Abstract

Observation of teaching in general colleges of Further Education is driven by a culture of performativity and auditing (Ball, 2017; O’Leary, 2020). This has led to an environment of high-distrust and risk-averse teaching (Donovan, 2019), where teachers are driven towards conformity to do what they are told works, suspending their own judgement (Mockler, 2011; Biesta, 2014).

This thesis investigates the impact of using a model of self and peer observation to support teachers in their second year of a CertED/PGCE teacher education course (and later in the study, two qualified teachers) to explore and develop their practice. It considers the role of pedagogical conversations in the development of teacher confidence and agency, asking teachers to adopt a diffractive analysis as an alternative to reflection when talking about their own and each other’s teaching.

Thirteen trainee teachers and two qualified teachers told their stories through questionnaires, blogs and semi-structured interviews, recounting their experiences of participating in the study. Their narratives were interpreted using a reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) and read diffractively through concepts of trust and distrust (Donovan, 2019).

The findings indicate a disconnect between the theoretical concept of agency and the lived experiences of the participants, for whom agency is often interpreted at the micro level of classroom autonomy. The study demonstrates the necessity for (re)building trust with and amongst teachers in order for positive changes to be enacted. For those teachers that employed a diffractive analysis, there is disruption to the pattern of feedback as critique, leading to a development of self-awareness in the classroom and the noticing of the effect of differences in practices. The thesis concludes by discussing the potential impact of adopting a less performative dominated observation model, identifying it as a step to rebuilding trust and developing the optimism expressed by the participants, having been given a “safe space” to take risks.