Teacher Evaluation by Students

Teachers are evaluated by various methods. At this point in time the manner in which teachers are evaluated in China is undergoing changes. Nowadays, they are often assessed by their students.

This is like a double-edged sword. Among its drawbacks, the biggest concern is that some students are not mature enough and they are unable to evaluate their teachers’ performance in a sound way. But its strengths speak louder than its shortcomings. Firstly, this approach can foster students’ capability of independent thinking. By this way, they are encouraged to challenge their teachers, which is conductive to innovation. Secondly, after receiving the feedbacks from their students, teachers can further improve their teaching approaches. Last but not least, students are the receptors of the teaching activity, therefore, they have the most say of teachers’ performance.

As far as I am concerned, I go in for this assessment as this student-oriented method is a relatively reliable indicator of how competent a teacher is in the classroom. However, it’s also undeniable that there is still a long way to go to make it perfect.