Student evaluation of teaching: do teacher age, seniority, gender, and qualification matter?

ABSTRACT

This study, conceptualised within effective teaching and individual differences theories, examines the impact of the teacher’s age, seniority, gender, and qualification on student evaluation of teaching (SET) in order to get more evidence to justify the results found in the literature, and identifies a proper and logical use of SET based also on the evidence and arguments from the previous studies. Insignificant impacts of the teacher’s age, seniority, gender, and qualification on rated teaching effectiveness indicate that students nowadays are likely to perceive these factors as less important in mediating teaching effectiveness. The research emphasises the differences in perceptions about effective teaching across educational institutions and among students; the former has led to the difference in the construct of SET questionnaires among different institutions, and the latter to the validity of SET. How to use SET effectively is thus suggested so that its value is optimal but not overestimated.

KEYWORDS:

• SET
• effective teaching
• teaching effectiveness
• individual differences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thi Thu Trang Tran

Thi Thu Trang Tran obtained her PhD in Education from the University of Queensland, Australia. She has expertise in qualitative research methods and mixed methods. Her research interests include educational psychology, education quality assurance, leadership, gender, and teaching and learning in higher education.

Truong Xuan Do

Truong Xuan Do obtained his MA in Measurement and Evaluation in Education. He has expertise in conducting quantitative research on issues related to assessment and evaluation in education.