School Experience Toolkit: Supporting School Experience Supervisors

Welcome to the School Experience Toolkit

School Experience Co-ordinators or lecturers visiting student teachers during their school experience are the primary audience for this Toolkit.

It contains resources that are beneficial to the experience of student teachers and aims to support you in using TESSA materials, which can encourage the use of active learning approaches.

Please note: this Toolkit is not intended to be a module, a procedural document or a book which you read and work through from cover to cover.

It is intended as a collection of tools to use to tackle the challenges of school experience supervision.

Throughout this resource, you will find activities which you can complete individually or in a group of supervisors. You are encouraged to assess your own needs and identify the resources in the Toolkit which can best address them. It is suggested that first you skim through the items, selecting relevant tools where necessary.

It is suggested you use a notebook to engage with the activities in this resource.

The Toolkit can also be used as a resource material when you are working with student teachers, preparing them for school experience. In addition, it can be used as part of training for mentors, school inspectors, head teachers and other educationalists.

This version was written with a group of educators from Zambian Colleges of Education, the Ministry of General Education and The Open University (UK) at workshops in Kabwe during 2018–19. All Government colleges of education, including Chalimbana University, participated in the development of this Toolkit.

Our goal

Toolkit objectives

• to serve as a guide for lecturers visiting students during school experience supervision and mentoring of the student teacher
• to make the school experience interesting, collaborative and successful for the student teacher, visiting lecturer and cooperating school
• to move the school experience monitoring role towards mentoring, supporting and assisting the student teacher (a more learner-centred approach), rather than merely assessment
• to support standardised high-quality supervision
• to provide a set of tools (published under an open licence) to support the above, which can be adapted and used in different environments and contexts.

Other useful resources

At the end of this Toolkit is a list of further reading and resources on the topic. It is not essential reading but may help you to enhance your understanding of your role and active learning pedagogy.

Tool 1: The School Experience Supervisor

The role of the School Experience Supervisor has many dimensions, which are fulfilled through the different tasks they carry out before and during a visit to a student teacher in school experience.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• identify the role and tasks associated with the School Experience Supervisor
• identify the qualities needed to be an effective School Experience Supervisor
• reflect on your own practice as a Supervisor

1.1 The role and tasks of the School Experience Supervisor

School Experience Supervisors might be known to you by a different name, for example School Experience Monitor. The terms we use have a profound impact on how people, including student teachers, think of the role and themselves. For example, School Experience Monitor suggests a more remote, ‘watching’ role than School Experience Tutor, which suggests a teacher as well as an assessor. It is important to be aware of the hidden messages in such terms and reflect on whether the labels we use reflect the role. The term ‘supervisor’ is used in this Toolkit to convey the different aspects of the role.

There are several aspects to a School Experience Supervisor’s role including advisor, counsellor, assessor, teacher, tutor and monitor. A key aspect is to develop the skills and competencies in the student teacher that will enable them to work effectively in the classroom.

An effective School Experience Supervisor carries out the following core tasks:

• prepare student teachers for school experience e.g. through classes in college
• observe student teachers teaching during school experience and provide constructive feedback
• help student teachers develop lessons that use an active learning approach
• help student teachers evaluate and reflect on their teaching
• advise and support student teachers through teaching-related difficulties
• assess student teachers’ performance based on agreed teacher criteria
• analyse the wider evidence such as the student teachers’ logbooks/diaries
• identify what student teachers need to do in order to improve
• discuss with student teachers their progress in teaching skills and competence

As a School Experience Supervisor, you are required among other things to be:

• a role model in all areas, for example in your conduct and teaching
• able to use methods and strategies that put the student teachers and their learners at the centre of learning
• knowledgeable in your subject matter and adaptable in the facilitation of learning
• a good manager of time and resources
• able to plan and design programmes that will facilitate effective school experience
• able to use appropriate resources to stimulate and facilitate the development and assessment of student teachers during school experience
• able to observe and assess student teachers objectively.

1.2 Qualities of an effective School Experience Supervisor

Once the role and tasks of the School Experience Supervisor are clear, consideration can be given to the qualities required.

School Experience Supervisors should be:

• respectful of the student teacher and understand them
• a facilitator and mediator of learning
• knowledgeable and understanding of how adults learn
• able to use creative and problem-solving approaches to learning that stimulate themselves and the student
• a good communicator and role model
• able to take account of what student teachers already know and can do
• able to build on student teachers’ interests
• able to see the value of developing links with the school and community
• good subject knowledge
• aware of the need to continue to develop an understanding and practice of teaching and learning
• someone who carries out professional roles conscientiously.
• honest and accountable, reflecting as much as possible, the students’ achievements with fairness.

Tool 2: Introducing TESSA

The TESSA (Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa) project materials have been developed for pre-service and in-service teachers in several countries.

After using this Tool you will be:

• more familiar with the TESSA materials so you can introduce them to students and use them in your own practice.

2.1 Getting to know the TESSA materials

TESSA provides resources for teachers to use in their own classroom to support active learning and improvements in learning. These materials have been written by teacher educators from different countries in sub-Saharan Africa and are designed to help teachers by:

• developing their understanding of teaching and learning
• encouraging them to think about their role in helping learners to learn
• developing their understanding of how learners learn
• exploring different ways of organising and working in the classroom.

