COSERE | 29 1.1 Collegiality and its importance. One of the essential aspects that holds a significant place in the teacher’s professional standard or code of professional ethics is collegiality. Collegiality among teachers involves a constant readiness for cooperation, selfless and open exchange of pedagogical experience, sharing information, and embracing new technologies and innovations. This, in turn, serves as a necessary prerequisite for the professional development of both oneself and colleagues, ensuring the quality of teaching and learning. To enhance the educational process and facilitate the professional growth of teachers, educators must be receptive to and accept constructive criticism, including the delicate feedback from colleagues. Such an approach enables the analysis of past mistakes and aids in avoiding them in the future. This principle is reflected in one of the most effective strategies of teachers’ cooperation in the Western educational space— the introduction of the “Critical Friends” institute, which entails mutual observation of teachers during the learning process. Observation stands out as the most accessible and widespread method for studying pedagogical practice. 1.2 How does peer observation work? In the model of mutual observation, five methods of observation are distinguished, which, in turn, are divided into three stages: • Pre-observation meeting: The teacher, whose lesson is being attended, informs the colleague about the lesson plan, explains the kind of help expected, and together they develop/select the evaluation rubric/criteria. • Attending the lesson: This involves the observation of the entire lesson process or its individual details, followed by a detailed description of the results. • Post-lesson meeting: This stage includes the analysis of observation results, evaluation, and, based on this, making adjustments to the lesson plan and its conduct. It should be emphasised that during the pre-observation meeting, the teacher hosting the lesson and the observing colleague collaborate to determine the focus of the lesson. They decide on what the guest teacher should pay attention to during the observation. This focus can vary based on the professional needs of both the hosting
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