Crucial role of classroom observation in enhancing the quality of teaching

Classroom observation is one of the longstanding, old-age traditional techniques of holding a mirror to a teacher. To have them understand where they are in terms of their skills in not only delivering the curriculum, but also their classroom management, their differentiation techniques/abilities, etc.

Teachers are the backbone of an educational activity especially because success is highly dependent on their job performance. Performance is an individual-level variable that is a key feature of job performance, in that it has to be goal-relevant. Performance must be directed towards relevant organisational goals.

According to the Teachers Service Commission (2015), the job performance of teachers is the set of duties a teacher performs to achieve the goals of the school at a particular time in the school system. These duties involve timely syllabus coverage, correct pedagogical skills, school, and class regular punctual attendance. Teachers’ job performance is highly connected to students’ outcomes as the end product of education.That said, the concept of classroom observation among teachers plays a vital part in why some schools record stellar performances while others consistently perform dismally in the country.

A 2019 research study was conducted on Classroom Observation: Practice and Impact on Teachers’ Job Performance in Kangundo Sub-County, Machakos County, by lecturers Martha Wairimu, Jacinta Adhiambo, and Stephen Mailu all from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. The study noted that most teachers do not observe one another in class in the schools under study as a way of reinforcing supervision and improving teachers’ job performance. The study also established that the majority of teachers don’t use teaching and learning aids during the lesson, which is an important aspect of the instructional process, intended to make concepts clearer. The school heads were also found to lag in making effort to discuss results with the teachers concerned with the aim of improving their instructional practices. These findings of the study depict that the concept of classroom observation is not given the utter importance it deserves in many schools across the country.

Classroom observation of teachers is an important tool for education policy and research.  By observing teachers in the classroom, it is possible to measure the impact of training programmes and other interventions on teachers and, in turn, on student learning.  Classroom observation can help education managers benchmark the performance of schools and school systems in important areas such as teachers’ use of instructional time and educational materials, student engagement, and use of best-practice teaching techniques.  It can provide school directors and mentors with formative feedback for individual teachers. 

And for school systems moving toward performance-based promotion and compensation, a classroom observation is an essential element of a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of individual teachers. However, to generate useful data, classroom observations must use a standardized method and be carried out by trained observers.

The two methods most widely used in developing countries are Stalling’s "classroom observation system" and CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System). The CLASS, established by Robert Pianta, is an instrument that rates teaching efficiency and teacher-student dynamics in the classroom. It generates qualitative ratings of teaching on a scale from 1 to 7 through three broad domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. The Stallings instrument, developed by Jane Stallings, produces quantitative data on teacher-student interaction in classrooms across four main variables: Teachers’ use of instructional time, Teachers’ use of materials, Core pedagogical practices, and Teachers’ ability to keep students engaged.

The most important school-based factor in student achievement is arguably the teaching quality.  Of course, other factors outside of the school’s influence (e.g., parents’ education level, family income) play a huge role. And in-school factors such as principals, teacher collaboration, and the curriculum are also important. But of the variables that the education system can actually influence, several studies show that teaching effectiveness is the most significant-- two to three times the effect of any other school factor. In fact, the variation in student achievement resulting from teaching quality is estimated as high as 20 per cent.

As a result, instructional leaders, policymakers, and researchers are asking: what determines teacher effectiveness? And what are the best ways to improve it?

One of the largest research efforts to answer these questions was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project: a collaboration between dozens of independent research teams and 3,000 teachers from seven U.S. public school districts.  The MET study found that classroom observations, particularly when provided by more than one observer, can provide teachers with the critical feedback they need to improve their teaching.

“If we want students to learn more, teachers must become students of their own teaching. They need to see their own teaching in a new light,” said Tom Kane, Professor of Education and Economics at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and leader of the MET project. The MET project demonstrated that lesson observation and feedback play a critical role in improving teaching quality. This is not about accountability. It’s about development and providing the feedback every professional needs to strive toward excellence.

An investigation into the effect of classroom observation on teaching methodology research study was conducted in 2012 by Masoumeh Zaare, a scholar in the Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University, in Iran. The study was to determine the significance of ‘classroom observation’ in assessing teaching procedures and to suggest appropriate ways for planning and carrying out the classroom observation in such a way that desirable results can be achieved in terms of developing the teachers and using their capabilities effectively.

The study was conducted over a week of visits to an Iranian institute in June 2012. All the participants were from this institute. The observer worked with three peer observers who were required to report their observations and ratings. The process helped calculate the inter-rater reliability, which determines the degree of agreement among those rating. All observers opted for a model of observation checklist, namely, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing which was later adapted to the requirement of teaching English as a foreign language. The participants in both classes were adults and were in the Pre-intermediate level but there were six students in class 1 and 17 students in class 2.

The finding of this research indicated that the teachers learned much about how to teach by observing their qualified peers and the experiences helped them improve their self-awareness and become more reflective teachers.

The research was clear that classroom observations can be a guide for teachers so they can reflect on their own teaching practices, and those who are observing can learn from other, perhaps more successful educators about their methods. Classroom observations allow educators and administrators to improve not only classrooms but schools as a whole. Observing another teacher's classroom and having your own class observed both have several educational purposes, including giving you the ability to describe instructional practices, evaluate inequities that exist for a specific student or group of students, and improve your own classroom instruction.

So how exactly can teachers go about it?

Classroom observation is the bridge between the worlds of theory and practice. On the one hand, observation can discover a great deal about how and why certain theories or methods work or do not work in a local context. There is no method that works equally well in all cases and it is in the classroom that methods and theories are formed and tested. To avoid misinterpretation, observers need the training to be able to record data objectively and give feedback constructively. Similarly, teachers need the training to apply the data to their own teaching. The benefits that teachers get, in this case, are a deeper understanding of theoretical knowledge and practical options for what, how, and to what extent to use that knowledge in their classroom. Observations are most effective when approached as collaboration meant to benefit all involved. For the one being observed, an observation can provide useful feedback that might not be revealed by other assessment methods. Before being observed, the teacher should be prepared to discuss with the observer goals for the class, what he or she plans to do in class that day and what he or she wants the observer to pay attention to.

While being observed, the teacher should be introduced to the observer in the class, explain the purpose of the observation and explain the observer’s role to the students. After being observed, the teacher should be reconstructed what happened in class, think about goals for the class and the specific class session that was observed, and ask for specific descriptions and constructive suggestions. If you are the observer, before observing clarify the purpose of the observation, meet with your colleague to discuss what will happen in class, describe what you’ll be doing during the observation and discuss the observation thereafter. If you are the observer, after observing reconstruct what happened in class with the instructor, ask your colleague to describe what he or she would change and what was typical and atypical about the class. You should also listen to your colleague, describe rather than evaluate what you saw, and offer constructive suggestions.

Approached with the right spirit and the child’s best interest at heart, classroom observation can be such potent tool for professional growth and development. If wrongly done, however I.e as a fault finding, blame apportioning exercise, it can be counterproductive in many ways.