Three stakeholders' perceptions of effective practices in observing experienced teachers and peers in a UK initial teacher training course : degree of agreement, attitudes to an innovation in the course and changes to observation practices

• Main Author: Al-Shammat, Al-Din
• Published: University of Warwick 2015
• Subjects: 370.71; LB Theory and practice of education
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.682929

This exploratory mixed methods study focuses on perceptions of three key stakeholder groups in a UK initial teacher training (ITT) course regarding how to observe experienced teachers and peers effectively to learn to teach. It set out to investigate perceived effective observation practices in the academic year 2012-2013 and utilised 40 semi-structured interviews of student teachers, university tutors and school mentors as its primary method and a questionnaire (n=89) and document analysis of the course handbook as its secondary ones. The adopted theoretical perspective for analysis included the social leaning theories of Legitimate Peripheral Participation and Communities of Practice. The research has identified many observation techniques, institutional requirements and personal qualities perceived to be conducive to producing effective observation practices in this course. The secondary questions investigated the degree of agreement among the participants’ perceptions, student teachers’ perceptions of the innovation of peer observation, changes in their observation practices during the course and future plans for changing their observations. The results revealed a high degree of agreement among the participants, positive attitude toward peer observation despite a slight preference for observing experienced teachers and few changes to their observation practices. This research attempts to contribute to the literature, which is lacking in the UK, regarding this topic and its findings should prove useful for identifying effective observation practices for future ITT courses.