Peer Evaluation

Hamburg

3.1.	Feedback

3.2.	Peer Evaluation	3.2.1.	Hamburg	a)	Peer Evaluation "Landesinstitut"
				b)	Form Agreements
				c)	Form Schedule
				d)	Daten Hospitationen
				e)	Form Role-Play Scenario
				f)	Form Peer Evaluation
		3.2.2.	Kaunas
		3.2.3.	Reykjavik
		3.2.4.	Rovaniemi
		3.2.5.	Rzeszow

3.3.	Diary
3.4.	Photo Evaluation
3.5.	Diverse

Peer Evaluation

(course with 15 colleagues of our school, offered by “Landesinstitut Hamburg ” (Further Education of Teachers), Harald Boden, Hans-Werner Schäfer

Objective: involving more interested colleagues of our school in the evaluation process, enabling them to organise peer evaluation, to carry it out, to give feed back professionally

Method: role-play, discussion, peer evaluation, feedback

When/Who/Where: several dates in the school-term 2005/2006 – course with 15 colleagues of Staatliche Handelsschule mit Wirtschaftsgymnasium “Am Lämmermarkt”, Hamburg , and two experts from the “Landesinstitut Hamburg ”HH Hambur

Description:

During our work on SEFES the participating teachers of our school had already attended each other’s lessons various times, taken notes, talked about it afterwards and presented it at our meetings. We noticed that a lot of colleagues got interested in it.

In Hamburg further education for teachers has now become mandatory and at our school we decided to focus on several aspects which would improve our school and to attend courses accordingly. Based on our experience with SEFES evaluation has become one of these aspects so that 15 colleagues signed in for a course on peer evaluation, offered by Harald Boden and Hans-Werner Schäfer who are experts in this field.

The whole course was very comprehensive and I would just like to pick out a few hints/methods which could be very useful when introducing and carrying out peer evaluation at school:

Peer evaluation should possibly involve three persons: one who teaches, one who gives feedback, one who observes the feedback process.
The feedback process can be practised in a role-play beforehand in accordance with feedback and communication rules which should be known to all participants.
Form sheets on agreements and organisation of the peer evaluation can make it more concrete.

These were among others points which we took into account before doing our peer evaluations at school, i.e. we got together in groups of three, each of us deciding what we wanted to be observed in our lessons, filling in the form sheets as for the agreements and the concrete schedule. We also did the role-play in order to practise the different roles and to get used to the feedback and communication rules. Only then did we carry out the peer evaluation and reflected on it in the course.

Results:

Although I think most of my colleagues shared my experience, I would like to talk for myself. I felt well prepared for the peer evaluation and regarded it as a positive experience, as the feedback and communication rules gave me some security. The role-play had made me more sensitive as for what to pay attention to in the different roles.

The threat of school inspectors coming to our school wanting to attend some lessons is looming on the horizon, but it doesn’t frighten me at all, as I feel experienced and being able to ask for example for a third person to attend the lesson and the feedback afterwards. Furthermore I would want feedback and communication rules to be observed.

Asking a colleague to come to his/her lesson or vice versa isn’t such a big deal any more, as at least some of us have got used to it.

Most important to me, however, is that I have learnt so much about my own teaching methods by being in the passive role of the observer of a colleague and thus in a similar position as the students. I had lost track a bit of the notion how important it is to make all students do something instead of just sitting there and mostly listening to others. I now try to find more activating methods in my lessons.

Due to our tight time-tables it is very difficult to make sure that there are always three people, one who teaches and two observers and on top of that to find the time for feedback afterwards. As we feel quite confident with our colleagues, it is often not necessary to have somebody to supervise the feedback. Nevertheless it can be helpful, if you are evaluated by someone who you don’t really trust, e.g. a headmaster or inspector.

It was fine to do the role-play in our course, but it would be difficult in the normal daily routine of a school to find time to integrate it, maybe it would be useful to offer it to interested colleagues as further education for which you get some time off or find a similar solution that motivates the colleagues.

Development/Consequences:

The consequences have mostly been mentioned under the heading results. What I would like to add though, is that I and a lot of my colleagues feel motivated to go on with peer evaluation.

Forms:

- agreements

- schedule

- feedback rules

- role-play procedure

- role-play scenario

- peer evaluation