The NTEU is arcing up against student surveys of teachers

The Queensland branch of the union is set to campaign against student evaluations of teaching, and the ways university managements use them.

The push responds to a member survey last year which found, in part; * students wrote disrespectful/abusive responses to open-questions, which managements generally let slide, * management used survey results to appraise staff despite, 20 per cent of academics in the survey thought they were “an accurate measure of their performance.”

“The standardised online one size fits all evaluation, which is relatively efficient to administer and analyse is not fit for purpose as a tool to inform or improve subject/units or their delivery,” the union argues.

“The fundamental question universities need to answer is why are they using these flawed, biased assessment tools that have the propensity to hurt staff?,” the NTEU’s Michael McNally asks.

“The best answer we have had so far is ‘well they are the best thing we’ have got’. The NTEU will campaign against these ridiculous Uber ratings for academics until they are back to what they were: voluntary mechanisms for academics to get feedback on their courses.”