Observations. I hate them

[Orangeanddemons]

Why why do we have to do them. I find the whole thing humiliating, stressful and degrading. It's just shite.

Back to work, love being with the kids, forget about observations, but up they pop, and it reminds me why I hate the job. But actually I love the job, it's the observations I just can't hack. I'm an introvert, and not a show off, so I find them even more stressful. I must have had about 30 in my life, if not more, and I'm not sure any of them have had a real impact on my teaching or results.

Kind of like a OFSTED inspector then?!

Ha ha!!

I thought it was being suggested that people only become SLT because they are bad teachers?

I'm SLT and do lots of formal Obs and learning walks/drop ins. I get formally observed myself of course, and am in a peer Obs triad. I hate the feeling of actually being observed because I still, after all this time, get nervous and lose some of the fluency and flexibility that is a strength of my teaching. But I always find the feedback and particularly the discussion around it really useful. I hope that my feedback is similarly useful. I love talking about teaching though!

we know SLT tend to be bad/last minute teachers once promoted as they have other pressures on their time

Yep, I hate them too. I particularly hate the feedback which I can't handle whether it's critical or positive (I generally cry when someone gives me either sort). I would fully support CCTV in classrooms - the whole IRIS thing sounds like quite a good idea to me. But pinning so much on a very stressful snapshot seems very unfair. But with a bit of luck I'm out of it this year so I won't have to worry about it any more.

I hate being observed by non-specialists too.

I teach SEN (moderate and Profound and Moderate learning disability students) in a post-16 environment.

I've been told by our quality staff that our lessons are hard to grade because it's often to tell when the students are learning. I think it's grossly unfair that they expect to be able measure that in 45 minutes - it just doesn't work like that in our area. Come and see the students in September then come back at the end of term and THEN assess whether they're learning.

45 mins is NOTHING when you're working with a learner for whom progress is learning to sit down at a desk and not hit somebody for a whole lesson.

because it's often HARD TO TELL when the students are learning

the whole IRIS thing sounds like quite a good idea to me

I've seen schools use IRIS in a horrendous way. Making teams of year groups spend their whole PPA time watching films of each other and filling in observation forms on them which are then cross referenced with SLT's opinions.

Waste of time and quite damaging.

What annoys me too from the other direction is when a rubbish teacher pulls out an amazing lesson and gets a good when you damn well know it's not how they teach.
One school I taught in the head insisted that all classroom doors were left open and he would lurk outside the classroom.

What annoys me too from the other direction is when a rubbish teacher pulls out an amazing lesson and gets a good when you damn well know it's not how they teach.

Yep-have seen that over and over again! Have also seen teachers who are consistently brilliant-kids and parents love them, their classroom is calm with children happy and learning and their results brilliant, but put two memebers of unsmiling SMT in there with clipboards for an hour-they fall apart. I've seen several teachers who fit this bill hounded out on capability. A horrendous loss to the profession, but they were expensive....

One school I taught in the head insisted that all classroom doors were left open and he would lurk outside the classroom

My head is in and out of our classrooms all of the time-showing parents around, chatting to children, passing on messages to teachers and LSAs and hearing readers. She knows exactly what's going on in her school and doesn't do it in a threatening way; she is wonderful, and staff, children and parents love her. I have to say though, I have never worked for another head like this-they seem to be a dying breed!

I thought doors had to be shit as open doors are a fire hazard. So that head sounds like he was breaking H and S rules.

Shut not shit! Although that HT sounds like a shit!

The new frameworks make it pretty much impossible to be a terrible teacher who suddenly pulls an outstanding out of the bag for an observation, although I agree that it used to be possible.

I thought doors had to be shit as open doors are a fire hazard. So that head sounds like he was breaking H and S rules.

This school was a Victorian relic and a fire rule disaster waiting to happen.
Also there were catches in the floor to keep the doors open.

What about open plan schools!?

I went to an open plan school. No walls or doors.

I don't know about open plan schools. But we were pulled up by H and S officer and external teamfor leaving classroom doors open

How are open (classroom) doors a fire hazard [puzzled]

If the doors are shut the fire will be contained and slower to spread.