Does the use of end of semester evaluation forms represent teachers’ views of teaching in a tertiary education context in Japan?

Abstract This paper considers both how the mandatory introduction of student evaluation of teaching surveys (SETs) fits into the social and political context of tertiary education in Japan, and the assumptions about teaching underlying SETs. Through interviews with English teachers, a technical–rational perspective whereby teaching is a profession only to the extent that it involves applying theoretical knowledge to the pursuit of educational ends is discussed. Teachers’ capacities to make complex judgments are not recognized so that teaching becomes indistinguishable from technical expertise. Quantitative evaluation as a measurement of effectiveness and efficiency leads to teacher exclusion from dialogue on how teaching might be improved.

[1]  J. Charles Alderson,et al.  Evaluating second language education , 1993 .

[2]  Yamada Reiko,et al.  University reform in the post-massification era in Japan: analysis of government education policy for the 21st century , 2001 .

[3]  P. Rea-Dickins,et al.  Program Evaluation in Language Education , 2005 .

[4]  P. Cave.  Educational Reform in Japan in the 1990s: 'Individuality' and other uncertainties , 2001 .

[5]  Charles R. Emery,et al.  Return to academic standards: a critique of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness , 2003 .

[6]  J. Charles Alderson,et al.  Evaluating Second Language Education: GUIDELINES FOR THE EVALUATION OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION , 1992 .

[7]  D. Duke,et al.  The case for commitment to teacher growth : research on teacher evaluation , 1988 .

[8]  Ira Shor.  Equality Is Excellence: Transforming Teacher Education and the Learning Process , 1986 .

[9]  H. Rubin,et al.  Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data , 1995 .

[10]  M. Ben‐Peretz,et al.  How Teachers in Different Educational Contexts View Their Roles. , 2003 .

[11]  Jack C. Richards,et al.  Curriculum Development in Language Teaching , 2001 .

[12]  M. Mclaughlin.  Teacher Evaluation and School Improvement , 1984, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[13]  Henry A. Giroux.  Theory and Resistance in Education: A Pedagogy for the Opposition , 1983 .

[14]  S. Moore,et al.  Students evaluating teachers: exploring the importance of faculty reaction to feedback on teaching , 2005 .

[15]  J. Millman.  Handbook of teacher evaluation , 1981 .

[16]  H. Marsh.  Students’ Evaluations of University Teaching: Dimensionality, Reliability, Validity, Potential Biases and Usefulness , 1984 .

[17]  K. Kitamura.  Policy issue in Japanese higher education , 1997 .

[18]  John MacBeath,et al.  Self-Evaluation: What's In It For Schools? , 2002 .

[19]  Jennifer Caroline Greene,et al.  The Inequality of Performance Measurements , 1999 .

[20]  A. Gitlin,et al.  Teacher Evaluation: Educative Alternatives , 1989 .

[21]  Numa Markee,et al.  Managing Curricular Innovation , 1996 .

[22]  J. Wellington.  Educational Research: Contemporary Issues and Practical Approaches , 2001 .

[23]  S. Hegarty.  Teaching as a Knowledge-based Activity , 2000 .

[24]  P. Abrami,et al.  Students' Evaluations of University Teaching: Research Findings, Methodological Issues, and Directions for Future Research , 1987 .

[25]  Peter W. Airasian,et al.  Teacher Self-Evaluation , 2006 .

[26]  Yoko Motani.  Hopes and challenges for progressive educators in Japan: assessment of the ‘progressive turn’ in the 2002 educational reform , 2005 .

[27]  Freema Elbaz.  The Teacher's "Practical Knowledge" Report of a Case Study , 1981 .

[28]  Gary D. Fenstermacher,et al.  The elicitation and reconstruction of practical arguments in teaching , 1993 .

[29]  James A. Anderson,et al.  Student evaluation: The faculty responds , 1980 .

[30]  J. Stronge.  Evaluating Teaching: A Guide to Current Thinking and Best Practice , 2005 .

[31]  Peter Seldin,et al.  Using student feedback to improve teaching , 1989 .

[32]  D. Pratt.  Reconceptualizing the evaluation of teaching in higher education , 1997 .

[33]  P. Doyon.  A review of higher education reform in modern Japan , 2001 .

[34]  Pauline Rea-Dickins,et al.  Evaluation and English language teaching , 1994, Language Teaching.

[35]  Morwenna Griffiths,et al.  Using Reflective Practice to Link Personal and Public Theories. , 1992 .

[36]  文部科学省.  White paper on education, culture, sports, science and technology , 2004 .

[37]  John A. Centra,et al.  Reflective Faculty Evaluation: Enhancing Teaching and Determining Faculty Effectiveness. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. , 1993 .

[38]  Rachel Johnson,et al.  The Authority of the Student Evaluation Questionnaire , 2000 .

[39]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[40]  James H. Stronge,et al.  The Politics of Teacher Evaluation: A Case Study of New System Design and Implementation , 1999 .

[41]  L. Darling-Hammond,et al.  Teacher Evaluation: A Study of Effective Practices , 1985, The Elementary School Journal.

[42]  Mary L. Flyr,et al.  The Formal Evaluation as an Impetus to Classroom Change: Myth or Reality?. , 1992 .

[43]  A. Suresh Canagarajah,et al.  TESOL at Forty: What Are the Issues?. , 2006 .

[44]  D. Schoen,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action , 1985 .

[45]  D. Freeman,et al.  Renaming experience/reconstructing practice: Developing new understanding of teaching , 1993 .

[46]  Karen E. Johnson,et al.  Teachers' Narrative Inquiry as Professional Development , 2002 .

[47]  J. Dewey.  How we think : a restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process , 1934 .

[48]  H. Harrington.  Teaching and Knowing , 1994 .

[49]  Market and higher education in Japan , 1997 .

[50]  I. McGrath,et al.  Theory in Language Teacher Education , 1999 .