Students’ Evaluation of Teaching (SET) for Improving Learning and Teaching Quality in HE: Students’ and Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Various academic institutions in higher education (HE) allocate their resources differently to improve the quality of teaching and learning. To measure and identify the teaching and learning quality in any educational context, institution performance in this field must be evaluated using different techniques and instruments, one of which is Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET). The study aims to determine the use of SET to improve teaching quality based on the opinions of teachers (n = 6) and students (n = 413). This is achieved by investigating 1) the degree of alignment or divergence between teachers’ and students’ ratings of a particular course, 2) how teachers value students’ feedback on teaching to improve their teaching practises, 3) students’ perspectives on using SET in improving teaching quality and 4) the implications for implementing SET effectively in HE context. These were addressed using an adapted version of the Students’ Course Evaluation Questionnaire (SCEQ), and the Mann-Whitney test was used to analyse the data. The findings reveal a statistically significant correlation coefficient (r = 0.739) between teachers’ and students’ evaluations. The associated p-value (0.058) is slightly greater than the conventional threshold of p ≤ 0.05. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test indicated an overall concurrence between teachers’ and students’ evaluations, although certain inconsistencies were observed. The findings indicate a consensus among teachers and students regarding SET’s efficacy in enhancing instructional quality.