This qualitative study explores six English teachers’ perceptions regarding teaching collaboration. In open-ended interviews, the teachers responded to questions regarding the extent to which they were able to engage in meaningful collaboration. The study’s focus was to gain insight on the most valuable dimensions of informal and formal collaborative activities. The outcome of the study indicated that although many teachers engage in self-motivated collaborative activities, they wished to build on their experiences in different ways, incorporating more formal activities and professional development opportunities. Peer observations, feedback and discussions were found to be effective means of increasing teachers’ repertoire of teaching skills. The teachers in this study perceived collaboration as a positive and productive dimension of both teaching and learning. A broader implication of the study’s results is that these teachers’ perceptions reflected a bottom-up approach to school development addressing teachers’ actual concerns, rather than a top-down approach as imposed by the school administration.

This dissertation comprises two manuscripts formatted for publication, preceded by a brief introduction to the dissertation project. The first manuscript addresses the recent history and development of peer observation in the United States and synthesizes the body available peer observation scholarship. Five fundamental elements of peer observation (design, community, control, training, reflection) are put forth as a nexus at which meaningful and formative peer observation can be undertaken. A selection of empirically based methods for conducting peer observation is also presented. The second manuscript is a mixed-methods descriptive study of the five fundamentals of peer observation. Three academic departments at a large land-grant university were identified, via questionnaire, as having programs of peer observation that aligned with attributes of the five fundamentals. These academic departments participated in individual case studies designed to bring-about a description of the five fundamentals as they were and were not manifest in authentic university/college contexts. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to measure the quantity, quality, and types of collaboration amongst K-12 music teachers in the state of Iowa. Survey responses (N = 97) were analyzed and grouped according to teacher characteristics. This sample of music educators reported the least collaboration on post-instruction, evaluative activity, such as reviewing assessments, data collection and analysis, and peer-observation. Respondents rated other parts of the collaborative process, such as group dialogue, decision-making, and action-taking, more highly. Teachers with a higher level of education reported more collaboration than less educated counterparts, while band teachers reported lower levels of collaboration quality compared to their choral and general music peers. Respondents also indicated that collaboration tends to increase with job continuity, but declines somewhat after teachers reach 25 years in the same school. Middle school teachers indicated the highest levels of collaboration, while K-12 teachers reported the lowest. Further, those teaching in larger schools recorded higher levels of collaboration than their smaller school colleagues. These results suggest that this group of K-12 music teachers in Iowa engage in moderate levels of collaborative activity overall and moderate to low levels of evaluative activity. Demographic results also reveal strengths and weaknesses of various subgroups’ collaborative habits. Researchers have found that high quality teacher collaboration improves teaching and learning outcomes. These results have implications for administrators providing professional development, preservice teacher educators, professional organizations, and current practitioners in the field who desire to implement more and higher quality collaboration for the purpose of instructional improvement.

Studiens syfte var att bidra med kunskaper kring kollegial observation av nätbaserad undervisning genom att beskriva och analysera hur detta har använts och upplevts vid Umeå universitet. Data samlades in genom intervjuer med 6 universitetslärare som deltog i en vidareutbildning om kollegial observation på nätet. En kvalitativ analys genomfördes och resultaten visar att kollegial observation på nätet i huvudsak upplevdes som något positivt. Samtliga deltagare var positiva till kollegial observation av nätbaserade kurser och de tyckte att metoden uppmuntrade reflektion och lärande. Resultatet visade också att lärarna till stor utsträckning utgick i från egna erfarenheter när de bedömde kollegornas undervisning. Flera av informanterna upplevde rollen som observatör som mer givande än när rollen var att bli observerad. Hinder för kollegial observation upplevdes till stor del bero på organisation, tidsbrist och oförstående kollegor. Att känna trygghet med kollegan visade sig vara av central vikt för att överhuvudtaget vilja använda kollegial observation i nätbaserad undervisning.

Professional development has been recognized as one of the most promising and powerful routes to teachers’ professional growth and job satisfaction, yet current research challenges many of the traditional approaches widely used today. As an alternative, research has advocated for contextually anchored and collaborative models of professional development. Before any judgments on the relative power and usefulness of these approaches can be made, descriptions of how and where these models might work are necessary. In this thesis I describe a study that examines the viability of peer observation as a form of job-embedded professional learning for secondary teachers. A qualitative design was employed to capture and communicate the experiences of five teachers as they participated in peer observation of teaching. Data collection techniques included: (a) individual interviews before and after participation in the study, (b) group interviews during the peer observation cycles (pre- and post-observation meetings and debriefing sessions), and (c) written artifacts in the form of participant observation records and a researcher log. Most of the previous research investigating the effectiveness of peer observation as a form of professional development has been conducted at the post-secondary level. The experiences of the teachers in this study support those findings and extend them to the secondary level. Although the approach taken by the two groups were significantly different, peer observation was found to promote professional growth by promoting: (a) pedagogical knowledge; (b) professional dialogue; (c) skill development, specifically inquiry skills and reflective practice; (d) contextualized learning; and (e) collegiality and collaboration. This study contributes to our understanding of the potential for professional growth resulting from participation in peer observation. It also contributes to the body of Canadian educational research on professional development while providing empirical research relating to the effectiveness of peer observation at the secondary level. Finally, this study makes recommendations for future research addressing the role of the facilitator and some of the challenges and barriers teachers may experience during the peer observation process. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-21 16:22:15.25