The TESSA materials are Open Educational Resources (OER). This means they are free to be used by anyone either online, or downloaded and used offline/printed. They can be adapted, modified or integrated with other resources in any form.

The TESSA materials are organised into five curriculum areas (as shown in Table 1 below): Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Life Skills and Social Studies and the Arts. These have been linked to the revised Zambian school curriculum. Each curriculum area has three modules and each module has five sections or units. So altogether there are 75 sections.

There are five sections in Module 1 of Life Skills, and each section follows the same pattern. Table 1 shows the first section in the Personal Development module. The focus in all sections is on developing teachers’ understanding of teaching and learning and improving their classroom practice.

In the TESSA materials there are activities for teachers to do in their classrooms to help them develop their teaching skills. These activities can be used by student teachers during school experience in order to learn about teaching, or by lecturers to provide examples of classroom teaching. School-based activities link theory and practice and encourage teachers to think critically about what is happening in their classrooms.

The resources have been adapted to match local needs, culture and surroundings in a range of national contexts across sub-Saharan Africa and are available in four different languages (Arabic, English, French and Kiswahili).

Table 1: The five TESSA curriculum areas

Further details of the 75 sections are in the Summary Curriculum Framework on the TESSA website.

Key resources: Supporting all the TESSA sections is a series of Key Resources, these provide support on cross-curricular issues such as ‘Working with large classes’ or ‘Using group work in your classroom’ and are referred to across all the module areas. The resources can be easily located on the TESSA website and are a very good starting point for your student teachers to engage with the project. We suggest you print out the Key Resources to take with you on your school visits. They are also very useful as a material for your seminars.

Audio resources: ‘Story Story’ short dramas: Enriching the TESSA text materials is a collection of audio resources. These can be found on the TESSA homepage under the audio resources button. The dramas show scenes in and around a local school involving teachers, learners, parents and other members of the community. For each drama, there are questions for the student teachers to consider and discuss –these are ideal for use in your seminars.

2.2 Explaining a TESSA section

All 75 TESSA sections follow the same pattern as shown by Table 2 below. Each section is designed to develop teachers’ practice through engagement with activities in their classroom. Each activity is expected to take one or two lessons at the most (unless it specifies longer).

Tool 3: Active learning

There has been a great deal written about active learning, but what does it look like in practice?

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• consolidate your understanding of active learning
• identify active learning strategies in TESSA materials

3.1 What is active learning?

The pedagogy at the heart of the TESSA materials is active learning. Children and adults learn through being actively engaged. This can involve a physical activity such as role play, experimenting and making models or simply thinking about something in a new way. This thinking might be based on some initial reading or a lecture and is developed through discussion or writing. Importantly, activity is not copying or listening to a lecture from the teacher. Through active learning, learners:

• connect new information to what they already know
• fill in missing gaps in their knowledge by identifying information that will help them to interpret and understand new ideas
• recognise new and contradictory ideas that their existing knowledge cannot explain.

TESSA materials challenge teachers who are using a ‘teacher-centred’ lecture-style approach and encourage them to:

• listen to learners
• encourage learners to ask questions
• develop competency with different learning strategies
• work collaboratively.

In this style of teaching, the teacher is engaged in cooperative activity with their learners and facilitates their learning. This is what teachers are being asked to do in the Revised Zambian School Curriculum, so teacher educators need to do it as well!

3.2 Active teaching and learning methods

Table 3 shows some important active teaching and learning methods and some of the skills that teachers, student teachers and teacher educators need to develop – these are all covered in the TESSA materials.

Teachers working together and discussing TESSA

Tool 12 provides an audit that you can use to evaluate your own practice and that of your students and plan for including more active learning methods in teaching.

Tool 4: Using TESSA materials with student teachers

There are many factors which influence how student teachers develop their practice. The TESSA materials help teachers try the TESSA activities in their classrooms or during school experience. By doing this they learn skills and gain understanding about teaching. However, just giving student teachers the copies of these resources is not going to be sufficient. You need to prepare the student teachers for practical classroom use of the materials and help them to reflect on their experiences.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• provide strategies for introducing and using the TESSA materials with student teachers.

4.1 Introducing student teachers to the TESSA materials

The first step is to become familiar with the TESSA materials and TESSA pedagogy yourself as a lecturer and School Experience Supervisor. If you are not familiar, work through Tool 2 ‘Getting to know the TESSA materials' and Tool 3 ‘Active learning’.

When you are familiar with the resources you can introduce them to your student teachers. Student teachers should be using activities and case studies from the materials during their school experience. TESSA preparation should always involve student teachers experiencing the TESSA activities in a practical way before trying them out in classrooms with learners. This should include:

• discussion
• modelling/demonstration (video clips can be useful)
• micro-teaching.

TESSA audio materials are ideal for stimulating discussion at seminars if the equipment (including speakers) is available. Each audio clip has a number of questions at the end for teachers to discuss. You can also download the scripts to use with your trainees – they could role play one or two of the scenes.

Encouraging your student teachers to use TESSA materials takes time and discussion of the strategies on repeated occasions. Students need time to explore the materials a small chunk at a time and time to discuss the strategies in the TESSA materials with you, the school staff and / with other students in a small group.

