It was great to have two intense days of conversations with senior school leaders and MAT CEOs at the Inspiring Leadership Conference 2019. Schools are certainly facing troubling times at the moment, but it was exciting to see how classroom video observation is now seen as a potential solution to many problems from teaching and learning to teacher recruitment and retention!
Here are questions we were asked most – and our answers…
1. How can I get my staff to see classroom video as a positive development?
The key here is to build trust by sharing ownership. All the schools we work with see our work as a supportive initiative and work with us, unions and other staff representatives to create transparent and teacher-led policies and processes. Schools that have used our systems have transformed observations from a subjective imposition to something that many teachers are excited to share.
2. How do we manage classroom video observation and GDPR?
It’s hard to believe that it’s now over a year since ‘GDPR Day’! But that’s given us and our partner schools time to better understand the regulations and to come up with clear solutions. All our equipment has the right level of encryption and our systems and storage are GDPR-compliant. And the processes we follow support and safeguard students, teachers and schools.
3. How will parents respond to classroom video?
It’s obviously important to involve parents when introducing a system like ONVU Learning and to listen to their concerns. But what we’ve found is that parents are often impressed by the opportunity video-based coaching offers to deliver better teaching for their children.
4. How do you start to introduce video into your classrooms?
This does depend on the size of your school and your CPD budget, but we’d always advise running a pilot program with volunteer teachers. They can share their experiences and system knowledge and become ‘champions’ over time. Where you start depends on the strategic needs of your school – perhaps you’re looking to better support NQTs to improve retention and prepare for the Early Career Framework? Or have a group of teachers already involved in action research to improve their teaching?
5. What objectives can I set for classroom video?
The most common objective we see schools setting initially is improved teaching and learning. But as the system becomes more used schools are using cameras to improve their efficiency (cutting wasted time off the start of every lesson for example); reduce workload (especially the time needed for formal lesson observations); improve recruitment processes; and even to re-inspire jaded teachers!
6. Why partner with ONVU Learning?
When we talk to school leaders, they want EdTech partners who know the education sector; who can work with them to solve their problems rather than reaching for a generic solution; and who are creating technology that is easy to use and highly cost-effective.
If that describes your school or trust, please get in touch with us and we’ll either come and show you our system or arrange a visit for you to see one of our partner schools!
