What can they say about my teaching? Teacher educators' attitudes to standardised student evaluation of teaching

Source: European Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 31, Issue 2 May 2008 , pages 203 - 214

This article examines teacher educators' attitudes to standardized student feedback on the quality of their teaching in a teacher education college in Israel. It is part of a comprehensive study initiated by the management of the institution, and the focus in this writing is on teacher educators' attitudes to student feedback: the way they perceive students relating to the feedback, and the extent to which feedback is used for professional growth. Our findings suggest there is acceptance of feedback as part of students' democratic rights (entitlement).

However, differences were found between the analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data. Teacher educators were much more critical when expressing their attitudes freely. Moreover, professional development based on the feedback seems to be carried out mainly in isolation. We suggest that teacher education institutions should develop supportive professional development centres in which teacher educators can be helped to view the feedback as a 'feed-forward' tool, necessary for engaging students in purposeful professional development activities.