A CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PROTOCOL - NUT

1 U kA CLASSROOMOBSERVATIONPROTOCOLGUIDELINESFO RNUTSCHOOLREPRESENTATIVESNat ionalUn ionof Teach ersObservation - 4798 21/11/06 13:56 Page 11 PREF ACER andom an d excessiveclassroo m observations are a se ri ous problemfor man y te id elin es ar e aime d at pro te ctingmembers fromthe stressand unnecessarywor kloadcaused by exce ssiveuse of classroomand 200 6 Pe rf or manceManagem ent Regulations(Englandand Wales)requireeachschoolgovernin g bo dy to co nsult all te ache rs withinits schooland to seekto agreea performanceman ag em en t policywit h the re cog nisedtradeunions,havi ng regardto the co nsultation withall teach ers . The perfo rm anceman agementpolicyshouldcontainthe school s cl assroomobservatio n prot oco em en t by sch ool gove rni ng bodies on theirperformancemanagement poli cies andclassroom obser vat ion pr otoco ls sh ould be reachedpriorto the startof the performanceman ag em en t fromthe Governmenton performancemanagementandclassroom obser vat ion, en tit le d R ewardsand IncentivesGrou p Teachers and HeadTea ch er s Per for manceManage me nt , has beenpu bl ishedal ongside the isref erre d to wit hin th e NUT s gu ide lines id elin es, on the provi sio ns whichshouldbe incl udedin a schools classroomobservatio n prot oco l, take into acco unt fully the Education(S cho ol TeacherPerformanceManageme nt ) (Eng land)Regu lati ons eve Sin nottGen eral Se cret ar yA CLASSROOMOBSERVATIONPROTOCOL:NUTGUIDANCE FORSCHOOLREPRESENTATIVESO bservation - 4798 21/11/06 13.

2 56 Page 21 CLASSROOMOBSERVATION1. The re ar e two st atu to ry requ irementswhichrequireschool gove rni ng bodiesand headteachers to or gan ise CLASSROOM OBSERVATION . As part of th eir resp onsibilitie s to carryout the schoolperformancemanagementpolicies det er mined by sch ool governingbodies, head teachersare req ui red toensu re th at CLASSROOM OBSERVATION arrangements establishedby a cl assroomobse rvatio n pr ot oco l are in place . He ad teachers ar e req uir ed by th e SchoolTeachers Pay and ConditionsDocumentto put in place ar ran gem ents fo r th e evaluationof standardsof teaching and learningin their sch th er , these requ ire me nt s emb ody the bulk of resp onsibilities of headteachersfor eval uatingstandards of teachingand learningcombine d wit h the pressur e on th em to completeOfstedsel f-evaluati on formshav esignificantly in cr easedleve ls of cl assroomobservati on.

3 Man y teachersexperienceclassroom ob ser vatio n, th erefo re , as unpl annedand excessive and are uncl ear ab out itspurp ose. The NUT s guidelines are intendedto removeunreasonableclassroomobse rvation pro cedu sro om obser vat ion shou ld nei ther be a burdenfor the teacher concernednor anopp or tu nity to p olice a teach er s Reg ulationsplacea maximumof th ree hourson classroomobservationexceptwher e evid en ce em er ges that gives ri se to concernab out a teacher at leastmakesclearthat ordi nary cl assroomobservation underthe Regulationsisto obser ve per for man ce wh ich is generally sati thre e hourlimi t on cl assroo m ob ser vati on und er the performancema nage me nt re gula tionsis a maximum. Cl assroomobservation sh ould be no long erthan is app rop riate for posit ive an d constructivepurp assroomobservationforthe purp ose s of pe rfor manceman agement,therefore,shouldbe the su bj ect ofagr ee me nt betwe en the reviewer and the teacher concernedon its obj ecti ves and itsduration.

