Routes, Realities & Rewards:
A collaborative exploration of
EAP Teacher Observation & Development
Mary Forbes & Sarah Butler: CU Services, Coventry University Group
Conrad Heyns: Goldsmiths, University of London
BALEAP Conference Bristol 2017
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Routes
• Origins of this project
Our Approach
Realities
• A new version of the observation form
• Improving the Pre-observation meeting
• Training observers
Rewards
Where next?
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Routes: Origins of the project
•
•
•
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Several PSE courses running at peak, 35-55 tutors needed
Recruitment over an extended period
Reference to TEAP competencies in recruitment
Range of experience & qualification means no common
language for discussing best practice
• Need to establish best classroom practice
• Supporting returning tutors as well as new tutors
• Desire for observations to form part of CPD, working
within limited time frame
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Routes & Realities: Origins of the project
• Resistance to feedback from observers
 theory vs practice
 creativity vs syllabus
 development or QA
 credibility of observers (both new & non-teaching)
• Getting ‘by-in’ from the observed – rewards?
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Our approach
• Interested group met to discuss common issues
• Evaluation of the example observation form offered in
BAS Handbook in terms of effectiveness in our contexts
• Discussion of what to add/amend to best serve our
tutors and enhance course delivery
• Discussion of other factors around observations e.g.
 supporting teachers into the observations
 training the trainers
 other ways of getting feedback on teaching
• Continuation of discussion for each iteration
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Realities 1: Changing the observation form
• Finding a shared language: guidance document
Lesson management
Academic language
Academic skills
Bridge to destination degree programme
Checklist
• Improving planning: pre-observation meeting & lesson
plan template
• Framing effective feedback
• Looking back and forward
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Realities 2: Improving the pre-observation meeting
What?
• Reviewing lesson plans / materials
teaching & learning context
student experience
How?
• Discussion between observer and tutor
• Self-reflection / coaching / directive
best practice
standards of
delivery
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Realities 2: Improving the pre-observation meeting
You get out of the process
Experiences and Results
what you put in.
• Approaches
Tutor: Spring 10 2017
• Challenges reviewing lesson plans
• Dealing with changes
Criteria drives the
observation
• Observation in practice
Course Leader: Summer 15 2016
Tutors receptive to pre-observation meeting.
Course Leader: Late Summer10 2016
"lesson planning more meaningful and contextualized“
O’Leary (2014:140)
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Realities 2: Improving the pre-observation meeting
[…] inclusion of a pre-observation meeting is another
important aspect of increasing teacher ownership of the
process. With many assessment models of observation, the
pre-observation meeting is a rare occurrence. Not only does
this provide both observer and observee with an
opportunity to discuss the focus of the lesson and for the
latter to provide a context and rationale for the lesson’s
focus, but it also enables them to negotiate a set of
shared goals that takes into account the needs of the
individual and the institution.
O’Leary (2014) p.120
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Realities 3: Training the observers
“There is a very real danger that when feedback is given by
those with no training it may only serve to give offence.
Alternately, the observer may feel obliged to make only
positive comments, in which case the whole exercise
becomes a pointless act of mutual back-patting.”
Jill Cosh
ELT Journal Volume 53/1 January 1999 OUP
“By becoming a workshop leader, conference presenter,
observer of teachers, or any kind of teacher trainer, you
are setting yourself a little apart – not just from your new
adult students of teaching, but also from your colleagues,
the teachers who have chosen not to become trainers.”
Tessa Woodward
www.teachingenglish.org.uk
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Training Observers: Who trains the trainers?
• Cambridge English
• British Council training
• International House London
• TEAP Programmes
• Nile
BALEAP???
• Coventry: Observer CPD
Observer Training Programme
pre-observation
meeting
observation
post-observation
meeting
written
feedback
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Rewards
Pointing to BALEAP TEAP Associate Fellowship
Strengthen tutors’ knowledge, competence, and ability to
address Section C1: Teaching Practice e.g.
• EAP vs non-EAP
• Rationale for selection in an example context
Gathering evidence for attaining TEFL Q status
• 5 observations and feedback with a trainer
• Achieved over two years on two PSE courses
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Rewards: Enhancing QA
institution
student
best practice
benefits
stakeholder
‘buy in’
tutor
observer
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Where next?
• Strengthening tutor induction & CDP
• Development of observers & shadowing
• Trialling wider observations programme:
Unseen observations
Joint lesson planning & peer review
Peer observations
• Trialling all forms & processes at Goldsmiths
• Videos of best practice (FHEA observations)
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Collaborators
CU Services, Coventry University Group:
Don Jack; Gareth Jones; Graeme Nelson; Laura Pibworth-Dolinski; Helen
Taylor; Omar Aazam; Mustafa Coban; Carol Ann Fletcher; Jonathan
Newcombe; Laura Rattigan; Lorraine Rice; Zahera Tabasum
University of the Arts, London:
Vivien Fox; Jonathan Randall; Helen Hickey; Stephen Perry; Claire Hiscock
University of Bath:
Diana Hopkins; Tim Ratcliffe
Goldsmiths, University of London:
Tim Chapman, Paul Stocks, Gary Riley-Jones, Stella Harvey, Kwab Asare,
Viola Eidenbenz
Acknowledgement to all tutors who have taken part in the observation
process.
Routes, Realities & Rewards
References
BALEAP (2008). Competency Framework for Teachers of English for
Academic Purposes [online] https://www.baleap.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/04/teap-competency-framework.pdf
Accessed 23 March 2017
Cosh, J. (1999.). Peer Observation: a reflective model. ELT Journal
Volume 53/1 OUP
O’Leary, M. (2014). Classroom Observation: A guide to the effective
observation of teaching and learning Routledge: Abingdon
O’Leary, M. (2014). Developing a National Framework for the Effective
Use of Lesson Observation in Further Education – Key Findings from UCU
Project Report UCET May 2014 Conference Slides
Woodward, T. (2009). Am I ready to be a teacher trainer British Council
[online] http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/am-i-ready-be-ateacher-trainer Accessed 15 March 2017
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Training Observers: Who trains the trainers?
• Cambridge English:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english/teachingqualifications/train-the-trainer/
• British Council training:
https://www.britishcouncil.org/jobs/careers/english/teachertrainers-mentors
• International House London:
http://ihworld.com/onlinetraining/course/ih_teacher_training_certificate
• TEAP Programmes
https://www.baleap.org/resources/teap-courses
• Nile
https://www.nile-elt.com/courses/course/28
Routes, Realities & Rewards
Thank you for listening
Any questions?