The relationship between students’ evaluations of teaching and academics professional development

Abstract

There is much debate concerning students’ evaluation of teaching and several academics discredit the validity and reliability of student comments. Student feedback would be a good source of information for academics to improve their teaching, while earlier studies indicate that the academics do not always make use of student feedback in their teaching development. Their perception on the applicability of the student feedback can be related to teachers’ attitude towards student feedback and their teaching conceptions. Furthermore, it may influence their motivation and efforts to participate in pedagogical trainings and willingness to improve their teaching. The research question for the current study was: What are the relationships between the academics’ conceptions of teaching and participation in pedagogical courses and their willingness and ability to apply student evaluation of teaching feedback to enhance teaching practice? Forty two academics were interviewed and interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. As the result of the analysis three profiles of academics’ were formed: 1) academics with consistent attitude, 2) ambivalent attitude and 3) arrogant attitude towards student evaluation of teaching feedback. The study revealed how academics respond to such feedback and how they use it to develop their teaching depends on academics’ conceptions of teaching, attitude towards student feedback and participation in pedagogical courses.