Matt O'Leary

Matt O'Leary
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Matt verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
Verified
Matt verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
  • PhD, MA, PGCE, BA (Hons), RSA DipTEFLA, PFHEA
  • Professor (Full) at Birmingham City University

Professor of Education and Academic Lead for REF UoA23 at Birmingham City University

About

100
Publications
83,351
Reads
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846
Citations
Introduction
Professor Dr Matt O’Leary is Professor of Education at Birmingham City University. His main research interests focus on education policy and practice in further and higher education, particularly in the context of the professional learning of educators and the development of pedagogic practice. Professor O’Leary is one of the world’s leading experts on the topic of classroom observation. He is internationally renowned for his extensive body of work on the use of classroom/lesson observation.
Current institution
Birmingham City University
Current position
  • Professor (Full)
Additional affiliations
July 2015 - present
Birmingham City University
Position
  • Professor (Full); College Academic Lead for REF UoA23
Description
  • Professor of Education and Academic Lead for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for UoA23 (Education)
April 2005 - June 2015
University of Wolverhampton
Position
  • Principal lecturer in post-compulsory education & Director of CRADLE Education Research Centre
July 2015 - July 2018
Birmingham City University
Position
  • Reader in Education
Education
September 2005 - September 2011
University of Warwick
Field of study
  • Education
September 1998 - September 2000
King's College London
Field of study
  • Applied Linguistics & ELT

