Pupils assess their teachers

THE tables have turned at one North Somerset school where pupils are assessing their teachers.Youngsters in year seven at Priory Community School have been taking part in The Student Observers Project.English teacher Hannah Thomas and David Perks who teaches humanities, have come up with the idea in a bid to get more feedback from pupils, who they believe can help with the smooth running of lessons.A total of 10 students are taking part in the initiative and have created their own assessment sheets. They sit in on classes and fill in the relevant sections on the forms and then give confidential verbal and written feedback to their teachers.Miss Thomas said: "So far all students have assessed three lessons and they are doing it on a weekly basis."We have started it with year seven and as they progress through the school it means eventually we will have all year groups doing it."They are taking it very seriously and are enjoying it and they can help us make lessons even better. The initiative is improving the dialogue which takes place between students and teachers."Members of staff ask the students to assess their lessons and the students do it in pairs."Before the students started taking part in the new initiative they received two full days of training. They learnt about issues including team building and use of language, as well as taking part in role plays. Humanities teacher Jason Edwards, who has had his lessons assessed, added: "It was really positive to have this level of conversation about learning with our students."I enjoyed the experience of having them observe my lessons and would recommend it to colleagues.