I’ll be honest: I don’t like being observed. It’s not the feedback that I mind. In fact, it often comes as a relief in terms of a positive focus and helpful tips for the future, but when someone who is not a student actively watches my teaching, it’s impossible not to feel awkward.

When being observed by a line manager, the obvious area of concern is that I might not measure up and it could affect my standing or employability in the school. But how does this differ when it is a peer doing the observing? In some ways, the pressure is off in terms of the potential effect on my employment. I would hope that a peer is a friendlier face. However, for some people peer observation can be worse. Consider how famous performers often say that they feel more nervous if their parents come to watch or if they are doing a concert for friends. For some people, a closer relationship with an observer can lead to a heightened desire to perform well and therefore worsen performance anxiety.

For me personally, I feel that being observed by a peer is less nerve-wracking than by a line manager, but I cannot assume that is the case for others. The process of setting up peer observations has so far been a bit tricky with my busy schedule and I have felt it important to downplay the importance of the observation to colleagues to reduce risk of causing any anxiety. Some are clearly more receptive than others to being observed, and it’s important to respect this.

Jill Cosh’s paper on Peer Observation (1999) gave me much pause for thought. In the introduction, Cosh argues that judgements resulting from peer observations can be “detrimental to teacher confidence”. I was rather horrified to discover that there was a scheme in the USA to link peer observation to pay and not surprised that the scheme collapsed due to union opposition. Similar schemes in the UK have been linked to teacher’s job appraisals, which were similarly poorly received.

So the problem is: firstly, is peer observation of value? If so, how do we make it valuable without it being viewed negatively by the teachers being observed? Cosh points out that training is necessary to give feedback. Just because we are fellow teachers does not mean we are necessarily equipped to give feedback on the teaching of others. Of course, the potential to give offence to a colleague can be compounded by the assumption that the observer is not actually qualified to judge the teaching of others.

Another issue is the obvious eventuality that colleagues end up teaching a ‘model lesson’ that is not reflective of the reality of their day-to-day teaching. This is very tempting and a normal reaction to a pressurised situation.

Cosh suggests various ways of improving the peer observation process – for example, pairing up teachers and working to agreed objectives. However, the resultant problem is that learning is restricted when only two people are involved, rather than a broader cross-section of the teaching staff.

Another way suggested by Cosh to improve the process is to pre-select a problem area or area of particular interest to the observer prior to the observation and focus on that as a means of focusing the observation.

The article concluded that the ideal situation would be the following: “Observation becomes not a vehicle for the judgement of others on the basis of our own assumptions, but instead an assessment of those assumptions on the basis of their teaching” (Cosh, 1999).

From my own point of view, watching a peer should not be an opportunity to critique their teaching but to learn from different approaches, and then feed that learning back into my own practice. Similarly, being observed by a friendly face, without the pressure that a line manager brings, should assist the objectives of self-reflection and self-improvement.

Reference: Cosh, J. (1999) Peer Observation: a reflective model. ELT Journal, Volume 53. p22-27