Case Study 1 and Case Study 2 show other School Experience Supervisors approached this introduction and followed it up to provide support to the student teachers (Case study 1) and help to develop a high level of competence within a learning and teaching strategy (Case study 2).

The TESSA website hosts all the TESSA materials. However, for many student teachers access to the internet is difficult. The TESSA OER can be downloaded on to a Smart phone. Consider allowing your students to use the college WiFi (if you have it) to do this. There are other ways in which you can help teachers to have access to them:

Offline:

• through the use of CDs. Increasingly teachers can find a computer, laptop or notebook with a CD-ROM drive
• through use of memory sticks or flash drives. Again, the TESSA materials can be downloaded to these for distribution to student teachers.

In print:

• TESSA materials can be printed (use the PDF version) from the TESSA website. You can print either individual sections or whole modules for distribution to student teachers.

You can use the TESSA materials in a range of different contexts and for a variety of purposes. They are flexible materials from which you can pick and choose or mix and match depending on your student teachers’ needs and those of the learners in the coordinating school.

The TESSA materials can therefore be used in many different ways to suit the students’ needs, their level of development or the purpose of the activity considered. This requires planning on your part.

4.2 Using the TESSA handbooks

TESSA handbook ‘Working with Pupils’ has been created to support student teachers and ‘Working with Teachers’ has been created for teacher educators and Teaching Practice Supervisors to provide support in the use of the TESSA materials. Both handbooks can be accessed from the ‘Handbooks and Toolkits for teachers and teacher educators’ page on your country homepage on the TESSA website.

‘Working with Teachers’ guides you, the Teaching Practice Supervisor, in the use of TESSA. In the handbook, look at the diagram on page 3 and the table of contents on page 4 to direct you to the sections that are of immediate relevance to the task you want to carry out. ‘Working with Pupils’ is a useful tool for you and your student teachers. You can give a copy to student teachers for them to have and refer to or you can take loose sections with you to school or fortnightly seminars to give your student teachers as appropriate.

Activity 4.4: Using the TESSA handbook Working with Pupils as support

This activity will help you to identify ways of adapting the use of the TESSA handbook ‘Working with Pupils’ to different scenarios.

Imagine the following situations at a face-to-face seminar. How could you use ‘Working with Pupils’ to support you and your student teachers?

Part 1

You asked your student teachers to look for TESSA materials with the idea of incorporating a new strategy into one of their next lessons. The following week, they have done this task and two of them, Likando and Musonda ask you the questions below.

• which sections of ‘Working with Pupils’ are you going to direct them to in order to help them?
• what advice would you give them?

Part 2

Another week, you want to hold a discussion on the quality of learning.

• do you have all the questions that you need to ask students to guide the discussion?
• is there a page or a section of ‘Working with Pupils’ which you could give students to help them to remember the discussion?

The answers to the situations in Activity 4.4 may be obvious. The advice to Likando is to consult ‘Working with Pupils’ Section 4 ‘How you can teach using the TESSA materials’ and Musonda should refer to Section 3 ‘How can you adapt TESSA materials to use in your lesson plans?’. For your session on the quality of learning, Section 6 ‘What do you think you learnt from teaching with TESSA materials?’ will provide support.

Make sure you familiarise yourself with both ‘Working with Teachers’  and ‘Working with Pupils’ to avail yourself of these extra training resources. These can be accessed from the TESSA website.

Tool 5: Recognising effective teachers

What do we mean by a ‘good’ teacher? Is this different to an ‘effective’ teacher? How do we recognise such teachers and how can Supervisors support student teachers in becoming good, effective teachers?

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• identify and reflect on the characteristics and attributes of effective teachers
• consider how the School Experience Supervisor can promote these qualities and attributes to student teachers

5.1 What makes a ‘good’ teacher?

Part of the School Experience Supervisor’s role is to help their student teachers to become good educators. It is important to be clear about the characteristics you want your student teachers to demonstrate. They will naturally show some of these characteristics, but you may have to help them to develop others.

People have different views about what characterises a ‘good teacher’. Some people say that a good teacher is one whose learners get the best results. Some say that a good teacher is one who helps learners believe that they can do things for themselves. Others say that a good teacher is someone who can manage to make learners work quietly and behave well. There are many qualities and characteristics that distinguish good teachers, but the way we define a good teacher depends on our experience of education and what we value. Different people will emphasise different characteristics over others.

At a TESSA meeting the following general points were suggested as the attributes associated with what people call a ‘good teacher’:

• a facilitator / mediator of learning
• knowledgeable and understanding of how young children learn
• able to use a child-centred approach to teaching and learning
• about to use problem-solving approaches to teaching and learning that stimulate both themselves and the children
• a good role model
• a good communicator
• knowledgeable in their subject area(s)
• able to plan and design programmes to meet learners needs
• well prepared to meet learners’ needs
• able to take account of what learners already know and can do
• able to build on their learners’ interests
• able to assess the learners’ understandings, stage and needs
• able to use appropriate resources to stimulate interest and facilitate learning
• aware and supportive of learners’ wider needs
• sees the value of and develops links with parents and the community
• aware of the need to continue to develop their own professional understanding and practice of teaching and learning
• aware of and carries out their professional roles and responsibilities conscientiously.

