Observations

[steamcomingoutofmyears22]

Hi! Can I ask how your observations are arranged? How many in a year? How long are they? Do you arrange a time or do they just turn up?

Had a stressful few days back after half term as the HT and DHT are insisting on no notice observations this week, going to great lengths to hide the times/dates of the observations so people are caught unawares and, in some cases, dropping in on people unannounced and insisting they teach a subject/lesson that they hadn't been planning to teach (think ct had planned a simple assessment activity, DHT wanted to see a guided read with written follow up) I'm SMT but sort of piggy in the middle. A few young teachers in tears and muttering a of calls to unions.
Help? Any suggestions?

They are asking staff to teach a lesson they hadn't planned with no notice, and observing it?

Um yes... It sounds a bit bonkers written in black and white but, that's it in a nutshell. Not all lessons, don't get me wrong, but it has happened.

How horrible. Not conducive to a happy working environment at all. I'm a DHT in a large primary with 20 teachers and we would never approach observations like this. We give people a week's notice but stress we just want to see what they'd normally be doing. We look at books, classroom environment, etc. Feedback is supportive; if teachers ask I will happily offer to teach the following day to demonstrate what I mean, followed by professional discussion afterwards.
Trying to catch people out and keep them on edge for a week is a stupid, counter-productive way of working.

That is appalling.

In my school (secondary, but I would expect a similar procedure in primary) we have 3 observations per year. We have at least a weeks notice for each observation, and we teach whatever we would normally teach at that time. There are learning walks where SMT just drop in but that's only for 5 mins at a time with no write up.

Can I come and work in your school please?
Ha ha!!
I love the idea of teaching a lesson later on, to demonstrate.

So it's not even consistent across all staff? That is worse, in fact. I would absolutely be getting my union involved.

Secondary. We have 3 formal observations a year. Depending on the frees of the observer, we get ti choose our lesson and have as much notice as we like (though I am guilty of just saying 'are you free Thursday?' to my observer).

We do learning walks in the department and SLT are regularly on the wander but the culture in those is to have a look at what the students are doing and it's very supportive.

At previous schools, we were tols it's observation week and that SLT would come into any lessons that week (it was essentially a mini ofsted but it was 5 days if full written plans). 3 reviews a year. If they liked you or had no concerns you'd get done once in the year. If they had concerns you could get seen in all 3. If they wanted you out they'd see you multiple times each mini ofsted looking for whatever evidence they wanted to pin on you for competency. I saw decent teachers bullied out the profession there. Awful.

We have just moved to one observation a year!!

All current educational thinking suggests that observations are a bit unnecessary.

We also have learning walks. Noone likes them because they have become rather whispery whispery and clandestine. They definitely were targeting certain teachers, even though they claimed they weren't. This seems to have got better this year but even Learning Walks shouldn't be unannounced imo. And I find it somewhat ironic that leaders and HoFs never get learning walked!!

I hate bitchy sly learning walk atmospheres. You're right they do target people.

That said, sometimes you have to keep an eye on some more. E.g. if a class isn't making progress / if it's helpful to the teacher for the class to see people popping in and out

All our leaders get learning walked in our department (including someone on SLT). We've also shared our lessons where people can just walk in and learning walk us if they want to have a look.

It's so culture dependent.

We have no full lesson observations and are never told in advance.
People just turn up for 5 minutes and then later tell you they didn't see any differentiation, or they look at 2 books and tell you your marking and feedback is inadequate.
It's crap, not supportive and has no positive impact on teaching.
It's just so slt can tell ofsted that they're doing something. morale is low.
Observations are crap unless requested by the teacher for their own development.

That is appalling, have you contacted the union?

We don't have observations. Book looks and the occasional learning walk are all that we have. I know nqts are observed termly, but experienced teachers never and I think teachers who have been identified as in need of some support. It's an outdated, useless form of monitoring - I'm pretty sure all effective leaders don't observe like this anymore.

I've never been in a school where they had sly, whispery learning walks, that must be unpleasant and I have no doubt they would be targeting certain teachers. The culture in our school is definitely positive with all observations and learning walks. In fact, our observations no longer have any judgment label attached, they are discussed and written up, but with no "good lesson", "outstanding", etc. We now get "I really liked this bit of the lesson, it worked really well" or "have you tried x? How did it work?" It's remarkably freeing, and it gives us more of a chance to experiment a bit with a different activity or something and discuss how it went before doing it again (or abandoning the idea with a class who aren't receptive).

Some teachers do need more support, and they are given that as actual support rather than constant criticism through formal observations or unsupportive learning walks. About 5/6 years ago I had a year 10 class from hell, they were absolutely bonkers, didn't respond to detentions, being sent out, etc, so a deputy head (now the head) came and sat in that lesson on Friday afternoon every week. He never once judged me for needing that support with those particularly difficult pupils on a Friday afternoon, he just sat and did some marking in the back of the room and dealt with the pupils who were behaving badly (but of course they didn't behave badly when he was there because he had much more authority than me as a deputy head). His only comments were positive, "I really liked X activity", "they really learned a lot that lesson didn't they?", Etc. That's the sort of positive support that really helps, nobody feels attacked or got at, but problems can be sorted out and issues dealt with in a positive way.

We have learning walks each term. It's in the calendar that all staff agree to. The LW last a week and SLT can drop in anytime. We (staff and union) agreed to this after lots of terrible observations that were so unfair and counter productive. I think staff engagement in the process is important. It's not useful to get everyone's backs up.

I think SLT have to decide what the purpose of the observation is. Ours usually have a focus - questioning, ict, health and wellbeing etc - and in that week teachers should be able to refer to it having happened recently or demonstrate it in that lesson.

Personally I think the best way of doing observations would be for class teachers to invite SLT in to participate in a lesson. I think that would set a better tone and they'd see more interesting lessons.

Thanks for the replies, there's a real variety between schools isn't there? I think you're so dependent on your HT and leadership. I feel as SMT I ought to do something but whilst everybody gets upset nobody is prepared to get the unions in, so we all just put up with it and breathe a sigh of relief that we still have jobs.

I was observed today by a HT from another school (primary) and she was CHEWING GUM throughout. Didn't speak to me at all and didn't crack a smile. Am currently looking for a non teaching job because it's all gone mad. Tick box hell.

You should have told her to put it in a bin!!

Nothing I hate more than gum chewing adults...

I know. She didn't chew nicely either. Was so tempted, but she is marvellously thought of by the LA so I had promised to be on my best behaviour!