Providing Inspection Services for
Department of Education
Department for Employment and Learning
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure

Education and Training Inspectorate

The Reflective Teacher

Contents
Page
Foreword by Chief Inspector, Miss M Matchett
1.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
For whom is this document intended and how might . . . . . . . . . . 1 it be used?

2.

Evaluating Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Why evaluate your work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
How do you continue to improve your work through self-evaluation? .......... 3

3.

What personal qualities do you require to be an . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 effective teacher?

4.

What professional competences do you require be an effective teacher?

........ 6

A.

Knowledge of the needs abilities and aspirations . . . . . . . . 7 of your pupils;

B.

Planning for improvement; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

C.

Teaching and Learning Strategies; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

D.

Classroom Management; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

E.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Learning; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5.

Where can I get further help to support the development . . . . . . 10 of my work?

6.

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

APPENDICES
Appendix 1 The Process of Self-Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Appendix 2 ETI Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Appendix 3 Professional Development Action Plan Template . . . . . . . . . 21
Appendix 4 A Glossary of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Foreword
During inspection members of the Education and Training Inspectorate (the
Inspectorate) observe many examples of very good teaching, where the pupils are motivated, stimulated and eager to learn. The good teaching we observe is often characterised by a strong desire to achieve the best possible outcomes for the pupils and a willingness, on the part of the teacher, to improve the quality of teaching.
In order to improve further many teachers already monitor and evaluate their work. The evaluation of teaching and learning can be done many ways; ranging from individual thought(s) about a lesson at the end of the day, to peer evaluation and discussion about the outcomes. Whatever the process, however, it is of key importance that the outcomes of the evaluation are used to improve teaching strategies, to improve teaching and learning and, by so doing to bring about improvement in the experiences of the pupils and the standards which they attain.
Over several years the Inspectorate has published a series of documents, including ‘Together Towards Improvement’ (TTI), ‘Evaluating Schools’,
‘Evaluating Subjects’ ‘Evaluating Pastoral Care’ and ‘Improving Subjects’, to make schools aware of the quality indicators used by the Inspectorate in many areas of evaluation, and to help those who work in schools to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning. In 2003, several Digital Versatile Discs
(DVDs) were produced to help the staff of an organisation evaluate the quality of provision by reflecting on, and discussing, examples of good practice.
Using these materials many organisations are now undertaking rigorous self-evaluation of their provision, in order to improve the experiences of the pupils and the standards they attain. In adding ‘The Reflective Teacher’ to those documents already published, the Inspectorate recognises the important part played by the individual teacher in the classroom, in bringing about improvements for the pupils.
The purpose of the document is to outline the quality indicators used by the
Inspectorate to evaluate teaching, in order to help the