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Sheila Evans
Sheila
Evans
Ian Jones
Ian
Jones
Clare Dawson
Clare
Dawson
Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons?
Loughborough University
2016
untagged
2016-02-12 10:04:20
Conference contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/conference_contribution/Do_subject_specialists_produce_more_useful_feedback_than_non-specialists_when_observing_mathematics_lessons_/9372812
Schools, districts and inspectorates routinely use non-specialists to observe lessons
for accountability and professional development purposes. However, there is little
empirical research on how well non-specialists observe lessons. We describe two pilot
studies in which education professionals made judgements about mathematics lesson
observation reports, written by both specialists and non-specialists. In terms of
providing feedback to the observed teachers, the professionals considered the
specialists’ reports to be significantly more useful than the non-specialists’ reports.
Written advice about a teacher’s practice influenced these judgements. The paper
considers theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations of our findings.