4 It shou ld be clear ly tre ated as an opportunityfor the teacher to demonstratehis or he r teachingskillsan d rece ive constructive NUTbe lievesth at th e th re e hourlimi t should be consideredmorethan sufficientfor classroo m obse rvat ion for all oul d be vi ewed as a ri ght andopp or tu nity for teachers will othe rwisebe a burdenwhi ch wi ll defeatits obj ecti ve. Th atpr incip le is follow ed throughou t th is gui THEREQUIREMENTTOCONSULT eachschool the he ad teacher is requiredto cons ult all tea cher s at their schoolsan d toseekto ag ree the for mulat ion of a classroomobservation protocolwi th the recognisedtrad e un io ns, havingregar d to th e resultsof the NU T expectsthehead te acher to agre e wit h the NUT representativeand NUT memberswit hin theschool, the NU T s guideline s on the establishmentof th e CLASSROOM observationprot oco NU T s gui del ine s appl y to CLASSROOM obse rvation arisi ng fro m pe rfo rmancemanagem en t re gulat ion req uire me nts, to the statutoryresponsibi li ties of headteachersto evalu ate teaching and lear ni ng, and to otherformsof - 4798 21/11/06 13:56 Page 32 NUT GUIDELINESON SCHOOLCLASSROOMOBSERVATIONPROTOCOLS8.

5 Th ese guid eline s app ly to al l qualifi ed teacherswho classroomob se rva tio n prot oco l sho ul d be the subjectof co nsultation with all teachers with in eachscho ol. As indicated abo ve , ag re em ent should be reachedbetweenthe head teacherand th e re cog nisedtrad e un ion s wi thin the schoolon the formulation of the prot oco ese guid eline s app ly to cl assroom observationcarri ed out for all assroom OBSERVATION andTeacherPerformance:A form an ce managementis a statutoryand co ntractualobligation, as se t out inpa rag ra ph 76. 4 of the SchoolTeachers Pay an d Cond ition s Do cumen t 2006 . TheEdu ca tion (Sc ho ol TeacherPer for manceManagemen t) (E nglan d) Regul at ion s 2006st ipu lat e tha t the total per iod of classroomob se rvat ion arran ged fo r any tea cher unde r theregu lat ions shoul d no t exceedthreehourspe r perfo rmance man agement cy cl e and th atthis time shoul d be re duc ed on a pr o rata bas is wh ere th e te acherwo rks pa rt- time.

6 Theregu lat ions state, whereevi denceemerge s whi ch givesri se to conce rn abouttherevi ewee s teach ingper fo rmance , cl assro omobs erv atio ns may be ar ran ged in addition . ad ditio n to be ing re sp onsi ble for establishingarrangements for cl assroomob se rva tio ns for pe rfor man ce man agement purposes, head teachersare req uired toob se rve teach er s car rying out the ir dutiesas part of theirresponsibili ties for, ev alu atingthestandardsofte ac hingan d learningin theschoolandensuringthatpro per st andardsofprofes sio nal performanceareestablishedandmaintained (par agr ap h 63. 7 of th e Sch ool Te achers Pay and Condition s Document 2006).This mayinclu de visitsto classroo ms whi le le ssonsare in ese guid eline s add ress the se statu tory ad di tion, they outlinepr oced ur es wit h resp ect to th e con duct of classroomobservationfor: th e pur pose s of Ofst ed in sp ecti ons; th e pur pose s of car ryin g out the local authority s statutory responsibilities; th e in duct ion of new ly qual ifie d te achers;and imp le me nt ing capabil ity proce dure ach ed to the guid eline s is adviceon the conductof governorvisi fo r Cla ss ob ser vatio ns sho uld be undertakenstrictly in accordancewith the protocolof th e scho ol fo r th e co nd uct of cl assroomobservation.

