Lesson observation
feedback: what
constitutes good
practice in the view of
teacher educators and
trainee teachers?
Anna Bartrum – MFL secondary PGCE
course leader
James Burch – PGCE Secondary
Programme Leader
Karen Lockney – English secondary
PGCE course leader
Two surprises
• Relatively little research into lesson
observation feedback [Lock and Soares
(2005), Stevens and Lowing (2008)]…yet
it feels like such a significant part of our
work with trainees
• Internal PGCE development day: similar
yet different methods within overarching
system; little sense of what trainees
thought about what we do
Impact?
At University of Cumbria
• Minimum of 3 observations across 2
PGCE placements
• University tutor and school subject
mentor observe, complete written notes,
tripartite feedback
English and MFL approaches
English
U of C lesson observation proforma used, filled out during
lesson, forms basis for subsequent discussion, photocopied
immediately after discussion.
MFL
Notes taken by university tutor during session, discussed
afterwards, some notes photocopied then, written notes
provided by email in next day or so with questions to which
trainees have to respond and show they are incorporating into
practice
What do trainees think? [impact?]
‘ I believe feedback from
university tutors is more
helpful and precise than
from the school and there is
more consistency’
What do trainees think? [impact?]
General awareness of a
balance between description,
analysis, advice, comment,
question, also an awareness
of different ways these are
weighted ‘But I need those
different things’
What do trainees think? [impact?]
‘ I prefer questions to
advice so I can think about it
and analyse it myself’
‘I am different to you, I like
advice, I like to be told what
could work better.’
What do trainees think? [impact?]
‘ I find description quite
useful, so I can see what I
did if I have forgotten or am
unsure, and I can think about
whether it was effective or
not’
Extent of engagement in written feedback
MFL
‘You reflect differently a little later
than you do when the lesson is just
over’
‘We are stretched even further, beyond
the lesson itself and the discussion’
Extent of engagement in written feedback
English
Did not like the sound of having to
engage in discussion afterwards
‘I email tutor later if I have any more
questions’
Do you read them again?
English
‘I use them as a record of standards’
‘I look again after the next lesson so I
can see if I responded to the feedback’
‘No. I write down 4 or so bullet points
during the discussion and I respond as
well as I can to those things’
Things they did NOT like
‘some observers try to be too nice’
‘some observers are too critical’
‘some are too descriptive…there is no
evaluation’
‘some see it just from their viewpoint..I
would have done it differently’
‘sometimes the school observers do not
understand or agree with the methods we are
using – the ones the university has
What can we conclude from this?
• different methods appeal to different
learning styles
•Tended to have faith in their own subject’s
approach
•Saw variation in university and tutor
approaches
•Varying degrees of engagement in the
written feedback after the discussion had
ended
Questions to be asked……
• can we have more impact on the way
trainees engage with the written feedback
after the lesson – what are the benefits of
this?
•Can we exercise more influence on the way
subject mentors approach written feedback?
•What is the balance between description,
analysis, question, comment?
• What is the balance between subject
specific comment and more general