Duke’s Secondary School is in Ashington, Northumberland has approximately 80 teachers and 1,000 pupils. It was the first school to adopt ReflectiveTeacher, at the start of the 2021-22 academic year, having played a key role in its development.
The challenge
Over the last few years, Duke’s Secondary School has transitioned from the traditional systems of teacher observations and learning walks to a system of reflective practice. The aim has been to develop methods of facilitating teacher development and sharing best practice, without ‘judging’ teachers.
“We wanted to move away from ‘old-school’ monitoring, where we did an observation, went away to write up what we saw and then organise a feedback session with the teacher,” says Rachel Chima, Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning. “We found it wasn’t having an impact on anything. Instead of monitoring the quality of teaching, we wanted to start developing the quality.”
That meant collaboratively focusing on specific areas for improvement, rather than judging teachers on a one-off lesson, as well as getting everyone involved in the process.
However, she and the school Principal, Russ Atkinson, also realised that moving to a more reflective approach would be challenging without quick and simple ways of recording drop-ins and generating developmental feedback. “At the time, we had observations recorded on various documents and spreadsheets,” says Rachel. “It was inefficient and hard to find the information you needed when you needed it.”
Instead, the school was looking for a simple, easy way of recording “everything in one place” that would support the vision and make it possible to implement.
The solution
This is when Duke’s first started having conversations with Beezapps, the developers of what became ReflectiveTeacher. They collaborated to build a cloud-hosted software system that makes it possible to record lesson drop-ins. It uses the eight strands of the school’s specific teaching and learning policy as a focus and generates immediate reflective feedback.
“We call that policy our ‘DNA’,” says Rachel. “The strands include collaboration, resilience, reflection and so on, and we have specific statements about what each one should look like in the classroom. In effect, it’s our learning walk ‘crib sheet’.”
Beezapps created the ReflectiveTeacher software to match this structure, making it quick and simple for all teachers to complete a drop in, and to provide an opportunity for reflection on the various DNA strands, using a mobile device.
After a year of development, it was ready to roll out at the start of the 2021-22 academic year, following a launch event the previous term where it was introduced to all staff.
The benefits
The adoption of ReflectiveTeacher has made a significant positive impact on teaching and learning throughout the school, has helped to raise standards overall, and has allowed everyone to share best practice, says Rachel.
Here are some of the specific benefits:
“Overall,” says Rachel, “I feel like teaching and learning at Duke’s has moved from an era of black and white to colour. The conversations we’re having and the sharing of best practice have completely changed for the better.”
She adds: “If a school wants to improve outcomes, improve workload and improve morale, this a very, very effective way of doing it. For us, ReflectiveTeacher just works. It’s now part of the heart and soul of our teaching and learning.”
If you’d like to find out more about how ReflectiveTeacher can support your school’s teaching and learning, get in touch now.