The teachers, students and the school have given permission for their videos to be used for teacher professional development purposes. Please adhere to the following principles and guidelines when you are viewing the video clips:

 

First, please remember that the teachers and the students have allowed others (including you) into their classroom in the interests of furthering our collective understanding of education. It is not easy for teachers and students to allow others to analyse their teaching and learning - they might worry that outside observers may be judgemental and come to unfair conclusions as to their performance or competence in the classroom. Consider how you would feel about a group of students analysing a video of your classroom and how you might like them to respect you and your students.

 

In order to respect the integrity of the teachers and students in the video you should do the following:

 

1. Remember that the aim is not to ‘judge’ the teaching and learning from a superior perspective, but to think carefully about it in ways that can further your understanding of teaching and learning. All teachers, students and lessons have strengths and weaknesses, and you should identify and discuss these. Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses and be humble and appreciative in your analysis.

2. Remember that every classroom and every lesson has a context. You have not seen previous/subsequent lessons. Therefore, be careful of making unjustified generalisations. You also have limited knowledge about conditions in the institution or school except what you can gather from the videoed lesson. Be careful to work only with the evidence you have and justify all claims based on this evidence. Admit uncertainty where it exists.

3. Students’ and/or teachers’ names might be mentioned on the video. You may recognise some of the learners, the teacher, or the institution involved. It is very important that you respect the confidentiality and anonymity of all those on the video. This includes not making public that you have seen them. If you do know any of the participants, whether you divulge to them that you have seen the video is a personal ethical question that you will have to think about and resolve, depending on your relationship with each person involved.

4. You should not make copies of the video without permission.

 

Acknowledgement:

These ethical guidelines were adapted from teaching materials produced by Prof Marissa Rollnick and Prof Karen Brodick. We thank them for allowing us to use and adapt their materials.