Observing Teachers: Three Approaches to In-Service Training and Development

Observation is a fundamental, yet often disregarded, tool in inservice work with teachers. This paper presents three ways of approaching the observer-teacher relationship and examines how these approaches can be integrated into a hierarchy of teacher training and development. In the Supervisory Approach, the observer functions as an arbitrator, commenting on and evaluating the teacher's performance in terms of fixed criteria, both implicit and explicit. In the Alternatives Approach, the observer offers a series of alternatives to observed activities, thus helping the teacher to shape his/her own criteria. And, finally, in the Non-Directive Approach, drawn from the work of Rogers, the observer provides a reflection and integration of the teacher's own goals and performance. In this article, I would like to address the question of how observation of teachers, by supervisors and colleagues, can provide a basis for in-service training and development. I will propose three possible approaches to observation and discuss how they may be integrated in a general program of on-the-job observation. I am starting from the assumption that the way in which both the observer and the teacher approach observation, the steps which they take to implement that approach, and the follow-up are the cornerstones of successful in-service work and, thus, of developing capable and creative teachers. 1. Training versus Development In considering the two terms, teacher training and teacher development, certain distinctions emerge. Training deals with building specific teaching skills: how to sequence a lesson or how to teach a dialogue, for instance. Development, on the other hand, focuses on the individual teacher-on the process of reflection, examination, and change which can lead to doing a better job and to personal and professional growth. These two concepts assume differing views of both teaching and the teacher. Training assumes that teaching is a finite skill, one which can be acquired and mastered. The teacher then learns to teach in much the * This paper is based on a presentation first given at the Japan Association of Language Teachers' Conference in Nagoya, Japan, 1980. The author wishes to thank Ruthanne Brown for her helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Donald Freeman is on the language training staff at Procter and Gamble-Sunhome in Osaka, Japan. He has taught EFL and French and has done teacher training and cross-cultural work in the U.S. and Japan.