ABSTRACT
The authors share their reflections on how their identity/ties, as teachers and particularly as teacher educators, continue to develop in the light of their professional lived experiences and in relation to the observer role. The chapter is a ‘mosaic’ (McLuhan, 1962: 65) of different writing approaches with a view to retaining their individual voices while exploring connections between individually situated experiences. They have both had experience of conducting internal quality assurance graded lesson observations of staff and have, for a number of years, conducted teacher education developmental lesson observations. Emphasis is placed on the authors’ work as personal tutors supporting and observing students on the PGCE in PCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Post-Compulsory Education) course; a pre-service one year full-time teacher education programme at a university.
Lesson observation is a complex process in which the two roles (observer and observee) interact across/within the context of the institution, the relationship of the observer and observee, and their prior and current experiences and expectations. Ways in which teacher education observations might differ from other types of lesson observations (i.e. graded observations and/or observations of teachers already in employment) are explored. The authors examine the sets of criteria being applied: the influence of Ofsted, emerging peer observation models applied in internal quality assurance monitoring, and the application of the Education and Training Foundation Standards (ETF): the 20 standards that, since 2014, directly underpin teaching and training in the Lifelong Learning Sector (and are mapped across the PGCE in PCE assessments, including being mapped to the lesson observation criteria). The ethical dimension is also examined through the lens of cultural historical activity theory, the community of practice model (Lave and Wenger, 1991) and ecological learning systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).
