Chapter 3 - Student Feedback: Shifting Focus From Evaluations to Staff Performance Reviews

Abstract

Student evaluations of teaching and the unit of study have been used in most Australian universities for more than two decades. The main aim of such evaluations is to monitor student perceptions of teaching and unit quality and to identify areas of good practice and areas needing improvement. The results of such evaluations are used by some institutions to review academic staff performance and to identify professional development needs. In some universities, recent government policies in Australian higher education related to quality assurance and performance-based funding using teaching quality measures such as student satisfaction or experience have resulted in the shift of voluntary teacher and unit evaluations to mandatory tools to assess and reward academic staff performance. This chapter provides a case study of an Australian university where teacher and unit evaluations have been made mandatory and where the outcome is used in the academic staff performance development and review process. The chapter concludes that government policy to improve teaching quality via performance-based funding may achieve political ends rather than enhance the educational experience of students.