Peer observation in my experience leads to meaningful and effective reflection and improvements in an environment of trust. Using a trusted colleague as a mentor removes the potential for a supervisor to use undue influence on any individual, unless student feedback indicates peer review is not effective as a triangulation.

Dear Mr. Norman Mohammad,

I am writing to let you know that I my opinion there should be a distinction between the rights of teachers and university professors.

Every teacher who has gained scientific teaching position that can work independently, does not like any advice on his lectures. Those who care to quality implementation classes can use his colleague as a critical friend in the implementation of teaching.

Because despite all the preparation we can not independently evaluate the quality of our lectures.

I hope I have been some of help.

Best regards,

Andrija

Hello Noman, I guess people will have mixed feelings about your question, and your question is likely to open a can of worms. Time has changed. Globally, universities are getting more and more market-dependent, and therefore, the academics areno longer 'holy cows' who are exempt from competition etc and the academia is no longer a 'secret garden' where no one is allowed to enter and find out what is happening there. Although as an academic/lecturer we all hate being observed or assessed or so called 'supported', unfortunately it is becoming more legitimate for academic leaders or administration or any other support persons to step in a classroom to watch in the name of 'supporting'. If it is the institution's policy to have such observations, I am afraid that lecturers should be cooperative. The reason is simple: If you do not have anything to hide, you do not need to feel uncomfortable about being observed. Nowadays it is not the lecturer who counts or has the final say, it is the students. I know this is sad from my perspective, but this is the reality and a trend according to my recent literature review titled "A systematic literature review of funding for higher education institutions in developed countries". I have attached this article for your reference.

"Nowadays it is not the lecturer who counts or has the final say, it is the students" Qilong Zhang. 

Hi Qilong and Noman. Firstly I would like to point out that I am a final year student enrolled on a teacher education program.

In answer to Noman's question, I would fully support the idea of observation and assessment of lecturers by their peers or supervisors. Point one: any academic research paper written is peer reviewed, assessed and either published or rejected, this promotes debate, encourages the spread of new ideas supported by sound research and improves the quality of work in the field. Why should this not translate into the classroom/lecture hall. A lecturer may be expert in his or her field but an inefficient communicator of knowledge, if the goal of any university is to promote the pursuit of academic excellence and knowledge, the the teaching methodologies and by extension the teachers must strive to be excellent.

Point two: teachers for the most part have received instruction on pedagogical principals about transfer of knowledge, how the mind works, motivation etc. Some lecturers receive little or no support or on the job training. Supervision and support may help lecturers to correct errors, become more critical of their teaching style, and dare I say it improve their practice.

To Qilong. In my opinion it should always be the students who count and have the final say. As an educator the duty of care is to educate to the very best of ones ability, of course there are those students who do not appreciate the work of a lecturer, will not engage with the material, do not have the maturity to work independently or quite simply just don't like the subject. That is outside the lecturers control what can be controlled is how one teaches. The level of respect show to students is by and large how one is respected, in my experience. I do agree however that if you have noting to hide you should not feel uncomfortable being observed. My question to is this should one not be uncomfortable if nobody cares enough to observe them.

P.S I found your literature review to be both interesting and informative. It is a worry when education is viewed in simply economic terms.       

hello every one iam support Karl , you can observation and assessment of lecturers

in many way the first as karil say by the activity teacher second you can observation by the student in this way they assessment teacher about plan of lecturers and the gole of it and did the subject its new or not ,technology aid use or not  

The answer in short is quality control. I teach at a state university. The state legislature has tied our funding to maintaining a quality education for the students of our state. Andrija is right in saying that we, as professors, are not high school teachers. However, with tenure under attack,, an annual evaluation is no big deal in practice. Here it is called a peer review. 

Lecturers should be observed randomly

to make sure the teaching is performed correctly.

As a requirement for obtaining tenure I am expected to invite tenured professors to observe me and provide written feedback each semester. I have no issue with this and appreciate feedback that will help me improve my craft.

Peer observation in my experience leads to meaningful and effective reflection and improvements in an environment of trust. Using a trusted colleague as a mentor removes the potential for a supervisor to use undue influence on any individual, unless student feedback indicates peer review is not effective as a triangulation.

In the beginning of my career, nearly 3-4 decades back, sitting of a senior was considered as a disgrace to the academe's reputation.

Over the years such perception stands diluted,

In the earlier case, albeit considered as interference / indulgence - was caused as a consequence of / or because of dissatisfaction of students.

Today the perception is seen to accommodate the imperative of quality improvement. this act is termed 'peer observation'

There is however an alternative in the earlier situation. Say, if the academe is evaluated in lectures delivered to peers, and is fully and closely visited by colleagues (peers) in the context of faculty development programmes or continual training, the purpose is fully addressed.     

The reaction to such requests depend on the existence or absence of a desire to improve oneself. I welcome being observed because it is an opportunity to improve my teaching. Learning is life-long and I don't claim to know everything yet. Furthermore, available research is incredibly rich and if some of this would find its way into the observation protocol, I would be delighted.

A few colleagues and I have tried to get voluntary peer observation off the ground a few years ago. We brought together lecturers from post- and undergraduate courses. It was highly successful and we all enjoyed it. However, it was somewhat unstructured and lacked a framework that would have helped it to survive. Pity.

Some universities I have worked in do this, and it is a valuable tool for improvement, as noted by some of the answers already. In my current university, though, we are evaluated solely by the students, which tends to reflect (a) how much they like your personality, and (b) what grade you give them. I personally don't like this system for obvious reasons.