Observing Edwin

Liz was right. Observing someone is a more interesting experience than I thought it would be.

I am really happy I chose Edwin for various reasons:
a) I am interested in his subject, although it is not the same as mine
b) his main pedagogical problems are very similar to mine: his discipline is seen as out of context (marketing in fashion like mine, research in art)
c) the group of students he teaches is very diverse

I first started my mentoring in supervision through observing supervisors in their tutorial sessions. Observing Edwin was so revealing, I think it is a good exercise (despite taking some time to be organised). It helped me to extrapolate things about my own teaching and also objectively look at the way he handles problems or unforeseen circumstances.

One of the most interesting parts of the observation was Edwin’s interaction with his pupils, something I think about constantly in my own teaching. He started the session transferring content but soon he asked for the students’ view on particular aspects of the lesson, which they were eager to discuss. This showed me that the teacher, although he/ she needs to be conversant with his subject (of course!), gets a better result out of a session if this is ‘hand on’ (ie discussions, tasks etc…). In my own teaching, I considered creating a small workshop task for each single session. I also would like to expand the training programme to contain a few peer sessions, where students are given the chance to review their learning. This is something I will consider for the new training programme at the Glasgow School of Art.

I know that, as part of my new job at the GSA, I will also have to devise a new training programme for supervisors. After my PGCert experience, I am hoping to argue for a recognised Postgraduate qualification where pupils can observe and engage in research.