1. Overall, teachers were positive about the Visible Classroom approach, and believed that it had the potential to benefit both themselves and their pupils.
2. Most teachers were adept at using the technology in the classroom, even if they had not done so before this trial. There were some technical problems related to hardware, software, and internet connections, but after an initial bedding-in period most were overcome.
3. Though few teachers spent time reviewing the verbatim transcripts, the online dashboard and more detailed feedback reports based on the transcripts were seen as valuable tools to support teacher development. To maximise the impact of the feedback, teachers would benefit from being given greater opportunity to review and discuss their practice with peers and managers.
4. Pupils did not seem to use live transcripts of teacher dialogue regularly, consistently, or in a way that would suggest an obvious benefit in learning. Teachers had mixed views on whether the live transcripts might have additional benefit for disadvantaged pupils or their peers.
5. Further research would be required to assess the level of impact the approach has on academic attainment. Prior to considering a full trial it would be valuable to undertake some additional development work to refine the approach.

The pilot study found that the Visible Classroom approach is feasible and has the potential to make an impact on teacher practice that may lead to benefits in pupils’ learning.

Most schools that participated in the project were enthusiastic about the approach. Teachers appreciated having a record of their teaching performance and believed that they benefited from the analysis dashboard and the more detailed feedback reports. Though very few teachers spent time reviewing the entire transcripts of their lessons, all participating teachers used the dashboard regularly, and felt that this was the aspect of the approach most likely to change their behaviour and lead to increased pupil attainment. To further improve the impact of this component, it would be valuable to ensure that teachers are provided with allocated time to reflect on feedback, and are able to discuss the feedback with peers or managers. Most teachers were adept at using the technology, even if they had not done so before the project.

There was less evidence that live transcripts of lessons directly benefited pupils by increasing their engagement or enabling them to review previous parts of the lesson. Though some teachers thought that the transcripts were of benefit to children, many classes did not follow the live transcripts and some teachers actively discouraged pupils from following the live transcript during whole-class teaching.

Teachers also had mixed views about which pupils were likely to have most benefited from the live transcripts. Some felt that transcripts offered reinforcement and information checking for poorer performing pupils whilst others felt the pupils had to be fairly skilled to find the information they needed and so only the higher performing children were able to do this.

The pilot was a qualitative evaluation of the Visible Classroom approach based on 27 semi-structured interviews with staff in participating schools, and two classroom observation visits. During observations the evaluation team assessed how the approach was used, levels of pupil engagement, and the use of tablets.