Evaluation of Biology Trainee Teachers’ Effectiveness Using their Students’ Perceptions of Teaching Behaviour

Abstract

The study determined the degree of agreement between the evaluations of trainee biology teachers using students' perceptions of teacher skills and characteristics obtained from the Science Student Perception Questionnaire (SSPQ) and the evaluations. of these same teachers by their university supervisor and their school supervisors. The results indicated that such agreement did exist between these sets of data. This finding helped to establish the validity of the SSPQ as a means of assessing trainee teachers' performance and characteristics in the classroom. Also, students irrespective of their age, the teacher being assessed or the topics being taught, tended to exhibit similar perceptions of the instructional behaviour and personality characteristics of their trainee teachers. A few significant differences between the two age groups did occur, but these were always found to be in favour of the older students, who tended to rate their teachers more favourably.

Children as Service Evaluators

“…Almost all studies involving primary and secondary school pupils focus exclusively on teachers' personal qualities and teaching methods and ignore other aspects of the school environment. Indeed, the rationale for many of the studies appears to have been the need to contribute to the evaluation of student teachers' classroom performance (Cortis & Grayson, 1978 ;Dickinson, 1990 ;Johannessen et al, 1997 ;Meighan, 1974Meighan, , 1977Meighan, , 1978Stroh, 1991 ;Tairab & Wilkinson, 1991 ;Veldman & Peck, 1963, 1969. Because a number of reviews on pupils' evaluations of teachers have already been published (Follman, 1992(Follman, , 1995McKelvey & Kyriacou, 1985), only key articles and instruments used are mentioned below.…”

“…The scale contains 43 items divided into two categories : teaching behaviour and teacher personality. The instrument has high internal reliability and has subsequently been used to evaluate trainee biology teachers (Tairab & Wilkinson, 1991) and integrated science teachers (Jegede, 1989).…”

Children as Service Evaluators

“…Indeed the rationale for many of the studies appears to have been the need to contribute to the evaluation of student teachers' classroom performance (Cortis & Grayson, 1978;Dickinson, 1990;Johannessen et al, 1997;Meighan, 1974;1977;Stroh, 1991;Tairab & Wilkinson, 1991;Veldman & Peck, 1963;1969), Because a number of reviews on pupils' evaluations of teachers have already been published (Follman, 1992(Follman, , 1995McKelvey & Kyriacou, 1985) only key articles and instruments used are mentioned below.…”

“…Some of the studies which have asked for pupils' evaluations of student-teacher performance have compared the pupils' views with those of the student's college supervisor. Veldman and Peck (1963,1969) and Tairab and Wilkinson (1991) compared pupils' evaluations of student-teachers with the ratings they had been given by their college supervisor. Both found that the supervisor ratings of the student teachers were positively related to pupil ratings of teacher effectiveness.…”

“…The scale contains 43 items divided into two categories; teaching behaviour and teacher personality. The instrument has high internal reliability and has subsequently been used to evaluate trainee biology teachers (Tairab & Wilkinson, 1991) and integrated science teachers (Jegede, 1989). Most of the questionnaires described were developed for use with pupils in secondary school or high school although some included the upper end of primary school (Amatora, 1954;Cortis & Grayson, 1978;Waxman & Eash, 1983).…”