Toward Teachers' Accountability and Improvement? Administrators' Approaches to Student Evaluation of Teaching

• In Event: Training, Evaluation, and Development in Higher Education

Abstract

Despite ongoing demands for faculty evaluation processes that promote student learning, little is known about how higher education leaders utilize student evaluation of teaching (SET) for such purpose. This qualitative case study aims to investigate higher education administrators’ approaches to SET by adopting Problem-Based Methodology (Robinson, 1993) and theories-of-action (Argyris & Schon, 1974). It employs document analysis and interviews with 18 administrators from seven institutions in Vietnam. The study shows administrators’ approaches mainly involved unilaterally checking SET data and solving SET problems rather than making joint efforts to use SET data for improvement. While SET strengthened teachers’ accountability, most administrators were unsure of how SET impacted teaching improvement. Key constraints include SET policies, administrators’ perceptions, institutional values and faculty culture.

Author

• Lan Anh Thi Nguyen, University of Auckland