The Opinions of Hong Kong Educators on Classroom Observation as a Practice of Staff Development and Appraisal

The present study aimed at understanding the opinions of Hong Kong educators on classroom observation as a practice of staff development and appraisal. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 2,400 educators in summer 1997. About half of the respondents indicated that they practiced classroom observation in their schools. Most of them indicated that the primary objective of the observation was staff development instead of staff appraisal. However, the frequency and patterns they reported suggest that the observation was mainly done by administrators instead peers. School type and rank effects were found in the educators’ perception and opinions on classroom observation. Compared to secondary and special school educators, primary school teachers were less likely to welcome observers and not to have observation in their schools. Teachers were more likely than principals to perceive that classroom observation was primarily for appraisal than for staff development. Disregarding school types and ranks, all the respondents indicated that they wished for a model of peer observation and coaching. The implications of the results on the practice were discussed with reference to the need of staff development and appraisal. CLASSROOM OBSERVATION IN HONG KONG 3 The Opinions of Hong Kong Educators on Classroom Observation as a Practice of Staff Development and Appraisal A motivated and competent teaching workforce is a key to the delivery of quality education in schools. To have an effective teaching cadre, we cannot only rely on the recruitment mechanism or the training programs in Teachers’ College. In an ever changing world which requires ceaseless adaptation from people, it is necessary for teachers to keep up with continuous learning. Staff development for teachers is, therefore, an indispensable component in quality education. To ensure teachers’ competence and conscientiousness, staff appraisal is another equally essential mechanism. In both staff development and appraisal, classroom observation plays an important role. Peer observation in classroom has been widely recognized as a tool to improve teaching quality among teachers. Gottesman and Jennings (1994) criticize that staff development for teachers are usually one-shot deal that does not include on-site continual coaching and refresher courses in skills. As a result, what teachers learn from staff development workshop does not necessarily transfer to actual practice in classroom. However, peer observation or coaching can help rewrite this story. Joyce and Showers (1983) found that peer observation or coaching had tremendous effect on transfer. In their study, all the teachers received three months of training in a specific skill. Half the group also received peer coaching back at the school site as they implemented the skill. The other half did not receive the coaching. Results show that 75% of those who received coaching transferred the skill appropriately to the classroom. In the group that was not coached, only 15% transferred it to the classroom. Joyce and Showers’ study was repeatedly replicated by other researchers CLASSROOM OBSERVATION IN HONG KONG 4 (Sparks, 1988; Singh & Shifflette, 1996). In a study of staff development program, Sparks (1988) examined three different types of training: (1) workshops only, (2) workshops plus peer coaching, or (3) workshop plus trainer coaching. She found that the second type had the best result. In her study, peer observation was even more effective than trainer-provided coaching in boosting workshop effectiveness. In another study to understand the improvement of marginal or incompetent teachers, Singh & Shifflette (1996) also found that the most promising ways of professional development were those that engaged teachers in peer coaching and sharing, instead of one-shot workshop with cookbook approach to skill training. There are numerous ways of data gathering for staff appraisal. Nevertheless, classroom observation still occupies a prominent position. There are two distinct trends in appraisal: one for the sake of accountability and one for development and improvement purposes. This distinction corresponds to that between summative and formative evaluation. Summative evaluation is concerned with judging teachers’ performance at a given point of time whereas formative evaluation is concerned with helping teachers develop. In the recent years, there are strong voices to bring together both staff development and performance review in appraisal (McLaughlin, 1986, Poster & Poster, 1993). No matter appraisal is for staff development or performance review, classroom observation is still an effective vehicle. Classroom observation can be geared to individual development and be a vehicle for monitoring the achievement of school objectives as well (Bollington, Hopkins, & West, 1990). However, classroom observation does not seem to be welcome by a lot of teachers. Gottesman and Jennings (1994) comment that classrooms are very isolated places. There is subtle resistance from teachers against having another adult in their classrooms. For many teachers, isolation is a guarantee for job security. Thomas CLASSROOM OBSERVATION IN HONG KONG 5 (1992) also points out that having another adult in classrooms are usually perceived as intrusion instead of support. The resistance to the practice of classroom observation makes an intriguing contrast to the recognition that observation is an integral part of both staff development and appraisal. There is a need to understand how educators perceive classroom observation so that we could have well-informed planning regarding the practice of classroom observation. In the recent years, the Hong Kong government launches a large number of innovative policies in education. School management initiative (SMI) is one of these innovations. Teacher appraisal is an important component in school management. According to the guidelines given by the School Management Initiative Section of the Education Department in Hong Kong (1998), lesson observation is included as one of the appraisal methods. However, before we can make use of classroom observation effectively, we need to know more about the phenomenon in concern. Specifically, the present investigation addressed the following questions: 1. How do teachers and administrators view the existing practice of classroom observation? How do they perceive its frequency, current objectives, and patterns of operation? 2. What do teachers and administrators expect from ideal practice of classroom observation? What would be their ideal frequency, objectives, and patterns of operation? Are there any discrepancies between the perceived and ideal frequency, objectives, and patterns of classroom observation? 3. How do teachers and administrators perceive the difficulties that undermine the practice of classroom observation? 4. Are educators from different school settings and ranks different in their perception and opinions on classroom observation? CLASSROOM OBSERVATION IN HONG KONG 6