6,000 Students Across Leicester to Benefit from Better Teaching and Learning

Discovery Trust is set to improve teaching standards and pupil outcomes for thousands of pupils in Leicestershire, thanks to new video technology in their schools.

The cameras, from ONVU Learning, are designed to record how teachers teach and how pupils react to their teaching through a bird’s eye view of the classroom. Teachers then use the clips to reflect on what they could have done differently or try out new teaching methods with a view to improving pupil’s enjoyment and engagement with their learning.

Paul Stone, CEO of Discovery Trust, said: “Ensuring young people are enthusiastic and engaged in their learning is key to improving student outcomes.

“Teachers have complete control over what they record on the cameras and own their video recordings. The footage is purely for their benefit so they can improve their teaching and understand more about how the class is learning.”

All 182 classrooms in the trust’s 20 schools will be equipped with specialist cameras after a successful trial of more than a year in 60 classrooms.

The first schools to have the camera technology this autumn will be the trust’s 15 primary schools. By spring 2026, the trust’s secondary school and four special school will have cameras installed in all their classrooms.

Jo Stone, Ped Tech Lead at Discovery Trust, said: “We piloted the technology for a year and during that time, teachers could analyse what they were doing in class and be reflective about their own practice. They became more self-aware and able to recognise when something went well and understand the reasons why.

“Throughout the pilot, staff were sharing clips of their practice with other teachers to discuss how they could improve their teaching or engage children in a different way.

Before rolling it out to all 20 of its schools, Discovery Trust put in place a comprehensive consultation and training process. Policies and protocols were outlined explaining how the cameras would be used and they made it clear to staff that no one else in the school could view the footage unless the teachers wanted to share it. They informed parents about the cameras and explained that the recordings would be used only for teacher training and not for any other reason.

Matt Tiplin, vice president at ONVU Learning and a former school leader and Ofsted Inspector, said: “We are seeing more and more schools wanting to change the way they develop teaching skills in their teams. There is a shift from the old style ‘this is what good teaching looks like’ type learning to a more collaborative way that allows for much more innovation that ensures children want to learn.

“Part of this process is giving teachers more of a say in their own professional development. Video technology is a great way to do this and allows for huge leaps in teaching skills for a fraction of the cost of more traditional methods.”