Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I'd say i'm still nowhere near being convinced as to the role a TA has in observing teachers.

It's understandable that behavior is altered under observation conditions. This is as true for a film team observing lions stalk zebras as it is for a DoS observing a teacher teach. If you feel that teachers are just putting on a show then there are several things that you can do

1. discuss with the teacher prior to the observation what you expect to see from this observation. These might be things that you had discussed after their last observation and that are now forming a part of their ongoing development. In my experience teachers can't just switch on & off basic areas of teaching methodology such as classroom management, grading of language, providing student support, etc. etc.

2. consider how much forewarning you give a teacher in regards an observation and how specific you are in regards exactly what part of the class you'll observe. I don't mean that the DoS should go round bursting into classrooms and carrying out formal observations without give some notice as this puts unnecessary pressure on the teachers. However, you might consider informing teachers during a teachers meeting that you'll be popping in & out of classes this weekend for 15-20mins just to get a feel for any areas that as a group we could improve on. This might give you a better idea of 'the real state of affairs' in a class. To be even more covert in your observations there is always the 'corridor observation'. You can gain a lot of insight into certain aspects of classes just by being present in and around the school while classes are happening. For example if you walk past a room and see a group of students sleeping at their desks then you might be right to infer that the teacher has a problem with motivating students and maintaining pace and interest in a lesson. I wouldn't then use this 'corridor observation' to actually give feedback to the teacher but it might well prompt you to carry out a formal observation in the near future.

3. finally there is a lot of research that suggests peer feedback is far more effective than manager feedback. Teachers just get used to the idea that they will be observed at certain stages of the month by their superiors. They begin to see it as a process rather than a chance to develop. Peer feedback often works best because individual teachers can empathize with one another and feel that they are sharing common experiences, successes and problems. I would doubt though that most foreign teachers would consider a TA to be a peer and i would also be surprised if many young female university students in China (the basis of your TA team) feel comfortable discussing teaching ideas with their foreign colleagues.

These judgments were based on a combined teaching experience of around 20 years, and I can honestly say that we decided that the points raised were invalid and "panic" as many times as we decided that action needed to be taken.

A first year teacher in China recently told me that she felt that there is no "s#!t filter" in Chinese schools. Problems were just passed onto her by local members of staff including TAs. These problems ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous and included things that were either not her fault or equally issues that she could not be reasonably expected to solve. She was understandably quite demotivated by the whole experience so far. It seems from what you and sparrow (the OP) have stated that you were that filter (no offence intended) but since you departed all the excrement has been allowed to flow downstream to the detriment of the academic team. It does to some extent support what i wrote in my original post that the general health of the school (certainly from an academic perspective) was reliant more on individuals fighting the good fight as opposed to a structured business in which all parties understood the importance of academic standards to the overall success of the organization.