ideas’’.
(Bell, 2005, p. 3)
3. Used in different contexts
for different purposes
• as a developmental tool in the
training of new teachers or in
continuous professional
development;
• as a management tool for quality
monitoring or evaluation of
teachers by their line manager
it can be felt to be
uncomfortable, intrusive or to
curtail academic freedom.
• In the context of continuous
professional learning, then, some
warn that POT should be
designed to be “non-judgemental
and developmental rather than
evaluative and externally
required” (Lomas and
Nicholls, 2005, Hatzipanagos and
Lygo‐Baker, 2006)
4. The developmental nature of POT
• For Cosh (1998)
observation is “an
invaluable form of staff
development”, which
can play an important
part in ensuring that
teachers don’t become
“isolated and
routinized”, enabling
teachers to gain
exposure to other
teaching styles and
approaches.
5. POT in the context of
blended teaching and learning?
• POT needs to be extended to other media where
teaching takes place
• It should cover areas such as curriculum
design, the creation of teaching materials, online
teaching , and the whole range of what teachers
do to support learners. (Hatzipanagos and Lygo-
Baker 2006, Bennett and Barp, 2008 Swinglehurst
et al, 2008).
• In the context of the OU? In the context of LORO?
6. POT as “a social tool to enhance
teaching practice”. (Peel 2005)
Bell and Mladenovic (2008)
highlight the collaborative
aspect of POT: sharing
enabled participants to
have a wider view, as it
encompassed issues raised
by others; they found it
reassuring to compare their
strengths and weaknesses
with those of others, as
often there were issues
relevant to the cohort as a
whole. Sharing also might
have also given teachers
other ideas that they could
try out in their teaching.
7. LORO?
• What are the issued around the social and
collaborative aspects of peer observation in
the context of LORO?
– emailing author
– commenting
– writing collaboratively
– reusing and adapting someone else’s resources?
8. The role of the observer
• Peel (2005) points out that it is often
difficult to engage in critical thinking on
an individual basis. In POT, the role of
the observer in promoting reflection is
critical.
• A ‘critical helper’ can provide a mirror
onto our teaching, and help us
understand and question our ideas and
practices. Brookfield’s (1987)
• The observer provides feedback which
can “act as a catalyst in building
relationships through the development of
empathy, respect and trust. The
objective of successful peer observation
is to harness the insight of critical friends
to promote personal and professional
development on a continuing basis,
within a supportive framework
(Shortland, 2010).
