BESA CORNER


This month, in our ongoing feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, we hear from ANDREW GOFF, Director at ONVU Learning; and education recruitment platform Ednex.


The future of lesson


observation With ANDREW GOFF, Director, ONVU Learning


Teachers don’t usually jump at the chance of having their lessons observed. In February they were able to vent their frustrations and share their horror stories on Twitter using the hashtag #nobservation. Examples reported included facing five observations in the same lesson, being observed teaching German by a manager who didn’t speak German and being given a low grade because ‘we’d hit our quota of good teachers before we made it to you’! But that’s not true of schools that we work with. At Orwell Park


School in Suffolk, teacher and Head of Digital Strategy David Horton installed one LessonVU 360-degree system in his classroom. ‘I started by using it to reflect on my own teaching before inviting colleagues to do the same thing. We shared our experiences and outcomes. There are now a list of volunteers waiting to use the kit’, he reports. So, what made the change? The key difference is that whole


lessons are unobtrusively recorded in high quality without external observers present. Teachers can self-reflect and choose which parts of the lesson they share – not to achieve grades but for feedback from colleagues and external experts. These ‘real incidents’ are the key to making improvements over time. At Hereford Academy the Head of Maths Mr Varey told us, ‘Staff are becoming more reflective and slowly evolving a language to pinpoint key moments in their lessons and the impact they are having on learning. This allows us to have a much wider discussion and become more collaborative in our approach to personal development’. This revolution in lesson observation benefits schools in a huge number of different ways.


• Teaching improves – reflection and feedback allows teachers to make incremental improvements in their teaching. David Horton said, ‘I’d have to say we’re possibly all seeing a one per cent improvement in our teaching every time we use it.’


• Behaviour in lessons improves – not because of the camera but because teachers can go back over incidents and make changes to their routines. One of our teachers found that attention dropped when she asked students to bring work to her, so now goes to them to check progress.


• Teachers enjoy teaching more – one of the most important ways to motivate people is to give them control of their professional development. A teacher told us ‘it’s helped me find my teaching passion again’, while a headteacher reported teachers turning up outside his office keen to show him clips of great learning!


• Costs are reduced – senior staff and university mentors spend much less time travelling to and watching lessons, while high quality engagement reduces staff turnover and expensive external CPD is replaced by internal reflection and small expert coaching groups.


LessonVU is a non-


intrusive classroom observation system that is controlled by teachers. Its unique technology allows for the complete recording of 360-degree video and audio, giving you a comprehensive view of the entire lesson.


uFind out more about LessonVU on ONVU Learning’s website https://www.onvulearning.com/lessonvu


14 www.education-today.co.uk


Smart technology is helping to tackle the education


recruitment crisis With a greater focus on technology and innovation in schools than ever, Ednex is providing a platform that will ultimately impact children’s education by enabling schools to save money in one of the most costly and contentious areas – recruitment. Set up by people passionate about education and innovation, Ednex


is supporting schools to reduce or even eliminate recruitment spend via agencies.


The small annual fee keeps the school in control of budget The annual subscription costs less than just one placement fee via traditional recruitment methods, and you can use the platform to advertise as many roles as you wish, meaning the saving to the school increases on every single hire. No placement fees, no temp to perm fees and no margin on direct supply means no surprise costs to the school either. Ednex can also manage supply contracts and payment for less than 4% transaction fee. The ability to post unlimited vacancies on the platform 365 days per year means the system is always working for you.


Ednex is saving schools money and time The smart technology connects schools directly with education professionals cutting out the time and cost associated with supply and recruitment agencies. Meaning school staff can allocate more time to supporting new arrivals and supply cover. The platform is designed to be simple to use whether that’s on PC, laptop, tablet or phone to save schools extra time as well as money.


Greater control over how your school is represented Ednex partner schools create their own bespoke profile through which they can manage and promote as many vacancies as they wish, meaning the school maintains control of how they are represented in front of potential candidates. All supply, fixed term and permanent vacancies are managed in one space to ensure consistency of message and representation. Your Ednex account manager will also support you in creating local pools of candidates on the platform suited to the needs of your school.


Only qualified and relevant candidates are notified of vacancies The Ednex platform matches vacancies with relevant, vetted and background checked candidates meaning only candidates who match your specific job criteria will be able to apply. All candidates are cleared by our specialist compliance team before they are able to respond to vacancies and communicate directly with a school.


Completely free for teachers, teaching assistants and education professionals Ednex provides a completely free careers platform for teachers, teaching assistants and education professionals. A place to manage their digital CV, career history and CPD privately until they are looking for their next role. Candidates will only be notified of vacancies that match their search preferences, keeping them in control and saving time in the process.


Ednex is providing schools with local talent pools of vetted


candidates who are matched directly to their vacancies. Saving them time and money in the process.


uRegistration is simple - just visit www.ednex.co.uk or, for further information and a demonstration of how Ednex works, please contact info@ednex.co.uk


October 2018


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