They were designed to assess direct instruction,
not facilitation.
Most school observation frameworks reward clear explanations, visible learning objectives written on the board, efficient use of time, student-on-task behaviour, and smooth transitions. These are valid indicators of quality direct instruction. They are poor indicators of quality facilitation — and in some cases, actively penalise it.
A facilitating teacher who waits 8 seconds after a question appears to be losing control of the pace. A teacher who allows extended silence while students struggle productively appears to be failing to support students. A teacher who changes direction mid-lesson because the exit ticket revealed a gap appears to be poorly planned. Under a direct instruction observation framework, every one of these professional behaviours registers as a weakness.
Four observation foci that reveal
facilitation quality.
Observe the questions the teacher asks during the lesson. Count the proportion that require recall vs the proportion that require reasoning (application, analysis, evaluation). Note whether the teacher uses wait time (3+ seconds after questions requiring reasoning). Note whether the teacher probes student responses or accepts first answers.
Observe student verbal contributions. Are they single words or full sentences? Do they explain their reasoning or just state conclusions? Do they build on each other's contributions, or only respond to teacher questions? Are students who typically don't contribute participating?
Observe how the teacher responds when students are stuck. Does the teacher provide the answer (rescue), ask a question that activates the relevant knowledge (support), or wait longer for the student to work through it (tolerate productive difficulty)? The latter two indicate facilitation skill.
Ask the teacher before the observation: 'What did yesterday's exit data show? How has that influenced today's lesson?' The quality of the answer reveals whether the teacher is operating the agile loop. During the lesson, observe whether there are explicit moments where the teacher collects formative data and whether the lesson visibly responds to it.
What you ask determines
what the teacher learns.
The post-observation conversation is as important as the observation itself. The questions the observer asks signal what they valued in what they saw — which in turn signals what the teacher should optimise for next time. For facilitation observation, the conversation should centre on questions that treat the teacher as a professional analysing their own practice:
(2) “What formative data were you collecting, and how were you using it?”
(3) “When was the most productive period of the lesson — and what created it?”
(4) “What would you change about the facilitation, and why?”
These questions treat the teacher as a professional who is analysing their own practice, not as a performance that was being evaluated.
Observation without community
doesn't sustain change.
A3 covers PLCs — the structured peer learning communities that prevent Year 2 regression. The observation framework tells teachers what quality looks like. PLCs give them the collegial support to develop it.