This time of year is a busy one for those school leaders who are responsible for school recruitment, with thousands of jobs to be filled in England before the final ‘resignation deadline’ of May 31st.
The traditional teacher recruitment process almost always involves a mock lesson watched by two members of staff and either one or two interviews with senior leaders and governors – sometimes alongside other activities such as marking or planning a lesson.
The lesson observation is often seen as the most important part of the process (school leaders will rightly say ‘we need to know how they can teach’) but it is hugely affected by the issues that affect all lesson observations. This blog points them out and shows how using discreet 360-degree video for recruitment not only removes them but can improve the whole school recruitment process dramatically.
Here are some of the reasons…
1. Fairer lesson observation
The simplest impact of using discreet video is that the observers aren’t in the room. The widely-recognised ‘Hawthorne effect’ means that a pair of experienced teachers will have a significant effect on the pupils in the class – usually improving their behaviour at the same time as making them nervous and less likely to contribute! ONVU Learning’s 360-degree video cameras mean the observer is missed even less as they can see the impact of teaching on students and how they respond as the teacher delivers the lesson!
2. Wider sharing of the mock lesson
In the traditional process two teachers watch the lesson and try to share their observations with others, leading to miscommunications and amplifying any preferences the observers might have. Video capture allows multiple observers to watch the lesson at different times (around their teaching or interviewing commitments), and systems like ONVU Learning mean they can zoom into different parts of the classroom to look at students working and discuss their observations with each other. The result is a much clearer picture of the teacher’s ability.
3. A real opportunity to demonstrate reflective ability
Many schools highly value reflective teaching and ask interviewees to talk through their lesson and how they could improve or change them. Giving them access to video footage means that they can accurately view what happened and suggest genuine ideas for improvement rather than rely on a hazy memory from a stressful time!
4. A chance to show off the school’s learning culture
In our partner schools where video self-reflection and coaching are widely used, they have a significant impact on teacher development with teachers able to get help with their own classroom issues and see real teaching from colleagues in CPD sessions. By showing the power of these systems at interview, they have found teachers are more likely to want to work at the school.