What we mean by the term ‘good teacher’ could be open to interpretation. What is meant by the term ‘an effective teacher’ is more specific. Effective teachers are those who help their learners to maximise their potential. With an effective teacher, learners are motivated, make good progress and become independent learners.

5.2 What research says about effective teachers

Research evidence provides a more objective insight into the qualities and attributes of effective teachers. Many studies have researched the attributes of effective teachers. Below is a summary list of some of the attributes that have been found to be important.

Effective teachers:

Maximise

5.3 Supporting student teachers’ understanding of effective teachers

Part of the supervisor role is to help student teachers to become more aware of the attributes of effective teachers. By using the TESSA teacher materials and reflecting on how they are used, student teachers become more critical of their own teaching and learn more about themselves and how to teach.

As well as analysing examples of teachers’ practice, you can help your student teachers to develop these attributes by:

• Being a role model through demonstrating the knowledge, skills and qualities of a good teacher through your own teaching.
• Showing respect for your student teachers’ knowledge, skills and values. Do not see yourself as the holder of all knowledge.
• Talking about the attributes of effective teachers. This does not mean lecturing student teachers about it. When you notice a student teacher demonstrating one of these characteristics, compliment them by naming what they are doing. For example, if you observe a student teacher walking round the room during the lesson, listening and encouraging learner talk, praise this behaviour: “I liked how you were showing respect to learners by listening to their idea”.
• Sowing the seeds of possibility and hope in your student teachers. They need to have the faith and imagination to see that it is possible to do things differently. For example, tell them about other examples of student teachers trying out more active learning methods, and use them yourself in your teaching sessions at college.

Tool 6: Recognising a good lesson

An effective teacher will plan and teach good lessons. As a Teaching Practice Supervisor, one of your key roles is to identify the features of a good lesson and what needs to be improved.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• identify the features of a good lesson
• provide strategies for working with students to help them understand what makes a good lesson

6.1 Features of a good lesson

A good lesson is one in which the learners make good progress. It is important for student teachers to understand the features of a good lesson so that they can plan for success. Teacher educators play an important role in developing student teachers’ understanding, both in theory and in practice by demonstrating the features of good lessons in their own teaching.

The following list of questions will help you to check the main characteristics of what makes a good lesson.

6.2 Supporting student teachers’ understanding of good lessons

Learning what makes good lessons is an important part of learning to teach. Although the school experience provides an opportunity for student teachers to consolidate their understanding, they can learn a great deal about this in the college or university.

Activity 6.2: Features of good lessons

This activity focuses on supporting student teachers in developing active teaching approaches in their lessons.

Look at the pictures provided and write down all the evidence there is that students are actively involved and engaged.

• which aspects of ‘recognising a good lesson’ do you see in these photographs?
• what questions would you like to ask the teacher in the picture about their planning?

You can do this activity with student teachers. It will help them to think about what ‘active teaching’ looks like in a classroom.

Tool 7: Conducting the school visit

This tool provides an overview of the key elements of the Supervisor’s visit to the student teacher during their school experience. You will consider and reflect on your own practice during the visits.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• identify the tasks associated with the School Experience visit
• plan an effective school visit

7.1 Reflecting on current visit practice

To make a school visit most successful, you need to do some activities before you visit the student teacher in school:

• inform the student teacher and school when you will be visiting
• review documents such as assessment documents
• familiarise yourself with the student teacher’s progress on the course, and read their previous reports.

This preparation sets good foundations for the visit and contributes to its success. What happens during a school visit will depend on various factors, but what a school experience prioritises in the time available will depend on what they think is important.

School visit diaries

Mrs Sakala

“The supervision of school experience is very important. It allows you to see if the teacher is prepared for the lesson, can introduce it well, has the instructional materials together and the various methods they use in teaching. I can see if they are giving the children a chance to participate in the lesson rather getting them to copy or just listen. During the school experience period I make sure I have plenty of time to spend on the visit. At that time, I will dedicate myself to it. I spend time briefing the head teacher and the student teacher on the purpose of the visit. I observe a student teacher from the beginning to the end of the lesson and then I take time to provide feedback.”

Mr Mulenga

“I feel much valued during the teaching practice, in the sense that after my mentoring there is always improvement in the subsequent lesson delivery, and a lot of cooperation between the head teachers, student teachers and their colleagues. I feel honoured to be able to help student teachers to impact positively on learners in their classrooms. I will always spend time with the head teacher and cooperating teachers when I sign the visitors’ book and check the attendance register. I ask for their feedback and tell them what the student teacher is expected to do for next time.”

Mrs Sinyangwe

“I like to spend time on the visits and see more than one lesson if I can, but sometimes this is not possible. I talk to the student teacher to find out what the lesson is about, but I don’t criticise their plan because that would affect their confidence in the lesson. After observing, it is important that I spend time helping the student teacher reflect on their teaching and identify what they need to improve. I invite the cooperating teacher to join the discussion so they feel valued and can learn about different teaching methods.”

7.2 Key aspects of the school experience visit

As well as observing the student teacher, the supervisor plays a key role in supporting the cooperating teacher and the head teacher to ensure that the student teacher develops high standards in teaching skills.

The school experience visit is likely to include five different activities:

1. contact with cooperating school staff
2. meeting with the student teacher prior to observing the lesson
3. observing the student teacher’s lesson
4. discussing the lesson with the student teacher
5. assessing the student teacher, which might be informal or formal assessment.

