Is peer observation of teaching really worth doing?

Effective developmental peer observation of teaching brings with it many benefits. The developmental nature of peer observation may be particularly useful for established staff, but it is widely recognised to be beneficial whatever your level of teaching experience.

Among the benefits ascribed to peer observation of teaching are:

• It can be reassuring and confidence-building to receive positive feedback from a peer who has observed you in action;
• Observing a colleague teach can be a good way to gather new ideas for your own teaching, and/or to start you thinking more critically about how you teach;
• Peer observation of teaching can provide a useful tool to share and evaluate teaching innovations, and highlight good teaching practice;
• Constructive feedback amongst peers can increase trust and help build positive working relationships;
• It can help pinpoint the precise nature of problems and identify means of addressing these, plus reveal hidden teaching behaviours and provide space to plan strategies to eliminate negative behaviour patterns (for example some teachers unintentionally overuse a 'pet' phrase or filler, such as 'actually', 'right', or 'ok');
• Peer observation of teaching raises the profile of teaching and learning and encourages colleagues to debate and engage in dialogue about teaching and share good practice informally, allowing for the cross-fertilisation of ideas and approaches;
• Peer observation provides an opportunity to record and report teaching achievements for the purposes of promotion or other reward.