"Customer surveys" in schools

[TigerBoy]

I just read an article about student feedback surveys at University "When students answer back" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20531666), and it made me wonder if we should have the same thing in schools. Perhaps you already have something like this. Would you want the opportunity to tell your teachers what you thought of them? How could you persuade your school to adopt such a system? Do you think your school would accept it?

I know they have something similar in place for staff appraisals at my school but they don't ask students for their opinion as far as I'm aware. I think this is a big omission myself: how can you truly assess a person in their role when you don't talk to their 'customers' like in other industries?

[FergusDunn]

I just read an article about student feedback surveys at University "When students answer back" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20531666), and it made me wonder if we should have the same thing in schools. Perhaps you already have something like this. Would you want the opportunity to tell your teachers what you thought of them? How could you persuade your school to adopt such a system? Do you think your school would accept it?

I know they have something similar in place for staff appraisals at my school but they don't ask students for their opinion as far as I'm aware. I think this is a big omission myself: how can you truly assess a person in their role when you don't talk to their 'customers' like in other industries?


We have a pupil/staff meeting - whuch is good and a Parents night also some teachers ask for feedback about lessons.

I think all schools should offer some way of doing that.

[Mortal Coil]

We have that. It's horrible, because the teachers read out the comments sometimes and if you have a minority opinion (even though they're anon) it gets really embarrassing. Also, some people are trolls.

[PrimedPenguin]

I think all schoold should implement a system like this. How are teachers to know if they are doing a good job without asking the people their teaching. If teachers don't know their teaching method isn't working then they will Continue to teach it which will make their class time less efficient. Though a system like this would become abused because of the amount of immaturity there is is today.

[Maverick]

I go to a university and at the end of the semester we get emails asking to do surveys evaluating our professor. They are anonymous and according to the university they aren't shared until after final grades are posted... I guess to put students at ease about retaliation.

Also, there's an unofficial website called Rate My Professor where students can leave feedback on their professor. I don't know of any student that doesn't check it when they are registering for classes. I use it myself too. Some of the comments on there are silly but in my experience the majority of the time what is said on there is likely to be true.

I think its a great idea to do surveys because some teachers/professors can be so far out there and terrible. They shouldn't be used as a means to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. The downside is that it can force a professor to grade inflate a little to not receive too much negative feedback and then miss out on a promotion.

[MartyG]

In theory it would be a great addition to all the existing controls a school uses to judge the effectiveness of the teachers. However; in reality at the HS level (and under) I would imagine that for every thought-through sensible comment there would be dozens of non-sensical ones.

It might be too time-consuming for anyone on staff to sort through them all.....and then take the "real" ones seriously.

Perhaps if were implemented it could come with a caveat that if it was abused...it would be gone?

[Manjusri]

My school started something like this just this year. It's called 'community core'.

Every week on wednesdays we go to advisory (advisory = home room) and we have to give feedback on the school / anything pertaining to the community. If we give negative feedback, we have to give a proposition as to how we could fix the problem.

Honestly i think it's alright. The only problem is the community i'm in is already in so much shit that the student body won't be doing much to help it. Another problem is that the feedback isn't anonymous, so some kids are afraid to speak out against the school. Then other kids who are over opinionated tend to ridicule everything about the school or community, even if it's not a problem.

I think i'm going to propose a way of anonymously giving feedback, it will probably encourage more of the student body to give their opinion.

[Aajj333]

We have that. It's horrible, because the teachers read out the comments sometimes and if you have a minority opinion (even though they're anon) it gets really embarrassing. Also, some people are trolls.

So what your saying is they read comment out loud, say who said them, and if you have a minority opinion, they ridicule you for it

[Mortal Coil]

So what your saying is they read comment out loud, say who said them, and if you have a minority opinion, they ridicule you for it

They don't say who said it, but to hear the whole class joking about your comments and saying things like, "whoever wrote that was probably on her period," isn't the most pleasant thing.

[TigerBoy]

They don't say who said it, but to hear the whole class joking about your comments and saying things like, "whoever wrote that was probably on her period," isn't the most pleasant thing.

People are sheep, and having a minority view that threatens the status quo will always be an uphill battle.

I would hope that having that viewed aired may plant a seed in other minds that may in future make them recognise instances of what is being criticised and think more objectively. For more effect, submit criticism with explanation, fact and constructive alternatives.

Changing minds is a war of attrition - at least some schools are now giving you a field of battle to fight on.

[Human]

it would be good to be able to communicate with teachers more... but most of mine are great

[Aajj333]

They don't say who said it, but to hear the whole class joking about your comments and saying things like, "whoever wrote that was probably on her period," isn't the most pleasant thing.

That doesn't sound pleasant at all

[Taryn98]

A lot of universities do this. I like the idea but there are plenty of students who will give poorly thought out responses that won't be helpful.

[Jean Poutine]

A lot of universities do this and it doesn't mean jack squat. I have a teacher who is terrible, gets atrocious ratings year after year and she's still there. She yells at students who don't understand, she's cancelled 7 classes to do her fucking research, and she's just really mean.

Why?

Because when you get hired by an university, it's for research first and teaching second. If the teacher's research activity outweighs his/her terrible teaching, the teacher will stay. Simple as that.