Publications

Publications (100)
Article
Full-text available
This paper focuses on the role of classroom observation in the development and assessment of schoolteachers in Vietnam through a narrative review of current policy and cognate research literature. The overall aim of this review was twofold. Firstly, to contribute to a growing bank of Vietnam-based studies to maximise the value of the insights from...
Book
Full-text available
The inspiration for this book came from an initial frustration and dissatisfaction with engrained policies and practices in HE that purport to enhance the quality of teaching and learning but actually do very little to move forward understanding across the sector and even less to improve it. As we argue throughout the book, many of these teaching a...
Article
Full-text available
In 2018, Vietnam’s National Teacher Education Programme established a new framework for schoolteachers’ professional development. Classroom observation was the dominant method used for teacher monitoring, assessment and development. This paper explores the use and impact of current classroom observation policy and practice on novice teachers in Vie...
Article
Full-text available
This conceptual paper discusses ‘unseen observation’ as an alternative model of classroom observation to support teachers’ professional learning. The paper starts with a critical synopsis of how observation has been appropriated principally as a performance management tool for monitoring teacher effectiveness in the UK. It argues that the overrelia...
Presentation
Full-text available
This presentation explores the experiences of university teachers and students who participated in an innovative model of collaborative observation over two academic years. Drawing on qualitative data from several longitudinal case studies involving small groups of staff and students, it critically reflects on the key findings and implications for...
Chapter
Quality' and 'excellence' are omnipresent terms permeating all areas of higher education, particularly in the context of teaching and learning. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has further intensified debates about conceptions of quality and excellence, particularly regarding universities' ability to adapt from face-to-face teaching to virtual provisio...
Chapter
This article examines the value of research in improving the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. Drawing on a longitudinal body of work from two interrelated research projects involving university teachers and students in the UK, this article argues for the need to move beyond positivist quantitative approaches which conceptualize...
Chapter
This chapter explores the experiences of university teachers and students who participated in an innovative model of collaborative observation over two academic years. Drawing on qualitative data from several longitudinal case studies involving small groups of staff and students, we critically reflect on the key findings and implications for improv...
Preprint
Full-text available
With institutions having to make a rapid transition to online delivery, Covid-19 has left an indelible mark on the educational landscape. Understandably, some are concerned about how the quality of teaching and learning is being assured, along with supporting teachers to adapt and thrive in this new environment. How can this be done remotely? ‘Uns...
Presentation
Full-text available
With education and training providers having to make a rapid transition to online delivery, Covid-19 has left an indelible mark on the educational landscape. Understandably, some are concerned about how the quality of teaching and learning is being captured and assured, along with how best they can support teachers and trainers to adapt and thrive...
Article
This paper explores what it means for university teachers and their students to work collaboratively to develop a collective classroom consciousness about learning and its relationship with teaching. It draws on qualitative data from several longitudinal case studies comprising academic staff and students who participated in two cycles of collabora...
Book
Full-text available
Building on recent changes and debates surrounding the use of observation, this fully updated second edition of Classroom Observation explores the role of lesson observation in the preparation, assessment and professional learning of teachers, lecturers and educators at all levels and across all educational organisations. Offering practical guidanc...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
3 Reasons why teachers need to engage with research: criticality, empowerment and growth, Keynote Speech by Matt O’Leary, 17th January 2020
Article
Drawing on recent research involving approximately 6000 higher education staff, this paper examines the impact of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) on their professional lives since its launch in 2016. Our findings raise fundamental concerns, methodologically and conceptually, about the fitness for the purpose of the TEF...
Article
Excellence in higher education teaching has become a policy priority of governments worldwide in recent years. In the United Kingdom, for example, the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2016 heralded an unprecedented focus on the quality of teaching. Set against the backdrop of such policy developments and wider global interest in...
Technical Report
Full-text available
This report presents the findings and recommendations of an independent research project into the role of leadership in prioritising and improving the quality of teaching and learning in further education. The project captures the views and experiences of further education (FE) staff working at all levels from senior leaders to hourly paid tutors a...
Research
Full-text available
This report presents the findings and recommendations of an independent research study on the impact and implications of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) on staff working in higher education (HE) provision in the UK. The study captures the views and experiences of over 6,000 UCU members working in universities and colleg...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Teaching excellence remains a contested term in English higher education (HE). This paper begins by reflecting on its complex and sometimes blurred meaning, charting the divergence between academic interests in the complexity and contextual questions relating to practice development and organisational and sectoral shifts which have been dri...
Preprint
In 2016, the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) marked a watershed moment for higher education (HE) in the United Kingdom. This paper views the TEF as an extension of the neoliberal policy narrative that has dominated policy thinking and decision making in HE in recent decades. It argues that the epistemology and methodology un...
Article
