Student perceptions of student evaluations: enabling student voice and meaningful engagement

A wealth of evidence about the place and value of student evaluations of teaching (SET) exists. Issues highlight often unspoken assumptions about the separation of evaluation from core teaching-learning processes. Despite the research presenting the teacher/institutional viewpoint, few studies address student perceptions of, and engagement with, SET. To examine the converse side of the arguments about SET, this study looked at SET from the perspective of the student. Experiences and perceptions about evaluations were invited from students from two New Zealand tertiary institutions through a questionnaire. The majority of students said that they were happy to provide feedback on teaching and courses, but systems of expectation, imposition on time, lack of knowledge about consequences of the SET system and the way their responses are used are barriers to their engagement. Shifting focus of research from the SET system to the effectiveness of partnerships between students, teachers and institution is suggested as a way to take future SET research in a different direction. This may foreground the positive contribution of SET to learning and teaching rather than repeated exploration of its inherent limitations and weaknesses.