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 is a a requirement for the CUFPA scheme, the Introduction to Teaching and Learning, the PGCAPP and also probation.  All other teaching staff who do not teach on apprenticeship modules will also need a Management Led Teaching Observation.
  • Apprenticeship Observation Scheme for courses and modules which are Ofsted related
  • The Peer Observation scheme where staff share good practice with each other

Scheme Leads

The person running each of these schemes with in the Coventry University Group is the Deputy Head of School/Deputy Director SHC responsible for Student Experience (University), Head of School (CU) or equivalent. Please contact them if you require a management led teaching observation and they will be able to arrange this for you. Those carrying out the teaching observations will have Fellow D2 or Senior Fellow D3 and have attended the Management Led Teaching Observation training.

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. 

Reporting

Deputy Heads of School/Deputy Director SHC (Student Experience), Heads of School (CU Group) or equivalent, please find the report template under Supporting Documentation. This template should be used for the end of academic year report due at the end of May. 

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

The Apprenticeship Teaching Observation form is currently available on the Better Futures Apprenticeship page of the Coventry University website. Any queries should be directed to the Better Futures Apprenticeships team.  Please find the link -  Delivering-an.aspx

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.