Giving lesson observation feedback

Victoria WrightSenior Lecturer Post Compulsory Education

Copland

Teacher educator

FoucaultAutoethno-graphy

Quality observer

Relations of powerSubject/s

Discourse

dialogic

CHAT

O’Leary

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 referencesArmstrong, 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/21014229. [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.1-11

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.