Appendix J Letter to headteacher requesting the school’s participation
Appendix K Letter to teachers requesting their participation Appendix L Letter to parents requesting their child’s
participation (the letter was sent to parents on school-headed paper)
141 Appendix A
Timetable of data-gathering sessions
Date Data Collection
Week beginning 13/09/10 Focus group 1 Focus group 2 Documentary analysis 1 20/09/10 Headteacher interview 14/10/10 Documentary analysis 2 01/11/10 DHT interview 15/11/10 Observation morning
Informal interviews with second HLTA, pupils in class, observing pupil, observing teacher and classteacher
20/11/10 3 x teacher interviews
22/11/10 2 x teacher interviews 1 x HLTA interview Focus group 3
142 Appendix B
Research questions in relation to interview guide questions
Research questions Interview guide questions with prompts What is the experience
for teachers and pupils of including pupils in
classroom observation and is there provision for listening to all voices?
What did you expect to gain when you started?
What have you gained? What do the pupils tell you? How is this different from an adult perspective? Why did the children do the research into learning rather than the TAs?
How have the children involved developed new skills for learning?
When you started peer coaching with pupils did you think about any issues or problems it might throw up, and were you ready to deal with them?
Have the children expressed ideas that you found difficult to accept?
How do they show a grasp of classroom reality?
What skills / training have you given pupils?
Brief for lesson observations?
Confidentiality and trust? What can they say to others?
What have adults learned that has impacted on their practice?
Relationship? Motivation?
Awareness of children’s capacity to learn?
Teachers at this school obviously have a good
understanding of effective teaching judging by RAISE data, so what more can listening to pupil voice tell them?
Government initiatives (SATs, Ofsted) have been accused of leading to short-term performance goals. What do you feel about this?
How do you address it?
What would ensure that listening to pupil voice is a positive experience for all parties?
143 How is collegiality
manifested and how does this promote a
commitment to the process of collaborative observation?
Do you think of this school as a learning organisation?
Why? How?
Do the children feel a sense of membership? How do you know?
Are all adults equally committed to listening to pupils?
Any expressed concerns, or shown concerns? How do adults show they genuinely want to listen to what pupils have to say?
How are adults prepared for a pupil joining a lesson observation?
How do you manage to cater so well for all children?
Do you ever fail with any children?
How have you improved children’s commitment to learning?
Would you listen to pupil voice differently were it not for Ofsted and SATs?
Do you think teachers / pupils are willing to share ideas, thoughts with others and why do you think this?
Is there anything that makes you feel teachers are committed, or not committed, to peer coaching?
144 How willing are the
participants to engage in dialogue and what opportunities are there for dialogic encounters to occur?
What does it mean, in this school, listening to pupil voice?
What started you off on the idea of listening to pupil voice?
Which pupils?
How do you listen to pupils? Formal / informal? Feedback to staff?
Feedback to pupils?
Do children want to learn?
How do you encourage them?
How do you help them understand how to learn? How do you convince them that it’s possible to learn?
Do teachers feel at ease in talking about things they feel need improving and what makes you think this?
If you didn’t have pupils in peer coaching now, what would be lost?
145 Appendix C
Research questions in relation to focus group questions
Research questions Focus group questions
What is the experience for teachers and pupils of including pupils in classroom observation and is there provision for listening to all voices?
Tell me about the peer coaching sessions.
How does it make you a better learner?
How does it make the teachers teach better?
How is collegiality manifested and how does this promote a
commitment to the process of collaborative observation?
Tell me about the peer coaching sessions.
Why have you been asked to do it? Why did you get chosen?
How does it make you feel when you do the peer coaching?
Are there other things you want to tell me about peer coaching? Do you feel you belong to this school / or are part of the school?
What makes you feel that? How willing are the participants to
engage in dialogue and what
opportunities are there for dialogic encounters to occur?
Tell me about the peer coaching sessions.
How do you know if teachers take notice of what you suggest / say? What training do you get to do it? How is it useful having a sheet to
fill in?
How do teachers listen to you in school? Prompts if needed:
Do you know if teachers want your opinions / ideas?
Do you get a chance to say all the things you want to say?
146