The Global Education Reform Movement’s (GERM) interest in the quality of teaching and teacher effectiveness has focused largely on schools and children’s attainment to date, with higher education (HE) remaining an outlier. Yet the neoliberal agenda that has dominated HE policy globally over the last two decades closely reflects the focus and ideolo...
Chapter
This chapter recounts the experience of a partnership between a university and local further education (FE) providers during an Ofsted inspection of its Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes for post-compulsory teachers. Building on an internal position paper written at the time of the inspection in 2013, the chapter examines how the partnersh...
Presentation
Full-text available
Classroom observation has long occupied a prominent place in the formal assessment, training and development of teachers in the English education system. However, over the last three decades its use has come to be viewed quite narrowly by employers, inspectors and policy makers as an assessment tool for monitoring and measuring teacher performance....
Presentation
Full-text available
Classroom observation has long occupied a prominent place in the formal assessment and development of teachers in schools and colleges in England and Wales. In contrast, its use in Higher Education (HE) has traditionally been more sporadic and less developed. With teaching excellence now high on the policy agenda following the introduction of the T...
Presentation
Full-text available
Excellence in higher education teaching is high on the policy agenda of governments worldwide at present. In England, for example, the recent introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework heralds an era of unprecedented scrutiny and focus on the quality of teaching. With the UK government seeking to link the quality of teaching to funding, univ...
Chapter
The financial crisis of 2008 heralded the advent of an ‘austerity’ agenda by many international governments, characterised by a series of cuts to public spending and tax increases. Since then, austerity measures in England and Ireland have left an indelible mark on the FE landscapes in both countries. In Ireland, the global credit crunch had a crip...
Book
Full-text available
The introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework heralds an era of unprecedented scrutiny and focus on the quality of teaching in universities in England. This book offers inter-disciplinary, evidence-informed discussion around notions of excellence in higher education teaching. It will act as a key stimulus for institutional and sector-wide d...
Presentation
Full-text available
Classroom observation has long occupied a prominent place in the formal assessment and development of teachers in schools and colleges in England and Wales. In contrast, its use in Higher Education (HE) has traditionally been more sporadic and less developed. With teaching excellence now high on the policy agenda following the introduction of the T...
Presentation
Full-text available
The TEF signals an unprecedented focus on the quality of HE teaching in England, an area of practice that remains largely unexamined up to now. Peer review has traditionally played a major role in evaluating and improving the quality of teaching. However, unlike its role in assessing the quality of research, peer review of teaching remains a more r...
Conference Paper
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) face ever-increasing demands to demonstrate ‘value for money’ to the State and students alike. This is fuelled by on-going marketization of education and the rising importance of comparative performance metrics in a competitive global market. Both in the UK and USA, high quality research has long been regarded a...
Presentation
Full-text available
Excellence’ in teaching is high on the political agenda in higher education (HE) in England at present. The introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in the HE White Paper heralds an era of unprecedented scrutiny and focus on the quality of teaching in universities. With the government seeking to link the quality of teaching to fundin...
Presentation
Full-text available
Keynote Speech at FET2HE Conference, Dublin City University, 21st October 2016, Dublin, Ireland.
Book
Full-text available
Reclaiming Lesson Observation explores the latest practice, thinking and research in lesson observation, putting teacher learning at its heart. Illustrated throughout with practical examples from a range of education settings, each chapter contains a rich variety of state-of-the-art, evidence-based case studies to demonstrate how new approaches to...
Chapter
Reclaiming Lesson Observation explores the latest practice, thinking and research in lesson observation, putting teacher learning at its heart. Illustrated throughout with practical examples from a range of education settings, each chapter contains a rich variety of state-of-the-art, evidence-based case studies to demonstrate how new approaches to...
Chapter
Reclaiming Lesson Observation explores the latest practice, thinking and research in lesson observation, putting teacher learning at its heart. Illustrated throughout with practical examples from a range of education settings, each chapter contains a rich variety of state-of-the-art, evidence-based case studies to demonstrate how new approaches to...
Chapter
Reclaiming Lesson Observation explores the latest practice, thinking and research in lesson observation, putting teacher learning at its heart. Illustrated throughout with practical examples from a range of education settings, each chapter contains a rich variety of state-of-the-art, evidence-based case studies to demonstrate how new approaches to...
Article
Attempts to measure the quality of teaching and learning have resulted in an overreliance on quantitative performance data and the normalisation of a set of reductionist practices in England’s further education sector in recent years. Focusing on lesson observation as an illustrative example and drawing on data from a national study, this article e...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Having borne the brunt of the government’s austerity agenda in education over the last five years, with repeated cuts to its budget, redundancies and the ongoing upheaval of the area reviews, there is no more challenging time to be working in Further Education (FE). Despite successive governments insisting on the importance of FE in the economic re...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Rethinking lesson observation as tool for professional learning: supporting NOT sorting teachers
Article
This article examines the nature of an on-going educational partnership between a Higher Education institution and a number of Further Education (FE) colleges in the West Midlands region of England, forged against the backdrop of sectoral marketisation and neoliberal reform. The partnership originates in the organisation and administration of Initi...
Article
This paper addresses a recurring theme regarding the UK’s Vocational Education and Training policy in which further education (FE) and training are primarily driven by employer demand. It explores the tensions associated with this process on the everyday working practices of FE practitioners and institutions and its impact on FE’s contribution to t...
