Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons?

Evans, Sheila; Jones, Ian; Dawson, Clare

Abstract

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.

Citation

Evans, S., Jones, I., & Dawson, C. Do subject specialists produce more useful feedback than non-specialists when observing mathematics lessons?. Presented at 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

• Conference Name: 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
• End Date: Jul 2, 2014
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Mar 14, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 14, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/994978
• Publisher URL: http://www.pmena.org/pmenaproceedings/PMENA%2036%20PME%2038%202014%20Proceedings%20Vol%203.pdf