Learning Rounds: what the literature tells us (and what it doesn’t)

Abstract

Learning Rounds is a form of professional development that has gained widespread currency in Scotland. It has received official endorsement from Scottish Government funded agencies and has spread as a practice through at least 24 out of 32 local authorities, in part through popular adoption by teachers. However the literature on Instructional Rounds that informs Learning Rounds is not as well known in Scotland as the practice of Learning Rounds itself. An earlier small scale study of Learning Rounds in Scotland suggests that practice varies significantly from school to school and from the original practices of Instructional Rounds. This literature review provides a critical survey of the existing literature on Instructional Rounds and Learning Rounds. This is intended to enable educators to be more informed about whether to adopt the practice and how to develop and evaluate the practice if they do.