Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons?
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...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Published: |
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32186/ |
| _version_ | 1848794352945463296 |
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| author | Evans, Sheila Jones, Ian Dawson, Clare |
| author_facet | Evans, Sheila Jones, Ian Dawson, Clare |
| author_sort | Evans, Sheila |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:14:50Z |
| format | Conference or Workshop Item |
| id | nottingham-32186 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:14:50Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-321862020-05-04T20:13:54Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32186/ Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? Evans, Sheila Jones, Ian Dawson, Clare 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. 2014-07 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed Evans, Sheila, Jones, Ian and Dawson, Clare (2014) Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? In: 38th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and the 36th Conference of the North American Chapter of the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 15 - 20 July 2014, Vancouver, Canada. http://www.pmena.org/pmenaproceedings/PMENA%2036%20PME%2038%202014%20Proceedings%20Vol%203.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Evans, Sheila Jones, Ian Dawson, Clare Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? |
| title | Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? |
| title_full | Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? |
| title_fullStr | Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? |
| title_short | Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? |
| title_sort | do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons? |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32186/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32186/ |