Built around HGIOS?4 QI2.3
Hear the lesson back — through a coach's ear, not an inspector's.
Second Listen turns a recording of a lesson into grounded, non-judgemental reflection: real quotes lifted straight from the transcript, a reflective question beside every one, and evidence bands that describe the recording — never the teacher.
One recording. A grounded reflection — not a grade.
Record a lesson on your phone, or straight in the browser, then upload it. Second Listen transcribes it and reads it against eight classroom-practice indicators drawn from HGIOS?4 QI2.3 and the wider research on effective teaching, then hands back real observations — each one a direct quote from your own lesson — paired with a reflective question. Nothing is scored. Nothing leaves your school unless you choose to share it.
What's actually built
For teachers, and for the people who lead them
For teachers
- ✓ Record on your phone, or straight in the browser — upload whichever's easier afterwards
- ✓ Optional Learning Intention & Success Criteria, in your own words, shown back next to what actually happened
- ✓ Every observation is a direct quote from your transcript, paired with a reflective question — never an instruction
- ✓ An evidence-level badge on each indicator (thin / emerging / established / strong) — describes what the recording captured, not your teaching
- ✓ Choose up to 3 focus areas to highlight, or view the full eight-indicator picture any time
- ✓ Export a complete reflection to PDF, to support your own professional learning
For school & authority leaders
- ✓ A whole-school profile across every analysed recording, updated as new reflections come in
- ✓ Per-indicator banding using the same evaluative language as your own HGIOS?4 self-evaluation — Few through All
- ✓ A genuinely different denominator, always labelled — proportion of recordings, never of staff
- ✓ A shared management access code, or named per-person logins with their own password
- ✓ Trend-over-time and cohort viewsComing soon
Where the judgement comes from
Grounded in evidence, aligned to HGIOS?4
The eight indicators map directly onto HGIOS?4 QI2.3 — Learning, Teaching and Assessment — so feedback speaks the same language as your own self-evaluation. Underneath, they also draw on the wider evidence about what effective teaching looks like, so the judgement calls aren't just one rubric — they're checked against the research it's itself built on.
What happens to a recording
Built to be trusted with a real classroom
Audio deleted within seconds
The recording itself — the most sensitive artefact, actual voices in the room — is deleted the moment it's transcribed. It is never stored.
Transcript auto-expires
Transcripts and analysis are retained for 14 days by default, then removed automatically. Nothing accumulates indefinitely.
Feedback belongs to the teacher
Reflections are for the teacher first. They're never surfaced as an individual performance record without the teacher's own say-so.
School-level access only
Every recording is tied to a school-level login. One school never sees another's data — enforced on every request, not just in the interface.
Where this stands today
Currently piloting in Dundee
Second Listen grew directly out of HGIOS?4 QI2.3 — Education Scotland's own quality framework for learning, teaching and assessment. It's an independent tool built around that public framework — not an official Education Scotland or Dundee City Council product — and it's now being piloted with a small number of schools before any wider rollout.
Interested in piloting Second Listen?
We're taking on a small number of pilot schools and authorities this term. Get in touch and we'll set up time to walk through it.