TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS STUDENT EVALUATION OF TEACHING IN HONG KONG

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) as a measurement of effective teaching in higher education has drawn much attention due to the need for greater accountability and improvement in student learning. Our review of literature on SET suggests that that there are considerable controversy and criticism surrounded its use, fairness and validity. Yet, many universities are primarily depending on this mechanism to provide data source on how to improve teaching and learning and on the decision making of pay-rise and promotion of the teachers.
If universities are to continue to use SET as the main source of mechanism for measuring teaching effectiveness; teachers must understand and be aware of its uses and purposes. But how much do we know about teachers’ perception of SET? In this study, we investigate teachers’ perception through an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collected from 62 Science faculty members in a research-intensive university in eastern Asia.
Data analysis revealed diverse attitudes towards the effectiveness of SET as a measurement of teaching, in terms of the effect of course characteristics (e.g. subject difficulty), student characteristics (e.g. students’ interest) and teacher characteristics (e.g. teachers’ motivation) on student ratings. Our findings also suggest correlational relationships between teachers’ perception of SET and factors which contribute to student ratings. In addition, our qualitative findings not only coincide with the findings of previous studies, but also supported our quantitative findings. Implications for the use of SET as a measurement of teaching and future research directions were outlined.