These activities are not as simple as they may appear, and skill is required to achieve the desired outcomes. It is therefore worthwhile having a closer look at what each involves.

1. Contact with the cooperating school staff

It is important to create a good rapport with the school staff and to gather evidence of the student teacher’s progress from them. This can be achieved by the following suggestions.

2. Meeting with the student teacher prior to observing the lesson

One aim of meeting the student teacher prior to observing the lesson is to put them at ease before you observe the lesson. You may want to find out how they are getting on in the school and what they are finding challenging. You should also look the plan, ask them what the purpose of the lesson is and what they know about the class. However, you should not criticise the student at this point or suggest improvements to their plan. It is too late for them to change it and suggesting improvements will only undermine their confidence.

3. Observing the student teacher’s lesson

During your visit, you will observe the student teacher to assess their teaching skills. If you have been able to use the TESSA materials with student teachers in the college or university, you should be able to observe your student teachers trying out different active-learning strategies in their lessons. Remind them that trying out new strategies may be difficult and that it may be easier to start with areas of the curriculum they are most familiar with. Encourage them to take small steps and make small changes. Organising pair work is easier than organising group work, for example.

You can capture your observations by making notes and taking photographs or videos with your mobile phone. These can then be reviewed with the student teacher during feedback. In your notes, record the questions you want to ask the student about the decisions they made. Remember to ask permission from the head teacher before using any recording equipment in the classroom.

You might find it useful to record your classroom observation on a 7.3 Lesson Observation Form, an example of which is provided at the end of this section. An agreed form that everyone in the college uses helps to ensure that the same type of information is collected and that key aspects of student teachers’ performance are not overlooked.

4. Discussing the lesson with the student teacher

The School Experience Supervisor plays a crucial role in encouraging student teachers to use active-learning strategies and the school in supporting the student teacher in using them. You can do this by involving the cooperating teacher in the discussion after the lesson if this is possible.

You could suggest that the student teacher completes a diary to submit to you on your next visit to school. This can then be used to reflect with the student teacher on the next visit and in seminars as well as in a follow-up session once the teaching practice period is complete.

Tool 8 of this Toolkit is dedicated to giving constructive feedback.

The post lesson observation discussion is the opportunity for you and the student to co-construct knowledge about teaching in this context. Your aim should not be to tell the student what they did wrong, but rather, through questioning and listening, help them to work out for themselves how they could have improved the lesson.

Start by asking the student to evaluate the lesson themselves.

• what went well?
• what were the pleased with?
• what did they find difficult?
• what would they do differently next time?

Listen carefully to their responses and ask follow-up questions. The student will want to know what you thought, but you will have more impact on the student if, when you get to that stage, they have already worked it out for themselves.

5. Assessment

Tool 9 ‘Assessment of student teachers’ focuses on assessment in more detail. For the formal assessment of the student teacher you should be using the college criteria and form.

Before leaving the school, you should have a brief session with the head teacher and cooperating teacher to highlight your findings and suggestions.

During the school experience you may conduct a follow-up visit that will help the student teacher to develop more teaching skills. If a different lecturer is making the next visit, make sure you talk to them about the student so that they can build on the advice you have given. When your student teachers are coming to the end of their school experience period, you could write a letter to the cooperating teacher to thank them for any assistance that they have given the student teacher.

7.3 Lesson Observation Form

An agreed template can aid observation and the collection of evidence on the student teacher’s performance. Writing notes about what happens during the lesson can help the student teacher look back at the lesson and reflect on what they did. For example, you might point out which learners were engaged or note those who were not. In this way you can present evidence of what happened in the lesson that the student may not have noticed.

School Experience Lesson Observation Form

Tool 8: Giving constructive feedback

Giving feedback is an important part of your role, but if student teachers are to benefit it requires thought and skill on the part of the Supervisor.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• reflect on your own practice when giving feedback
• use ‘best practice’ practical strategies when working with student teachers.

8.1 Reflecting on current feedback practice

The discussion with the student teacher after the lesson observation has two important purposes. Firstly, it helps them improve their teaching and secondly, it helps them learn to evaluate and reflect on their practice, which sows the seed for continuous professional development. However, not all feedback discussions achieve these two key purposes. Student teachers may reject the feedback or feel overwhelmed and unable to act on it. How the discussion and feedback is conducted is crucial to achieving the aims.

Research has provided valuable insights into conducting feedback so that it supports learning. Before considering this, consider the experience of the student teacher.

8.2 Good practice in giving feedback

Developing effective feedback practice takes time and is not learned from books alone. However, what we know about good practice can help us to reflect and change what we do over time.

Feedback is an interaction between two people and like people, all interactions are different. What a supervisor does in one instance will take account of the student’s position and characteristics. Different strategies can be deployed to meet different student needs. For example, an expert Supervisor would take very different approach to a nervous student who underestimates their capabilities than to an overconfident student who is overestimating their capabilities.

Effective feedback depends on building trust between the Supervisor and the student teacher and starts when they first meet. Developing trust can be hard if you do not know the student or see them infrequently. Trust can be developed if you approach the observation and feedback in the spirit of supporting the student rather than simply judging them. What does this look like in practice though?

Here are some good practice points to consider for an effective feedback and discussion.

