Students’ assessment tools of professional activities of scientific and pedagogical workers of higher education institutions: foreign and domestic experience

Abstract

Considering the external and internal challenges, including accession of Ukraine to the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area, the adoption of the Laws of Ukraine «On Education» (2017), «On Scientific and Technical Activities» (2016), «On Higher Education» (2014) the systematic reforming higher education began. One of the directions of reforming higher education is to increase the requirements for the professional level of scientific and pedagogical workers, since only a highly qualified specialist is able to provide a high level of training for the applicants for higher education and, accordingly, to prepare a competitive specialist.
 The article is aimed to identify the tools for students to evaluate the professional activities carried out by the scientific and pedagogical workers in foreign and domestic higher education institutions. To achieve the aim and solve the set tasks, we used a complex of methods of scientific research: theoretical analysis of academic literature - to clarify the achievements of the scientists on a particular topic of research; structural and system analysis - to identify the tools of evaluation used by the students to assess professional activity of scientific and pedagogical workers of foreign and domestic higher education institutions; comparative method - to carry out a comparative analysis of the content of domestic and foreign instruments for evaluating the professional activities carried out by scientific and pedagogical workers. Summarizing the results of the study indicates that there is a positive experience in the market economies, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States of America (USA) regarding the involvement of students in evaluating the professional performance of teaching staff. The reasonability of engaging students in evaluating the professional work of students' teaching staff is primarily due to the fact that they most often contact with the teaching staff and they are the direct consumers of their services. Based on an analysis of the best university practices in the UK, Australia, and the United States for assessing students' professional work and their personal qualities, it has been established that the main tools are: an online assessment system; student ratings; feedback from students to improve teaching and learning, including student letters prepared from the whole group or course; feedback from alumni (including masters and PhD students, as well as graduate assistants) and more. The analysis of domestic practices showed that instruments such as anonymous questionnaires and student rankings are mostly used to evaluate the professional activities of academic staff of higher education institutions and their personal qualities. The introduction of foreign experience of the use of various tools for assessing the professional activities of the scientific and pedagogical workers in domestic higher education institutions will contribute to the self-reflection of their own professional activities, the development of a trajectory of professional development focused on the areas that require professional development and improvement of quality.