Engendering inequities: precariously employed academic women’s experiences of student evaluations of teaching

ABSTRACT

Grounded in intersectional feminist approaches, this study explores the equity impacts of student evaluations of teaching (SETs) on precariously employed women in the academy. Despite their overrepresentation in the academic teaching workforce, precariously employed women are a demographic group that remains underrepresented in research on SETs. Thirty-four qualitative interviews with precariously employed academic women at a university in Ontario, Canada, were conducted to explore their experiences of SETs. The participants critiqued SETs’ role in perpetuating feminized and racialized labour market precarity, and undermining their professional autonomy and professionalization. They also described how SETs subject them to discriminatory evaluations based on their gender, race and age, and the impacts thereof on their workload and mental health. This study’s findings reveal the importance of recognizing SETs’ impact on equity and the need to change teaching evaluation policy in higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Difference and diversity
• education policy
• Neoliberalism
• qualitative interviews
• intersectionality
• higher education
• teachers’ educators

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 There is no standardized form for student evaluations of teaching. However, SETs typically include questions about instructors’ knowledge, availability and ability to maintain student interest; fairness of course objectives, workload, and grading standards; and appropriateness of course organization, classroom atmosphere and pace of instruction that are to be scored on categorical-ordinal scales. Some also provide space for more general, open-ended comments.

2 The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) played an important role in supporting some of the more recent research demonstrating these problems with SETs (see OCUFA 2019).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of Waterloo [Waterloo Gender Equity Grant].

Notes on contributors

Sandra Smele

Sandra Smele is a Research Associate of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute of Concordia University. Her work focuses on exploring equity and inclusion from a critical intersectional lens. She has conducted and contributed to a number of research projects focused on higher education, racism, feminism, disability, care, abuse and social gerontology.

Andrea Quinlan

Andrea Quinlan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo. Her research examines inequities in higher education and intersections of law, science, technology, and medicine in criminal justice responses to sexual violence. Additionally, her work investigates the influence of social movements on policy, law, and institutional practice.

Emerson Lacroix

Emerson LaCroix is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo. His research examines the transformation of higher education in Canada. His current research examines the formalization of experiential education, considering principles of neoliberalism and organizational theory. Emerson is also interested in the intersections of power, precarity, and pedagogical innovation in higher education.