VUWBO Walks allow you to enquire into one aspect of classroom practice in up to 5 classrooms. Choose one of the 5 VUWBO sliders or create your own slider content to investigate an aspect of teaching or curriculum relevant to your school development priorities.

Here are three ways of using VUWBO walks that we find useful:

1. Focus on a case pupil to build a profile a child’s teaching and learning experience through a day

Choose ‘Challenge & differentiation’ from the ‘Focus’ list on the set up page of VUWBO walks. Next, add the name of a more able pupil to ‘Additional focus’. You can then shadow that pupil through the day talking to them about their perceptions of the challenge afforded them. You can take photo’s of their work in each lesson to compare whether the quality differs in relation to the challenge they are given. This can give real purpose to an observation done by a trainee teacher when on placement in your school. Similarly your SENCO might want to focus on ‘Skill development’ or ‘Expectations & relationships’ for a child with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) as they build evidence for a pupil review meeting.

2. Track two classes and compare their experience of one aspect of practice

Working in one secondary school recently we wanted to explore whether children new to Key Stage 3 were more receptive to challenge than their Key Stage 4 peers. We set up our first observation by selecting ‘Challenge & differentiation’ and added 5 teachers (one for each lesson of the day). Next choose ‘Begin walk’ then ‘Begin’ and then choose ‘Pause’. Next, set up another ‘Walk’ repeating this process for the 5 lessons taught to the Key Stage 4 class. We then spent the first half of each lesson with Year 7 and the second half with Year 10. Using the ‘Pause’ button we could move back and forth between the two ‘Walks’ without affecting the accuracy of the time stamp.

3. Conduct a collaborative enquiry learning walk

Gather a small group of teachers, leaders and Governors together. Agree the ‘No. of Teachers’ to visit. Agree a ‘Focus’ and add an ‘Additional [enquiry] focus’ e.g. Is our whole school focus on ‘Feedback’ having a positive impact on teaching and learning? Encourage the team to talk to pupils, look at work and understand the planning decisions made by teachers. Spend a short time in a classroom before coming out to discuss and compare your findings. Review and refocus before visiting the next classroom. This strategy is based on the Lauren Resnick (University of Pittsburg) approach to Learning Walks.