Classroom observation has long made teachers nervous. But what if it could do the opposite – build confidence, spark professional curiosity, and improve student holistic learning outcomes at the same time?
That is precisely what the Valuing Inclusive Teaching and Learning or VITAL Toolkit, developed by Dr Sughra Choudhry Khan, as part of the Schools2030 programme, sets out to do. We spoke to Sughra – who works as a Schools2030 Global Assessment Partner – about what makes it different, why “valuing” is the operative word, and the three words a Year 9 boy once said that she has never forgotten.
VITAL draws on both the World Bank’s Teach tool and AKF’s Guide to Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment. What did you take from each, and what does VITAL bring that is genuinely new?
When the Schools2030 programme launched, we wanted to merge the best of both tools but simplify the experience for teachers and observers. From AKF’s guide, we integrated teaching practices centred on pluralism, social and emotional learning, and values-based education. From the World Bank’s Teach tool, we merged behaviours and adopted the rubric format – levels with concrete examples – and some of its observational guidance.
What’s new is that VITAL is fully aligned with the Schools2030 philosophy of assess, innovate, and showcase. It becomes an ongoing professional development tool, not a one-off inspection. We measure 37 behaviours across eight dimensions: emotional climate, high expectations, facilitating learning, critical thinking and creativity, social and collaborative learning, learning to learn, checks for understanding, and feedback. We also introduced a four-level rubric rather than three, allowing for richer professional progression. We have a teacher self-reflection tool and one addition I haven’t seen elsewhere: a reflective dialogue question bank to help observers phrase post-lesson conversations in ways that open teachers up rather than shut them down.
VITAL operates across ten very different country contexts. How do you hold on to a useful common framework while still allowing for local meaning?
The science of learning gives us evidence of what works across contexts. The emotional climate – how safe a child feels – shapes readiness to learn whether you’re in Portugal, India, or Kyrgyzstan. That is universal.
But what “treating all students respectfully” looks like in what may seem like a homogenous classroom in one country may look quite different in a multi-ethnic one. Children have different individual social, emotional, physical and learning needs that the teacher needs to respond to. So VITAL offers genuine guidance for contextualisation. Countries can expand or reduce the 37 teaching practices while retaining the eight dimensions. Kyrgyzstan, for example, aligned them with their national assessment framework.
Learners can make incredible progress when we shift to truly valuing them and the learning process.
Observation tools can feel judgmental. How did you design VITAL to feel like a tool for growth rather than scrutiny?
VITAL is not a one-off inspection where someone walks in, allocates a level, and walks out. It’s a learning process. Teachers are introduced to the rubric at the start of the year through the Human-Centred Design training – nothing is hidden. They can see exactly what each level looks like, from no good practice observed at level one, to excellent practice at level four.
They then choose two or three practices to work on across the year, supported by a mentor through observations. The key is that we want to create for teachers the same kind of supportive emotional climate that we’d want them to create for their students. Starting with strengths. Framing challenges as growth points. We want teachers to understand that a level one isn’t a punishment. It’s a starting point.
The name itself – Valuing Inclusive Teaching and Learning – feels deliberate. What does “valuing” signal?
Very deliberate. It asks a question of all of us: do we really value inclusive teaching, or do we just say we do? Are we making every child feel that they belong, that they matter, regardless of background or ability? Do we genuinely believe that every child in front of us can learn?
Learners can make incredible progress when we shift to truly valuing them and the learning process. That’s where AKF’s pluralist and ethical stance becomes so central – developing in teachers, and through them in students, qualities like empathy, resilience, critical thinking, and respect for diversity. We have seen that when teachers develop these qualities, it transforms both teacher wellbeing and student outcomes.
What do you hope goes through a teacher’s mind the first time they sit with their VITAL data?
I hope they ask themselves: do I really know my students? That question was brought home to me by something a boy once said.
I once observed two back-to-back lessons with the same class of Year 9 boys. In the first, they misbehaved and barely learned. In the second, with a different teacher, they were engaged and working hard. At the end I went up to a group of them and asked why. One boy said, simply: “She knows us.”
Three words. And what that teacher did was go around the room and have a private conversation with every single boy. That’s what I want VITAL to do- hold a mirror up to the teacher that reflects their teaching . For them to ask not just “Am I covering the curriculum?” but “Do I know who needs more support? Have I spoken to that child at the back in the last three lessons?” Those ‘small things’ can bring big changes in the classroom.
VITAL works across both primary and secondary levels. Does the quality of the learning environment actually look that different across those two age groups?
The premise is the same. We are talking about the quality of relationship between the teacher and the learner, no matter the age, the learning space, the subject. Relational pedagogy requires teachers to develop a positive emotional climate and have high expectations, whether the learners are ten or fifteen. I think we are teachers of children and young people first, and teachers of subjects second.
The content and strategies may differ – you may go deeper at secondary level – but the principles are the same: start with what the learner knows, provide thinking tasks, make every child feel they belong. VITAL provides examples from both primary and secondary levels, and these can be contextualised further at country level.
I remember visiting a school in rural Sindh when I was CEO of AKES, P, and the children were telling me their favourite subject was physics. You don’t often hear that! So, I went to observe the teacher. He was genuinely passionate about physics and the children were simply catching that passion. That energy between teacher and learner is what VITAL is ultimately trying to nurture.
How will we know if VITAL is really working, not just as measurement, but as a catalyst for change?
Because it sits within the Schools2030 assess-innovate-showcase cycle, we can track it across the year. We take a baseline across all eight dimensions, measure progress on the specific practices teachers have chosen to develop, and then reassess all dimensions at year end. Because student learning assessments run alongside, we can connect shifts in classroom practice to changes in learning outcomes.
What’s powerful is that improving one or two practices rarely stays contained – it ripples. When a teacher works on emotional climate, students start participating more, asking more questions, working better in groups. The classroom becomes a different kind of place with more activity. That’s when you know it’s working.
Teaching is an incredibly complex process. So many things are happening at the same time, and the teacher’s mind is thinking very, very quickly. But what I would like to leave people with is this: the magic of teaching and learning lies in the relationship between teachers and learners. We may have 30-60 or even 100 children in front us but for them, they have one teacher who they watch intently. We need to measure what we value and then develop from it. If we can help teachers see their own practice more clearly, celebrate what they do well, and grow with genuine support rather than fear, I believe that learning will follow. For the teachers, and for every child in front of them.
Thank you, Sughra.
