Observation cock up

[lostowl]

Hi I'm looking for some advice.

Ive just had an observation and I'm worried I'm going to be penalised because a TA who has never been in the lesson before and did not tell me he was coming was in the observation lesson. I was completely caught off guard and my observer said I should have talked to the TA about the student and directed him. I agree and understand this, but it doesn't seem fair. I obviously would have planned for the TA if I'd had been given any sort of warning.

Can they penalise me for this in this situation?

Thanks

How could they penalise you for something that wasn't your fault?

Hopefully you quickly tried to fill the TA in on what you wanted him to do as best you could? That's all you could do surely?

Any REASONABLE observer would be happy with you explaining this - make sure you get it noted on the obs form that you were not expecting him.

Are observations meant to be a stick to beat you with, or a way to help,you grow as a teacher?

In what way might they "penalise" you?
Surely all they can do is note it down in their feedback, you smile and nod.... End of.
If there are no other issues then this is not a big deal, just try to make sure people know not to send randoms in to you in the middle of an observation next time.
I've got very stressed about observations in the past and my dad is fond of saying
"They can't actually arrange to have you shot!"

The thing is, I got so flustered that even though I went over to him and was helping the student myself, I didn't say specifically what the TA should do. I hadn't planned it and I was nervous!!

I'm worried because of my target... to get 80% of lessons good or outstanding. I just need this lesson to be deemed good and it was... apart from this TA situation.

I hope I'm worrying over nothing. Nevertheless I've contacted my union about it, I just wanted some quicker opinions.

Have you had your feedback yet? Why have you contacted your union?

Because I have a history with the school with regard to appraisal/pay and I just want to prepare myself. I won't even tell my observers that I've contacted my union.

It was verbal feedback and I want it sorted before it's written up.

Just remember, observation feedback meetings are actually a collaborative negotiation. So if you explain you had no idea the TA would be there, and go with evidence that you usually plan for TAs in other lessons, you should have full justification to ensure you're not penalised. Do not accept the judgement otherwise, and ask to meet to discuss it further if necessary.

Moopoint thanks for your excellent advice!

Zigzag it's not just a case of "end of" if your observation paperwork goes towards any threshold applications or promotion applications, which it inevitably does.

Schools should not be grading lesson observations any more. Ofsted aren't! So your school could well downgrade you on something beyond your control because they sound like incompetent fuckwits.

Echoing giraffe - are you sure they're still grading lessons? That's shouldn't happen any more!

They're essentially getting around it by using mastered,secured, developing and emerging. It's a whole school target.

Oh god my school uses the same, barely disguised ofsted grading, language as well.