Article
Lesson observation has been widely debated in education circles in recent times. From politicians to practitioners, everyone seems to have a view on it. Surprisingly, however, very little empirical research has been done on this important area of practice. With this in mind, this article explores some of the findings from a national research projec...
Article
Full-text available
Research shows that graded lesson observations aren’t working and can have a negative impact on the professional lives of further education staff. Improvements in teaching and learning must be grounded in collaboration and cooperation not competition, write Matt O’Leary and Andrea Gewessler There is an increasing consensus amongst those working in...
Article
Full-text available
Successive governments in England have regarded classroom observation as an essential tool for monitoring and improving teacher performance. Despite its importance in national policy for teacher development, the impact of classroom observation on individual teachers, and on improving quality and standards in teaching and learning, remain under-rese...
Article
What it means to be a ‘professional’ in further education (FE) in England has been the subject of ongoing debate over the last two decades. In an attempt to codify professionalism, New Labour developed a package of reforms, crystallised by the introduction of professional standards and qualifications and a new inspection framework under Ofsted. The...
Article
Full-text available
Over the last two decades, lesson observation has become a hostage victim of the ‘Quality Police’ in schools and colleges in England, who have duly stripped it of its value as a catalyst for professional development, with teachers invariably experiencing increased levels of disempowerment, anxiety and general discontent in relation to its use. Alth...
Technical Report
Full-text available
This report explores one of the most widely debated and hotly contested initiatives to affect teaching staff in the Further Education (FE) sector in recent times, that of lesson observation. The report captures the views of thousands of members of the University and College Union (UCU), working in a wide range of contexts and institutions and as su...
Book
Full-text available
Classroom Observation explores the pivotal role of lesson observation in the training, assessment and development of new and experienced teachers. Offering practical guidance and detailed insight on an aspect of training that is a source of anxiety for many teachers, this thought-provoking book offers a critical analysis of the place, role and natu...
Article
Full-text available
This article originates in a piece of educational research into the experiences of further education (FE) student teachers in the West Midlands region of England. This cohort of students experienced significant upheaval in their college workplaces and placements during the 2010/2011 academic year. Pressures on FE funding were exacerbated by a Compr...
Article
Full-text available
In last summer’s edition I discussed the topic of graded lesson observations in FE and argued that the continued emphasis on measuring teacher competence and performance via the Ofsted 4-point scale had not only become a perfunctory, box-ticking exercise in many colleges, but had also given rise to a range of counterproductive consequences that wer...
Article
Lesson observation has a longstanding tradition in the assessment and development of new and experienced teachers in England. Over the last two decades it has progressively emerged as an important tool for measuring and improving professional practice in schools and colleges. This article reviews literature across the three education sectors (i.e....
Article
Full-text available
The Skills for Life (SfL) initiative followed the Moser Report (1999) and incarnated a Third Way agenda that sought to address England’s perceived adult skills deficit. SfL marked a large investment in adult education but also a distinct shift to a more focused, instrumentalist role for Further Education (FE) in England. A new structure of teacher...
Article
Full-text available
The observation of teaching and learning (OTL) has become an essential means of collecting evidence about the quality of FE teaching both internally for colleges and externally for agencies such as Ofsted over the last decade. If recent policy developments are anything to go by, then the reliance on OTL as a key tool for assessing the quality of te...
Article
Full-text available
In little over a decade, the observation of teaching and learning (OTL) has become the cornerstone of Further Education (FE) colleges’ quality systems for assuring and improving the professional skills and knowledge base of tutors. Yet OTL remains an under-researched area of inquiry with little known about the impact of its use on the professional...
Thesis
The observation of teaching and learning (OTL) has emerged as a pivotal tool for measuring, assuring and improving the professional skills and knowledge base of tutors working in Further Education (FE) in recent years. Although it has become an important element of the wider reform agenda of continuous improvement in FE, OTL remains an undeveloped...
Presentation
Full-text available
’Restrictive and expansive approaches to professionalism and the professionalization of tutors in FE colleges’
Data
Full-text available
For some years now, teachers in the post compulsory sector have been lambasted in educational circles for what some perceive as the poor quality of teaching and learning in classrooms. Such criticisms have tended to emanate from those responsible for inspecting the sector’s provision. In fact, when Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) and the...
Article
Full-text available
Incl. bibl., abstract. For some years now, teachers in the post compulsory sector have been lambasted in educational circles for what some perceive as the poor quality of teaching and learning in classrooms. Such criticisms have tended to emanate from those responsible for inspecting the sector's provision. In fact, when Ofsted (Office for Standard...
Article
This series: The aim of this set of books is to combine the best of current academic research into the use of Communities of Practice in education with "hands on" practitioner experience in order to provide teachers and academics with a convenient source of guidance and an incentive to work with and develop in their own Communities of Practice. Vol...

Questions

Questions (6)
Question
I'm specifically interested in the application of intersubjectivity in the context of professional learning and teacher development.
Thanks in advance
Matt
Question
Interested in exploring why people notice what they notice when they observe
Question
I'm interested in comparing how HE providers across England are responding to the TEF. For example, what are they doing differently? What changes have been made since the introduction of the TEF?

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