Giving lesson observation feedback
Victoria Wright
Senior Lecturer Post Compulsory Education
Quality
observer
O’Leary
Copland
Teacher
educator
Autoethno
-graphy
Foucault
dialogic
CHAT
Discourse
Subject/s
Relations
of power
Division of Labour:
Observer
Student Teacher
Armstrong (2000, p.4) ‘Quality is in the eye of the
beholder. ..All definitions are invariably situated in a
context, and a reflection of the interactions between a
range of agencies, including the individual learner
whose needs and expectations form part of the
equation…In short, there is always an ideological as
well as an ethical basis to definitions of quality’.
Analysis of my observational strategy
Regulatory Practice: exploring
conventions (university, known/
researched, individual) and
patterns/ phases
Division of Labour: turn taking,
marked interruptions, length of
turn, negotiation of action, use of
questions
Political technology: attitude,
values and expectations
Contradictions: with conventions,
with attitude and values
To highlight the context bound
nature of giving observation
feedback
To indicate some of the
complexities around fostering a
dialogic approach
To share ‘the vigilant tension of
the self taking care, above all,
not to lose control of its
representations and be
overcome by either pains or
pleasures’ (Foucault, 2001,
p.534).
signposting some references
Armstrong, P. (2000) Never mind the quality, measure the length: Issues for Lifelong
learning. Supporting Lifelong Learning Global Colloquium. Available from
http://www.adulteduc.gr/001/pdfs/provlimatimsoi/paul_armstrong.pdf [Accessed12th
September 2013]
Copland, F. (2007) Classrooms as Cultural Context: The legitimacy of educational
exchange [online]. Available from:
http://www.slidefinder.net/c/classrooms_cultural_context_the_legitimacy/baal2008blue/210142
29. [Accessed 1st July 2012]
Copland, F. (2008a) “Deconstructing the Discourse: Understanding the feedback event.” In
Garton S. and Richards K (ed.) Professional Encounters in TESOL, London: Palgrave. pp.111
Copland, F. (2008b) Feedback in pre-service English language teacher training:
discourses of process and power. PhD thesis, University of Birmingham
Copland, F. (2010) Causes of tension in post-observation feedback in pre-service teacher
training: An alternative view. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26 (3): 466-472
Copland, F., Ma, G. and Mann, S. (2009) Reflecting in and on post-observation feedback in
initial teacher training on Certificate courses. ELTED, 12: 14- 23
Copland, F. and Mann, S. (2010) “Dialogic talk in the post-observation
conference; an investment for reflection” In Cirocki, A., Park, G., and Widodo,
H. Observation of teaching: bridging theory and practice through
research on teaching. München, Germany: LINCOM Europa pp. 175-194.
Ellis, C. (2004) The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel about
Autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press
Engeström, Y. (2001) Expansive Learning at Work: toward an activity theory
reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work, 14 (1): 133-156
Foucault, M. (1988a) “Technologies of the Self” In Martin, L. and Hutton, P. (ed.)
Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault London: Tavistock
Publications Ltd pp.16-50
Foucault, M. (1988b) “The Political Technology of Individuals” In Martin, L. and
Hutton, P. (ed.) Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault
London: Tavistock Publications Ltd pp.145-163
O’Leary, M. (2013b) Surveillance, performativity and normalised practice: the use
and impact of graded lesson observations in Further Education Colleges, Journal
of Further and Higher Education, 37 (5): p 694- 714
Rabinow, P. and Rose, N. (ed.) The Essential Foucault: Selections from the
Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984 New York: New Press
Wragg, E. (1994) An introduction to classroom observation. London:
Routledge.