1.Beoordelingen van leraars/docenten en/of onderwijskwaliteit door leerlingen/studenten zijn enkel zinvol als dit op een verantwoorde manier gebeurt (zie punt 2). Veel bevragingen over hoe leerlingen/studenten de lessen/leraren beoordelen, geven een vertekend of eenzijdig beeld. (Is vaak ook het geval in de PISA-studies.)

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers( over beoordeling door leerlingen) said that such “snapshot” impressions of lessons – could not be used to judge the quality of a lesson. Attempts to do so ignore deeper learning and valuable learning experiences.”

Men kan de leerlingen/studenten echter ook meer cruciale vragen voorleggen (zie voorbeeld in bijlage), maar dit vraagt meer tijd, diepgang en herhaling; en dit gebeurt zelden.
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(We stellen verder ook vast dat veel onderzoekers - vaak sociologen - graag uitpakken met spectaculaire en vernietigende conclusies - meestal gebaseerd op oppervlakkige en zelfs tendentieuze vragen. Zo ontdekken onze Vlaamse sociologen nooit iets positiefs in ons Vlaams onderwijs.)

2. "The authors of the MET Project report, Asking Students about Teaching say,
For results to be useful, they must be correct. It’s of no benefit if survey responses reflect misunderstanding of what’s being asked, or simply what students think others want them to say.

Honest feedback requires carefully worded items and assurances of confidentiality. Standardized procedures for how surveys are distributed, proctored, and collected are a must. Accurate attribution requires verification…

I wonder to what extent these considerations were taken into account before deciding to judge teachers on pupil interviews? The report continues:
"Consistency builds confidence. Teachers want to know that any assessment of their practice reflects what they typically do in their classrooms, and not some quirk derived from who does the assessing, when the assessment is done, or which students are in the class at the time. They want results to be reliable. (p. 14)

The suggestions set out to ensure consistency and reliability appear to be in complete opposition to the way interviews are conducted in the school above. But then, we only have one teacher’s view – maybe they just need to be a little more trusting? Maybe, but as the report clearly states,

No policy can succeed without the trust and understanding of those who implement it. Although often ill-defined, collaboration is key to effective implementation of new practices that have consequences for students and teachers. Every system referenced in this brief has made stakeholder engagement central to its rollout of student surveys—involving teachers in the review of survey items, administration procedures, and plans for using results in feedback and evaluation. (p. 21)

3. Nog een interessante bijdrage over deze thematiek

Pupil interviews replace lesson observations for judging teaching quality

John Dickens Dec 11, 2015

Pupil interviews are replacing graded lesson observations so senior leaders can judge teaching ability, Schools Week has learned.

One London school is putting observers in lessons to watch how some children learn before interviewing them afterwards.

A teacher at the school, who did not want to be named, said underperforming pupils were often chosen, and the outcome was used to judge the teacher’s ability. The practice drew criticism on Twitter, with one teacher calling it “Orwellian”, although the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said pupil interviews were a useful form of school self-evaluation.

The teacher, who blogged about the experience, wrote: “My biggest fear is that this is another thing, another layer of monitoring, another initiative taking me away from planning and delivering the stuff the kids need.”

She also said interviews could become a popularity contest or tempt teachers to cheat the system by prepping pupils.

Observers asked questions including “what have you been learning?”, “how does the teacher help you?” and “what do you find hard in this subject?”

The teacher later told Schools Week the process had both positives and negatives.

“The need for a performance observation lesson is gone . . . I also do really like the idea of looking at student learning, rather than delivery.”

But she said younger or lower-ability pupils were “invariably targeted” and could be “less aware of the learning, less focused and often less thoughtful before they answer.

“I worry that my teaching is being judged entirely on what a child has to say about it.”

She said more schools now used pupil interviews instead of graded observation lessons, which Ofsted ditched last year over reliability concerns.

However, Schools Week recently reported that heads were still held accountable for the quality of teaching in schools, with a regional commissioner last month asking for evidence that a certain percentage of teaching was good or better.

Dawn Jones, a head of year who read the blog, tweeted in response: “This is utter nonsense. [It] saddens me. This is not business – kids are not the customer.”

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said that such “snapshot” impressions of lessons – whether on interviews or test data – could not be used to judge the quality of a lesson.

“Attempts to do so risk turning our schools into exam factories, and they ignore deeper learning and valuable learning experiences.”

But Brian Lightman, general secretary of ASCL, said schools have used pupil learning interviews for years. Their purpose was “entirely different from that of lesson observations.

“They are an informative and useful form of school self-evaluation designed to understand the learning experience from the pupils’ viewpoint.”

He said schools also used learning walks and pupil trails: “The feedback and insight gathered is useful in identifying how pupils can be helped to do as well as possible.”

School improvement consultant Gareth Balch, writing for school support provider The Key, said assessing pupils’ understanding of learning was a way to monitor progress across the school.

The Key provides example pupil questionnaires for schools to use on the quality of teaching and learning, as do advice groups such as the Lancashire Grid for Learning.

However, the support service said it had no evidence the interviews were being used instead of graded lesson observations. They were more as a source of evidence in appraisal.