7 Theyshouldbe supportive andde ve lo pme nt ob ser vatio n arrangementsfor the purposesof performancemanagementsho uld be agr ee d bet we en the re vi ewerand the revieweeand should be set out in thepe rfo rm ancereviewst atem en t of each ad ditio n, the arr ang eme nts set out in the statementsshouldspecifythat they shouldbe used to gat he r inf or mati on for schoolself-evaluation and for the purpose of en ablingth e head teach er to disch arg e hi s or her responsibility to evaluateteachingand le arningwith in th e sch oo - 4798 21/11/06 13:56 Page sro om obser vat ion of qual ified teachersshould be co nductedby otherquali fiedteachers. All thosewho act as ob se rversfo r classroomobservationpurposesshouldhavead e quat e pr epar at io n an d the appropriateski lls to und ertakeobservationand topr ovid e co nst ru ctivefeedbackan d su icien t time tab led releasetime sh ould be providedto enable the revi ewerorobse rve r to give prop er tim e to the task and to enableverbalfeedbackto be providedas soo n as possible.

8 Ver bal feed back by th e revi ewershouldbe givenimmediately andin an y caseno late r than th e end of the next sch ool day . Pl anni ng, PreparationandAsse ssment time sho uld not be use d for this purp revie we r sho uld com plet e a shortwri tte n recordof the obse rvati on, feedbackandany su bse que nt followup observationrecordshouldbe suffi cientto meetthe need s of eachteach er and th e school. It shouldsummarise th e focus,whatwa slear ne d fro m the ob se rvat io n, th e fe edbackgivenan d any subsequentacti ons or otherfollowup. The reco rd sh ould no t lead to unnecessary wo rkl oad for ei ther the revieweror review ee . The reco rd of the ob se rvati on shouldbe mad e avai lableto the revieweewith in five wo rking daysof the obse revi ewee shouldmake,and wherenece ssary,reco rd an y com men ts he or she may haveon the recordof the pectationsan d Ti sro om obser vat ion can be conductedin sucha way as to achi eve a rangeofobje ctive s at the sam e tim e.

9 Ofte n thereis no needfor cl assroomobservationto becond uct ed sep arat ely for dif fere nt particular, bothcl assroom observationfor the pur posesof fulf illin g pe rformancemanagementrequi rementsand therequ ir eme nts on the head teach er to ensureth at teachingand learningis eval uate d,can be co nducte d at th e sam e tim ho rity ad viser s, in spe ctorsand consultantsmay be invi ted by headte achersint o sch oo ls to co ndu ct classroo m purposeof thes e observationsshou ld be mad e cle ar to the teach ers who are bei ng observedand agreementsoug ht wit h th e teach er s on when and whether th ey shouldtake th ey areinvi te d in to pr ovid e in fo rm at ion to headteacherson the qualityof teachingandlear nin g then su ch obser vat ion s are coveredby the PROTOCOL s ti me limits set outbelo sho uld be no te d th at th e performanceregulations spe ci fy that the total periodofclassroom ob ser vatio n ar ran ged fo r performancemanagement purposes sh all notexce ed thr ee hoursper cy cl e1.

10 The Govern me nt s gui danceemp hasisesthat theamount of cla ssro om ob ser vati on should beregardedasa maximumnota st andard .The Go ve rn ment s guid an ce state s furtherthat, performancemanagementar ra ngementsar e integral to ful fil lin g thisduty , ( ,th e headteacher sdutytoeva lu atethest andardsofteachingandlearningwithinthesch ool)andheadteachersmay co nsiderthecl assroomobser vationstheyagreeforperformancemanagement ar e su ff icientandthatdr op-in should notbeneeded . sro om obser vat ions shou ld be mul purp ose s of pe rf or manceman agementand eval uati ng the standardsof teachingand lear nin g sh ould no t exce ed a total of threehourswithineachperformancemanagem en t NUTO bservation - 4798 21/11/06 13:56 Page ob ser vatio n for th e purposesof performancemanagementshouldbe lim itedto on e obse rvat io n of a maxim um of 60 min utes in lengthper performanceman age me nt cycle,sub je ct to th e revieweechoosingto requ est a furtherob se rvationwith in th e thre e-h ou r maxi mu sro om observationcon ducted by headtea ch ers or delegated to ot her st aff for thepurp osesof car ryi ng out the stat uto ry duti es of headte ac her s to ev aluate st an dar ds ofteac hing and lear nin g, shouldbe limitedto a maxim um of two addit iona l obser vatio nsper yea r.