PEER OBSERVATION OF TEACHING TEMPLATE
Peer observation works best when it is developmental: the teacher chooses what to focus on, a colleague watches with that in mind, and the two of them talk about it afterwards. This template is the observer’s form, built around that conversation.
Free plan available. No card required.Too many peer observation forms are compliance checklists. This one starts with the question the teacher sets: what would you like me to focus on? Everything else follows from it, which keeps the observation useful to the person being observed rather than a box to tick.
The ratings cover the things colleagues can see that teachers cannot see in themselves: whether the aims were clear, how engaged students were, how the session was paced. The open questions ask for specific strengths and specific suggestions, and for questions to discuss afterwards, so the conversation starts from something written down.
The observer fills the form in during or straight after the session. The teacher gets a report they can reflect on, keep, and use as evidence.
So the teacher knows whose observation this is.
Short text
Why it’s asked. Peer observation is a conversation between colleagues, not anonymous feedback. Naming the observer also makes it stronger evidence.
Multiple choice · Lecture · Seminar or tutorial · Lab or practical · Clinical or bedside teaching · Online · Other
Why it’s asked. What good looks like differs between a lecture and a bedside tutorial. The format puts the ratings in context.
Short text
Why it’s asked. Keeps the observation developmental and focused on what the teacher wants to improve.
1 is strongly disagree, 5 is strongly agree.
Rating, 1–5
Why it’s asked. Clear aims are the foundation of effective teaching, and easy for an observer to judge from the back of the room.
1 is strongly disagree, 5 is strongly agree.
Rating, 1–5
Why it’s asked. Engagement is far easier to see from the outside than from the front.
Multiple choice · Too slow · About right · Too fast
Why it’s asked. Pacing is hard to judge while teaching, and one of the simplest things to adjust.
Be specific: what you saw, and its effect on students.
Long text
Why it’s asked. Specific strengths give the teacher something to build on, and are the most useful lines for an application or appraisal.
Suggestions, not judgements.
Long text
Why it’s asked. Framed as suggestions so the teacher can experiment, which is what developmental observation is for.
Long text
Why it’s asked. Starts the post-observation conversation from something written down, which is where most of the learning happens.
When the form closes — on a date you set, or when you close it — BetterForms writes the report for you: a chart for every question and every written answer, plus themes and an executive summary on plans that include analysis. Print it or save it as a PDF, share a read-only link, or export the raw responses to CSV or Google Sheets. Here is what people do with it.
Fellowship applications ask you to show, with evidence, how your practice meets the Professional Standards Framework. A peer observation report, and your reflection on it, is a natural source for that evidence and for examples in your written account.
Many teaching qualifications and probation schemes require observed teaching. Save the report as a PDF with your reflection on it, ready for your portfolio.
Bring reports to your annual review as evidence of teaching quality and development. For promotion cases built on teaching, a series of observations over time shows sustained improvement.
Doctors and other clinicians who teach can use the report as evidence of teaching quality for appraisal, or towards recognition as a clinical or educational supervisor.
Add a short note of what you agreed in your follow-up conversation and what you will try next. That turns a single observation into a cycle of development.
It opens in the editor as your own form. Change any question, then share it with a link or a QR code. Or start from a blank form and let AI draft the questions for you.
Delegate feedback for CPD study days, courses and conferences: whether learning objectives were met, what will change in practice, and permission to quote.
Teaching & trainingFeedback for workplace training and workshops that goes beyond satisfaction: confidence before and after, relevance, and the commitment to apply it.
Medical educationAnonymous feedback from the medical students you teach, turned into a report you can upload to your portfolio for ARCP or appraisal.