Using video for professional development: the role of the discussion facilitator

Past research into the use of video for professional development has failed to problematise or theorise sufficiently the role of the discussion facilitator. It has been reported consistently that it can be hard or take time to establish norms for discussion of video but little has been said about reasons why, or the role of the discussion facilitator. As a starting point in this area, I suggest fives aspects or decision points in the role of the facilitator. Two aspects are taken from the literature and the others are drawn from empirical data, collected as part of an enactivist study into the use of video in one secondary school. At the school, teachers commented on finding video watching in a group more useful than lesson observation, with no evidence of this taking time to develop. I offer speculations, based on enactivist category theory, as to why the use of video in this school is effective. Having presented key aspects of the role of the facilitator of video use, a further look at the detail of the data from discussions serves to highlight some of the complexities involved in just one of the categories (and, by implication, the others). I conclude that the role of the facilitator cannot be separated from a consideration of the historical context in which discussion takes place.