abstract: In this dissertation I employed a culminating cycle of action research following two earlier ones to facilitate the creation of a professional learning community (PLC). My research took place at an elementary school in an urban area of the American southwest. As principal of this school I had initiated the policies and procedures that were often recommended to create PLCs. However, observations of teachers in PLC meetings indicated that conversations focused on logistical planning issues, rather than on the in-depth pedagogical discussions that characterize high functioning PLCs. To address this problem I introduced a form of peer observation into the PLC meeting. This was achieved by showing short video recordings of teachers in their classrooms. I used a mixed methods approach to investigate how this innovation influenced three constructs associated with PLC meetings: professional learning, the sharing of tacit teaching knowledge, and collaboration in the PLC. Quantitative data consisted of responses to a survey given as a pre-, post-, and retrospective pre-test. Results showed significant gains for all three constructs between the retrospective pre-test and the post-test, but no significant gain between the pre- and post-test. Analysis of qualitative data produced four assertions. First, the process of peer observation during a PLC meeting benefitted the personal learning of teachers. Second, peer observation benefitted teacher teams' abilities to demonstrate the critical behaviors of a true PLC. Third, the process of facilitating peer observation through video recordings evoked negative emotions. Fourth, the degree to which teachers were able to learn from a video was influenced by their perceptions of the video's authenticity and similarity to their own classrooms. In the discussion, complementarity of the quantitative and qualitative data was described and results were explained in terms of previous research and established theory. Additionally, practical lessons that were learned, limitations, and research implications were described. In a concluding section, I discussed my personal learning regarding leadership, innovation, and action research; the purpose of the doctorate in education; and strengthening connections between research and practitioners. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2015

abstract: The United States is facing an unprecedented teacher shortage. With many studies estimating that 17-33% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years of starting a career, something needs to change to keep new teachers in the classroom. This study evaluates the effectiveness of peer observation as a learning tool to supplement the training of preservice teachers on an elementary campus. Observational learning theory and adult learning theory created the lens through which peer observations were implemented and evaluated in this study. Specifically, this study aimed to answer the following research questions: (a) How do conversations about teaching practices evolve over time between the preservice teacher participant and the researcher within the context of discussions following peer observations? and (b) How do peer observations influence the teaching practices of preservice teachers? This study found that the preservice teachers who participated in the peer observation intervention improved in their teaching practices over the course of the semester, valued the experience of peer observation visits, and increased their ability to talk about teaching and learning in more sophisticated and complex terms. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2016

The present study primarily aims to explore the English language (EL) teachers’ current practices and their experiences of teacher evaluation, and how these are related to the introduction of peer observation of teaching (POT) in the Malaysian university system. Then, it aims to explore the possibilities and challenges faced by Malaysian universities in introducing peer observation. The participants of the study were determined by 2 stages of the research design. In Stage 1, from 10 different universities around Malaysia, 72 teachers completed the online questionnaire and eight semi-structured interview were conducted. In Stage 2, at the university where the study was conducted, 24 participants completed the after-workshop questionnaire and ten observations as well as eight semi-structured interview were carried out. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS descriptive statistics while qualitative data were transcribed and then analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings on teacher evaluation revealed that there was teacher evaluation in place at every university involved in the survey. However, there seemed to be some major shortcomings that need to be addressed. Shortcomings such as teachers were not reminded of the real purposes of each evaluation undertaken, some evaluations were wasted because they were not studied, and teachers were not given ownership in setting out the suitable methods for evaluation. The findings on peer observation revealed that teachers had different understanding about it. Through the intervention study, it was discovered that the tone of the discussion between teachers were sometimes calm and celebrating, whilst some were critical and judgemental. The findings also showed that introduction of peer observation may be possible at the university under study provided the purposes were for developmental. However, teachers still had the feeling of nervousness and being judgemental about the whole process because of the common top-down approach. The findings from the study have provided several implications for the improvement of the existing EL teacher evaluation in particular, as well as evaluation of teachers of other subjects in general. In addition, the findings have also provided several implications for the introduction of peer observation especially to the university managements and the teachers in particular. The current study also contributes to knowledge by proposing: i) a model for teacher evaluation, and ii) one plan for the procedure of peer observation of teaching; which can be adjusted according to the suitability of any given context.

This study investigated how educators experience the peer observation component of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS), a quality and performance management system that was introduced into South African schools in 2005. The extent to which the Integrated Quality Management System has contributed to the development of schools in their entirety has been largely unchartered. The objective of this dissertation was to investigate the perceived experiences of educators concerning the peer observation component of the Integrated Quality Management System. A qualitative research paradigm was employed in order to gather data for this study. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with educators; data collected from the interviews was compared and integrated with data collected from the documentsthat were studied. The data gathered was analyzed using the theory of collegiality in order to explore how educators experience peer observation as a component of the IQMS during its implementationas well as what impact it had on collegiality The findings revealed that teachers are given an opportunity to select their peers during peer observation implementation which, however, leads to an inconsistent and subjective allocation and rating of scores in order to get a 1% pay progression. The study found that the peer observation part of the IQMS is an effective tool for teachers‟ development as it helps them identify areas that need to be developed in order to improve on their teaching practice. The study‟s findings also revealed that if favourable conditions for peer observation are created, peer observation enhances collegiality among teachers. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted