Transforming Lesson Observations with a Developmental, Non-Judgmental Approach

Having succeeded in closing teaching and learning gaps in his former role as Director of Curriculum and Cross College TLA at West Thames College — a success he attributes in no small part to the college’s use of the HOW2 Platform — Singh was in no doubt that the HOW2 teacher development tool would help him to raise the quality of provision across Hull College’s 200-strong teaching body.

His developmental, research-driven approach relied heavily on the evidence-based teaching techniques available on the HOW2 Platform. Right from the outset, Singh linked the college’s learning criteria with the evidence-based teaching techniques on the HOW2 app; a series of​‘HOW2 Sets ’ were created to reflect each area identified for development.

A tangible and supportive approach to teacher development was put in place. After every observation, teaching staff received an action plan where HOW2 techniques were recommended — matched to both areas identified for development and the newly established learning criteria, which focused on assessment for learning and feedback. 

HOW2 removed inconsistency and personality differences from the observation process and ensured everyone was 100% focused on improvement as opposed to judgement.

HOW2s equipped our teachers with the expertise they needed to meet the demands of our rigorous learning criteria. It gave them essential ​‘how-to’ guidance.

Our teachers now think deeply about pedagogy and act on conversations they have with our quality team.

HOW2s facilitate our relentless focus on improvement.

We decided to move away from graded observations; observations now have a 100% focus on how to improve. 

Then we decided on what lesson observation criteria to use and matched the criteria to specific HOW2 techniques to support each criteria. Interestingly we found that HOW2 is particularly useful if the end target is high so we made sure the criteria was challenging. We created organisational sets of techniques on the HOW2 platform to support each criteria, and made them available in the Platform’s library. This ensured the support in achieving criteria was transparent, easily accessible, and known to teachers. Put another way HOW2s gave our teachers the means to achieve our challenging criteria; so using HOW2 is how a teacher can aim for this. 

Next, we checked to ensure the observation team understood how the techniques in the sets we had created helped teachers meet the criteria. It was important that they were credible and able to explain why particular techniques were being recommended. It’s helpful to note that the platform removes the need for every observer to be equally expert in pedagogy. 

With all the above in place, using the HOW2 platform meant we were able to standardise a very high quality observation process and feedback. HOW2 removed inconsistency and personality differences from the observation process and ensured everyone was 100% focussed on improvement not judgement. We ensured that observers and teachers looked for what could be improved — not what was wrong! Every conversation focussed on improvement — no one dwelt on what didn’t work. And then using the HOW2 platform we identified techniques from the sets to share as part of the improvement conversation and feedback and used the Platform’s nudge feature to share the techniques with teachers.

One final thing that I think is important — we stressed to the observation team that whatever is said in the feedback shapes the future culture of the college. We made sure the talk was about ​‘how to improve’. And the HOW2 graphics show teachers exactly how to make these improvements. Significantly, this increases the respect the teacher has for the observer. It changes the conversation from one where they feel judged to one where they feel involved in a collegial dialogue. It builds trust and contributes greatly to our positive learning culture. HOW2s facilitated our relentless focus on improvement — our teachers now think deeply about pedagogy and act on conversations they have with the quality team.