Secondary Headteachers Digest

I was the last name on the CLT staff rotor for the ‘Secondary Headteachers Digest.’ Sadly, it has taken me nearly four weeks to read it. Next time, it will be given greater priority but first I will have to source it. The editorial included a wide range of documents covering various professional themes, political issues and research articles. Two articles in particular stood out for comment. 

Pupil feedback

The article summarises Sir Dexter Hutt’s proposals to offer pupils the opportunity to survey lessons, to further engage pupils and for pupils to sense that they ‘own the lesson’. What is missing is how this process will be put into practice. Meanwhile, Union responses were typically protective of members.

About 6 months ago I shared a lesson model I had constructed some time ago, that was taken on by the CLT to structure the VLE (not actually lesson delivery). On the reverse was student / pupil lesson survey tool that was not adopted, but was heavily road test at Tauntons College on the BTEC National in Sport. Maybe, with this article supporting this teaching strategy, it is time to re-raise document.

We used a doubled sided, laminated document. The front side was the aforementioned lesson model, the reverse the lesson survey tool design with some input from Geoff Petty. The document was simple placed in front a student at the start of the class, who then completed the tool with a simple dry wipe marker. The document worked on a number of levels;

As a course leader, the survey tools guided teaching preparation and planning. I could walk into any lesson and very easily source feedback about that lesson. I could use the survey tool to discuss the relevant merits of a lesson with a staff member. The survey tool communicated expectations of teachers to the students, but also the expectations of students, to the student in a very subtle way. As a teacher I could get immediate feedback on a lesson. The survey tool could be used to discuss the relevant merits of a lesson with the class, the expectations of staff and students with the class.

Is this a potential Leading from the Middle strategy? How would the document need to be adapted for use in ICT. I think that this is a worthy task as we have both GTP and PGCE students working in the department and I feel this would be a strong tool for guiding teacher in training.