Teaching Observation Scheme – Review of Professional Practice (RPP)

Review of Professional Practice (RPP) has been shown to be beneficial to teaching staff at all stages of your careers, helping to provide positive feedback to those of you who are new to teaching and as a mechanism for continual improvement for all of us in the increasingly dynamic tertiary education environment.  In this way, teaching observation provides a mechanism for helping to tackle areas of concern that may be generic, as well as supporting your individual professional development. 

There are three types of teaching observations within RPP:

  • The Management-led Teaching Observation scheme in which all teaching staff take part
  • Apprenticeship Observation Scheme for courses and modules which are Ofsted related
  • The Peer Observation scheme where staff share good practice with each other

The Management Led approach is University policy in order to meet the requirements for teaching observation. All reviewers will need to have Advance HE Fellowship and attend a training workshop to ensure they understand the criteria outlined on the Teaching Observation forms. The 'Overview of RPP' document can be found under the Supporting Documentation drop down on the right hand side of this page. The RPP document helps to explain how it works and gives guidance on good practice for reviewers as well as those being reviewed. 

Associate Heads of School (Student Experience) and Heads of Curriculum, please find the Semester Report template under Supporting Documentation. This template should also be used for the end of academic year report. 

Teaching Observation Forms (which to use)

Management Led Teaching Observation Forms

If you are carrying out a Coventry University Management Led Teaching Observation, you will have the choice of three forms to use. These are:

  1. Face to Face/Online Synchronous teaching observation form which is designed for the observation of those teaching groups in a classroom or lecture setting or synchronously on line. [Example]
  2. Online Asynchronous Teaching Observation Form | This form is designed for the observation of those teaching online but asynchronously.

 Apprenticeship Observations

If you are carrying out an Ofsted related observation please use the following observation form:-

1.  Apprenticeship Teaching Observation Form which is to be used for those carrying out an observation for apprenticeships.

2. Apprenticeship Assessment Matrix This assessment matrix accompanies the above form and should be used in conjunction with the form when carrying out the observation.

Peer Led Teaching Observation Forms

The forms used for management led teaching observations will also be available to use for Peer Led Teaching Observations. The following two additional forms are also available specifically for Peer Led Teaching Observations. These are:

  1.  Face to Face/Online Synchronous Teaching Observation Form (Peer Led) | This form is designed for the observation of those teaching groups in a classroom or lecture setting or synchronously on line.
  2. Observing giving feedback and marking | This form may be used to observe colleagues marking assignments.
  3. Observing Supervision | This form may be used for observing those carrying out PhD or Dissertation supervision.
  4. Progress Reviews (Apprenticeship Courses) | This form may be used for Apprenticeship Progress Reviews (Tripartite meetings)

Contact and Training 

If you have been nominated to do teaching observations by your management, please contact aepd@coventry.ac.uk to ensure you are booked on to one of the forth-coming academic development workshops.

If you would like to attend a training workshop to gain a greater understanding of RPP (for example, how to facilitate Peer Reviews), please find a training session here.