• Before the lesson

1. A friendly face and reassurance from the outset of the visit are important in establishing a positive relationship.
2. Show interest in the student by asking what he/she is trying to improve and what s/he would like feedback back on.
3. Explain what you will do in the lesson (take notes, talk to learners etc) and why so that the student is not taken by surprise.

• During the lesson

4. Be as inconspicuous as possible and do not intervene in the lesson unless the situation is dangerous.
5. Gather evidence from learners by asking questions (e.g. “are you enjoying the lesson? What are you doing? What are you learning?”), looking at learners’ exercise books and asking questions that will check their understanding.

• After the lesson

6. Find a quiet private place for feedback so the student teacher is relaxed.
7. Give student teachers the chance to reflect on their own performance first. Let them say what they saw as the positive points of the lesson and what they felt needed improving.
8. Use this as a basis for discussion. The student will have an agenda and if it is not acknowledged they may not be able to take in anything you say.
9. Allow sufficient time for the discussion – 5 minutes is not enough!
10. A key focus is what the learners learned and whether they made progress. Use questions and objective evidence from the observation to challenge the student’s evaluation when it is overly positive, rather than simply telling them they are wrong. This prevents the feedback from being confrontational and personal. By jointly considering the evidence, (e.g. what is in the learners’ books, what learners were doing, what they thought about the lesson, and assessment evidence of their understanding) the student is more likely to accept that they need to change what they do.
11. Be specific in your feedback – avoid general comments such as “your classroom management was good.” For the student to learn they need to know why you thought it was good. Provide concrete examples, e.g.“It was particularly effective when you used this material, it really gained the learners’ interest as they were able to see the process you had explained in action”.
12. Avoid providing very detailed negative feedback. It might be tempting to give detailed feedback on every aspect of the lesson, but this will not help the student teacher. Receiving a lot of detailed feedback is overwhelming and can be dispiriting. More useful feedback is focused on the two or three priorities for improvements that will have the most impact on learners’ learning if they are improved.
13. Write down and agree together two or three issues that the student teacher will work on for the next lesson. It is tempting to have a long list of things, but two or three is the maximum that can be effectively dealt with at a time. If you are not going to see the student teacher after the next session, you might want to agree a way in which they can give feedback to you, through WhatsApp or by phone.
14. Ask the student teacher what they have learned from teaching the lesson and how they will incorporate it into their practice over the next few days. The student may need help in acting on feedback. The TESSA materials can provide additional support.
15. Conclude the feedback by revisiting the positive points of the lesson. Be encouraging. In particularly comment on the improvements that have been made, for example ‘It was great to see you put into practice the group work idea we discussed last time…’.
16. Be prepared to leave your notes for the student teacher, or encourage them to write their own, so they can reflect on them later.

Looking back at Activity 8.2, you can now see that Christine should have started by asking questions that brought out some of the issues. Gradually, Danny would have begun to realise for himself that the lesson was not very good. Then she should have picked out two or three things for him to concentrate on, for example planning some questions in advance that will require students to think about the demonstration, positioning students so they can see the demonstration and moving around the room during pair work.

As a School Experience Supervisor, you need to help your student teachers to focus on teaching in ways that help learners to learn. You can support your student teachers by encouraging them to discuss other ways in which the strategies could be used in their teaching, both in other topics and in other subjects. The TESSA OER will help you in this. The materials have very clear learning outcomes for teachers within each section and provide a good framework for feedback if these have been used. However, there are many other aspects of the lesson that you might want to discuss.

Tool 9: Assessment of student teachers

Many teachers, teacher educators, learners and parents think of assessment as judging only what learners have learnt at the end of a week, term or year. This summative assessment is important. However, assessment for learning or formative assessment is very important in helping student teachers know how to improve.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• plan your assessment strategy
• ensure that standards are consistent across the college
• write a report which provides the data needed by the college, but is also helpful to the student

9.1 Assessing student teachers on school experience

On your visits to your student teachers, you might complete an assessment form. The grading can differ from one institution to another, but the following list provides suggestions that you may want to consider in your assessment.

Student Teacher’s Attributes

• professional (e.g. appearance, time keeping, commitment, organisation)
• attitudes (e.g. enthusiasm, respectful of all learners)
• self-awareness and ability to evaluate
• self presentation? ie. Dress code – doesn’t need to be in elegant or expensive clothing

Lesson Preparation and Planning

• detail in the lesson plan
• accuracy, adequacy and sequencing of subject content
• objectives appropriate to the class
• coherent lesson design involving appropriate active learning strategies that help learners to achieve the learning objectives and outcomes
• preparation and selection of appropriate materials and resources

Lesson Presentation and Classroom Management (See Tool 6: Recognising a good lesson section in the Toolkit)

• relevant, interesting and motivational introduction
• logical and sequential development of lesson
• stimulates / interests the learners
• knowledge of subject and pedagogy
• implementation of lesson plan (flexibility)
• knowledge of the learners and their individual differences
• competency at using resources e.g. the chalkboard
• responses to learners’ behaviour
• use of voice
• learner participation in the lesson e.g. by asking questions, debating and discussion
• classroom management and control
• command of language (accurate, fluent and to the point)
• questioning (good quality, well distributed among the learners)
• learner-centred approach (lots of relevant activities)
• use of instructional materials
• learning consolidation through summary and conclusion

Evaluation

• evaluation of learners’ learning
• Analysis of lesson delivery against lesson objectives

Tools 5 and 6 examine the features of an effective teacher and good lessons. It would be unrealistic to expect student teachers to demonstrate this level of expertise – they are novices and at the beginning of learning to teach. It is therefore important to have realistic expectations of student teachers and identify minimum standards required in the different areas.

