Teachers at an Oxford school could have more than just their pupils' eyes on them when they take classes from now on.

A new classroom, which allows staff to watch a lesson in action from behind a two-way mirror, was used for the first time at Oxford Community School yesterday.

The Big Brother-style room is thought to be only the second of its kind in the UK and a resource which headteacher Steve Lunt believes will "bring teaching into the 21st century".

It means teachers can be assessed from behind the screen by groups of education experts - something which could never usually happen because of the disruption it would cause to a class.

The room is in the East Oxford school's new conference centre, which was opened by Channel Four presenter Jon Snow earlier this year.

Mr Lunt said: "This is about as cutting edge as it gets. This was the first time we have used it in a live lesson and it was extremely interesting.

"The children were aware there were people behind the screen and looked in on a few occasions to begin with but seemed to soon forget we were there."

The staff watching the teacher giving the lesson are also observed by the headteacher and the deputy and education consultants can also give their feedback.

Yesterday's lesson saw newly-qualified teacher Catherine Cheffins take a group of year nine students for a religious education class.

She was watched by fellow humanities teacher Manny Botwe and head of humanities Gwyn Williams together with Mr Lunt, his deputy Maurice Dixon, Oxford University director of graduate studies Hazel Hagger and Pat O'Shea, the county council's advisor on 14 to 19 education.

Mr Williams said: "This is a fantastic opportunity which we are all genuinely excited by. Normally, if I was to go into a classroom to observe a lesson it would change the dynamic of the lesson.

"But this is an opportunity for us to observe a lesson without disrupting it and discuss what we are observing at the same time."

Mr Lunt added: "This is a fantastic training and coaching resource for us. The ultimate aim is to produce better teachers."

The room has a microphone so that everyone in the adjacent room can hear what is happening.

The only other school with a training room like this is the Nelson Thomlinson School in Cumbria.

Different perspectives

  • THE PUPIL: Jared Smile, 14, of Greater Leys, said: "I kind of forgot the mirror was there, but was tempted to look in a few times to see what was going on."
  • THE TEACHER: Catherine Cheffins said: "I relaxed into the lesson after a while as I genuinely forgot the screen was there. The build-up to it was definitely worse than the reality."
  • THE OBSERVER: Gwyn Williams said: "This is a fantastic opportunity which we are all genuinely excited by."
  • THE EXPERT: Maurice Dixon said: "This is not designed to test the teacher in there but to help staff in their training and development."