Tool 10: Improving your own teaching

If student teachers are to understand active learning in practice, they need to experience it. This is why you need to model the sort of teaching approaches that you are asking students to use. This means that in your lectures, seminars and workshops for pre-service or in-service teachers, you need to ensure that the participants are actively engaged. Most of the features of a good lesson listed in Tool 5 can be applied to your work with students.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• become more effective in modelling active teaching approaches
• consider how the TESSA OER can support your own teaching
• plan for using an active teaching and learning approach in your own teaching

10.1 Planning a teaching session

When you plan a teaching session you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• What is the purpose of the session?
• Who will be attending the session and what is their previous experience?
• What strategies will I use to achieve the chosen purpose(s)?
• How will I engage the participants?
• How will I incorporate opportunities for them to discuss the topic matter?
• What activities will I ask them to do?
• How will I know whether the objectives of the session have been met?

The case study below shows how one lecturer organised group work in her teaching session. Read the case study before doing Activity 10.1.

Mrs Kasonso

“I use the case studies in the TESSA module sections extensively. They are like a film of a real activity in the classroom, showing how the key point can be enacted in practice. It really speaks to the teacher. I use the case studies a lot in my seminars. We use them as starting points for discussions or for brainstorming strategies to teach in different ways.”

Mr Lungu

“I have used some case studies as the starting point for drama. We have even acted the lesson described in the case study as a starting point for microteaching.”

Miss Phiri

“I find it very important to make sure there is some time available for student teachers to ask any questions they have about anything, and particularly the reflective reports and the plenary discussion. I am also very aware that the environment during the seminar is relaxed so that all can express themselves and ask these questions. I have found quite a few ideas in the Life Skills section of TESSA. The materials help to refresh my memory and give me some practical ideas which are easily adapted to working with my student teachers.”

Tool 11: Counselling student teachers

Student teachers are likely to meet difficulties that can be divided into two broad categories: micro-level difficulties that are linked with teaching and the level of competence of the student teacher and macro-level difficulties that are linked with the student teacher’s surroundings and his/her work conditions.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• highlight some of the issues raised by student teachers that you might help them with
• provide some practical strategies to use to support student teachers.

11.1 Dealing with micro-level difficulties

It might appear at first glance that although support can be provided for micro-level difficulties, little can be done to help to resolve macro-level difficulties. This is not necessarily so.

Examples of micro-level difficulties include:

• lack of teaching strategies
• inadequacy to develop locally oriented or culturally friendly teaching materials
• lack of confidence with improvisation of resources
• lack of mastery of subject content
• lack of ICT skills
• learners’ lack of cooperation during activity methods of teaching
• the student teacher’s lack of self-motivation.

Many School Experience Supervisors have had some experience of these situations and have found some solutions which they have shared among themselves to increase their collection of tools to support their students.

Mr Mubita

“My key function as School Experience Supervisor is to improve classroom practice and some of the micro-level difficulties linked with classroom practice, for example the lack of teaching strategies. I have found that the ideas contained in the Toolkit help me to scaffold the student teacher development in using an increasing number of teaching strategies – and I make sure that each of my students works on one teaching strategy at a time.”

Mrs Kasonso

“The case studies used in the section of the modules provide guidance and ideas on some of the difficulties met by student teachers. One area we have not explored yet is how to bridge the gaps in students’ subject knowledge. I have found what I would call the supporting resources that provide background information and/or subject knowledge for teachers and that are clearly indicated by a small symbol most helpful. Did you know there are some on verbs and adverbs, electricity, the heart rate? Really all sorts and it is worth looking at these. Each TESSA unit has up to six resources to support the teacher.”

Mr Lungu

“Some of these provide support for techniques. So, yes, look them up! Also, don’t forget the Key Resources are extremely useful and can really trigger the imagination. For example, the two key resources ‘Being a resourceful teacher in challenging conditions’ and ‘Using the local community/environment as a resource’ can most certainly help student teachers who have difficulties in developing locally oriented or culturally friendly teaching materials, or who lack confidence in improvising with resources. You may want to borrow one of the activities I do during one of my face-to-face seminars on ‘How can you use this in your teaching?’. I bring in all sorts of local and usual items as well as photos of the local environment. We brainstorm ideas and students select a few of these to try in micro-teaching sessions.”

Mrs Banda

“Two points we have not mentioned. First how to get the learners to appreciate a different way of working? I would say, just as we introduce our students progressively to new methods, they need to explain to their learners, albeit briefly, that today we are going to try a new way of doing things and introduce things progressively. And the last point, ICT skills; I am self-taught, but I know some of my students are diffident. I have brought my laptop to face-to-face seminars. In pairs, students go and try to access the site and/or resources. If they need help, another student who is computer literate goes and supports them.”

11.2 Dealing with macro-level difficulties

Tool 12: Being a reflective practitioner

The most effective teachers are those who reflect on their work and are self-critical. Being self-critical does not mean always finding fault with yourself; it means analysing your teaching and thinking about what went well, what did not go so well, and why.

After using this Tool you will be able to:

• provide an audit that will help you become aware of the active learning methods you are using in your teaching and identify how you develop this
• reflect on your own work and the impact of your teaching on your students
• provide strategies to help you support student teachers’ reflection.

12.1 Auditing teaching methods

It can be difficult to know how to begin to reflect on and make changes to your teaching. An audit tool can provide this first step.

12.2 Being a reflective teacher educator

Being a reflective practitioner involves asking yourself ‘why’ questions. Before you can help others to become reflective practitioners, you have to be one yourself. In the first instance this means being aware of the impact you are having on students in your classes. If they are finding it difficult to stay awake in your class, think about how you could make the topic more engaging. If a several students submit an assignment that scores low marks, ask yourself how you could have explained the topic better.

Being reflective is one of the most effective ways for any professional to improve their practice. Since teachers spend most of the time on their own with their students, it is important that they think about their own practice, because they will not get direct feedback unless someone observes them teach. Once qualified, this is rare. It is also unlikely that you have ever been formally observed working with students.

12.3 Supporting student teachers’ reflection

Helping student teachers to become reflective practitioners is an important part of the teacher educator’s role, but how can this be achieved? Student teachers simply selecting the relevant TESSA sections and trying out the activities in their classrooms is not enough to bring about real improvement. Student teachers need further support to help them to understand and reflect fully on their classroom experiences with different sorts of activities. This could be through sharing their experiences:

• in seminars or tutorials
• in discussions with mentor/supervisors/head teachers/inspectors
• through communication with a tutor by email
• through discussions with peers by email, mobile or text messages.

Student teachers can be helped to reflect constructively by sharing both good and bad experiences in a non-threatening way. Describing is a good starting point for reflection, but teachers also need to be encouraged to think about why things happened the way they did, and what they will take from this experience into their lessons next time. The last question in Activity 12.2 gave you a few ideas on how to invite students to reflect. Let’s explore further your role in helping student teachers to develop reflection.

Remember it is important to scaffold the student teacher’s progress through the process of raising awareness, planning for use, using and reflecting on use of a new learning and teaching strategy. This will lead to the student teacher gaining independence and developing his/her own use of some aspects of the TESSA resources as illustrated in Aisha’s case study below.

Tool 8 focuses on the discussion and feedback that follows observing a student teacher’s lesson on a school experience visit. This is a good opportunity to help them reflect. By asking ‘why’ questions you can prompt them to reflect on the reasons behind their planning and teaching decisions. ‘How could you…’ and ‘What if….’ questions prompt thinking about alternative approaches. Presenting evidence from the lesson, for example the number of learners engaged in a particular activity or assessment evidence, is another way to get students to think critically about their teaching.

12.4 Teaching Methods Audit

Other useful resources

OER Africa website for more freely available open educational resources, online: http://www.oerafrica.org/

OER at AVU (African Virtual University) for more freely available open educational resources, online: http://oer.avu.org/

Cain, M. (2012) ‘Beliefs about classroom practice: a study of primary teacher trainees in Trinidad and Tobago, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 2, no. 3; Februrary 2012, online: http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_3_February_2012/14.pdf

Table of Toolkit activities

Table of Toolkit case studies

The original toolkit was designed and written by:

Michele Deane, The Open University UK; Afiniki Innocent, NTI Staff School, Nigeria; Professor M.I. Junaid, NCCE, Nigeria; Chief Peter C. Kalu, NTI, Nigeria; Dr Ahmad Muhammad Miftah, Federal College of Education Zaria, Nigeria; Rhiannon Moore, The Open University UK; T. Ayuba Solomon, NTI, Nigeria; Freda Wolfenden, The Open University UK; Dr Dele Yaya, NTI, Nigeria; Dr Abdulkareem Yunusa, NCCE, Nigeria.

This Zambian version of the toolkit was adapted from the original by:

Kris Stutchbury (The Open University, TESSA); Sandra Amos (The Open University, TESSA); Peter Sinyangwe (CSS, TESSA); Mr. Kenneth M. Likando (Senior Education Officer – TESS, Colleges); Mr David Shabukali (Senior Curriculum Specialist – CDC, Teacher Education); representatives from the Colleges of Education: Charles Lwanga, Chipata, David Livingstone, Kasama, Kitwe, Malcom Moffat, Mansa, Mongu, Mufulira, Solwezi, St. Mary’s; the Zambia Institute of Special Education (ZAMISE), and Chalimbana University.

With support from Dr. Grace C. Chilekwa (Director – TESS), Ms. Esvah Chizambe (Assistant Director – Teacher Education) and the Ministry of General Education.

This is an Open Educational Resource (OER). This work was funded by the Alan and Nesta Ferguson Foundation. We welcome feedback from those who read and make use of the Toolkit.

TESSA is a research and development programme engaged in teacher education and was established in 2005 by The Open University UK.

For more information about the TESSA programme see: www.tessafrica.net

Acknowledgements

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. You are free to use, adapt and re-use this material as long as you credit this source appropriately and license under the same terms. For more information visit: https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 4.0/

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. If any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.