Teacher Evaluations

[LazySlipper]

I am still trying to get a grips with the way some places do their teacher evaluations. Normally, in pro-active schools it is done by the heads and the coordinators. In university it is done by students. This is what I would consider normal and a standard back in my country where I am a qualified teacher. I just cannot come to terms that in Thailand, in secondary government schools, it is done by the students and more importantly right after exams. I am blown away by the fact that, just like in the days of the Romans where a thumbs down meant death, that today teachers are subjugated to the whims of teenagers. By having teachers evaluated right after exams doesn't that send out the message to the students that their teachers are at their mercy? Moreover, doesn't that send the message that in order to keep your job you must keep the kids happy and that they must all get good grades? --or else?

In doing so, admins in Thailand are tying the hands of their foreign teachers behind their backs. When I say foreign, I mean that in Thai government schools (correct me if I am wrong) the Thai teachers have tenure and again correct me if I am wrong... they are not evaluated by the students.

Edutainment is the way of the future and puppets on strings are we. I heard that the o-net results are out and they are already looking for ways to solve the poor education here. Maybe if the Thai teachers submitted themselves to the same treatment they submit us to they would start to see why it is impossible to get anything done.

Just my two cents...

[brewsterbudgen]

Never heard of that. All our teacher evaluations/appraisals are done by the Director of Studies.

[LazySlipper]

You just heard of that.

[brewsterbudgen]

You just heard of that.

Yep. Been teaching here for 10+ years and never heard of students appraising their teachers! Sounds horrendous!!

[LazySlipper]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

[stubuzz]

It happens in my school and an average score is then given to the teacher, The problem is every teacher has a different number of students, so i suggested that the numbers should be created using standard deviation; this was was met by blank stares from the admin.

[tonray]

yes...happens in my school also. But I can't care too much....if the school wants to base my evaluation on what 15 year old's think....fine. Plenty of ways to teach in Thailand.

But be aware that the evals are skewed just like student grades......if the Thai staff likes you...they will plant the idea in the student's heads that they 'should' like you also on the eval score.....it's all very ridiculous.

[Rhys]

Over and down here.. Contract 1-4 years, the G awful evauation process is a collection of lesson plans, tests, all related files, listing of all your extra duties, research, publications, speaking, community involvement, academic support and so on, then the students have a marking system, just after finals as well.. they don't rate you, students cannot register for next semester...

So yes, dudes, it does happen is various forms and fashion. However, the student evaluation is only part, it is the other paperwork chase that counts and how far you bend over...

[thesetat2013]

Never heard of that. All our teacher evaluations/appraisals are done by the Director of Studies.

Doubtful! You just didn't know the student gave your evaluation to the director.

[thesetat2013]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

So true. If for some reason a Thai teacher doesn't like you they can easily tell the kids to write about your faults or things they don't like. It is easier to find the negative than the positive.

[DogNo1]

Smart supervisors or directors of study should approach teacher evaluations very carefully. As stated already, there are too many confounding factors for the numbers to be meaningful. The administration of my university in Japan tried to introduce evaluations but the faculty vetoed the idea. The faculty also discarded placement exams after a while since they were found not to be accurate and effective. Moreover, it was found that classes with students of mixed abilities functioned better. Classes filled with low-scorers were nearly impossible to teach and the students themselves were unhappy in them. People want to reduce everything to numbers but that doesn't work very well.

[Mencken]

I have a good relationship with our Thai staff. I've seen some of my student reviews, there were very positive, about as I expected for the courses I saw.

I also took an opportunity to peek at a few others although I do not know their names.

There are some very shitty teachers at my school and maybe I saw a better teacher, but it looked almost as good as my classes.

Another teacher known for being old, dry and dull had a few negative reviews but many good ones.

I think most kids, for their ages and intellectual abilities are fair. Many of you are ugly cynics.

Yeah, you have unruly classes you need to hammer constantly. Kids tired of you for not let them go nuts weekly? Yeah, you'll take a hit for that I'm sure.

You have to be truly atrocious teacher to get fired over student reviews. That was my take away.

My issue would be with crusty and/or drunkard HoD without Ed degree or any degree (in all schools I've taught, no degree) doing observations that will impact jobs, salaries. That's some serious nonsense.

It's hilarious how people without degrees somehow think a 120 hour TEFL course is some sort of valid paper. In Japan you don't even need one. The standards here are just so low..high school drop out + TEFL = 30k and visa.

Edited January 14, 2016 by Mencken

[MaeJoMTB]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

Buy them all lunch, 25bht each for a good evaluation.

That's the Thai way of voting.

[samsensam]

evaluation is an important part of teacher development. how does that work if students are doing the evaluation? mad.

[Mencken]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

So true. If for some reason a Thai teacher doesn't like you they can easily tell the kids to write about your faults or things they don't like. It is easier to find the negative than the positive.

I always laugh at these sentiments posted online and spoken at school. What do you do that would make a Thai teacher set upon you like this? Lol.

[Scott]

There is nothing wrong with getting feedback from students, but that is what it should be called -- feedback. An actual evaluation is a little more complex and should include a variety of criteria.

[otherstuff1957]

In my school teacher evaluation is done by Admin & the various Department Heads. I'm the head Science teacher at my school and spend about 8 or more hours a semester observing teachers, making recommendations & writing reports.

There are 8 Department Heads at my school, 3 foreign and 5 Thai.

Occasionally Admin will ask students about a teacher, but only if there seems to be a problem.

[attrayant]

I didn't get evaluated this year; not sure why. In past years it was the department head who monitored our teaching for about ten minutes in a single period and then wrote up an assessment of the totality of your capability based on that ten minutes.

There used to be student surveys at the end of each term but there were none at the end of last term. I asked the dept head and she said there have been too many negative comments about the management style so they stopped doing surveys. That's a shame because I always got really good remarks from the students.

[tonray]

I didn't get evaluated this year; not sure why. In past years it was the department head who monitored our teaching for about ten minutes in a single period and then wrote up an assessment of the totality of your capability based on that ten minutes.

There used to be student surveys at the end of each term but there were none at the end of last term. I asked the dept head and she said there have been too many negative comments about the management style so they stopped doing surveys. That's a shame because I always got really good remarks from the students.

T

The thing with student evals is you likely already should know if they like you or not. As someone posted earlier, the badly behaved classes where you have to babysit instead of teach are going to dislike you and the bright students who you can engage and actually teach will love you. If you do not have enough connection with your students to know up front what they think of you then you are likely never going to able to reach them in class.

It's the arbitrary stuff (for example...one year I was cited for not being social enough with the other Thai staff)...turns out it was a complaint from a teacher I had never met and did not even work in the languages dept...she felt slighted because I failed to introduce myself once at a ceremony. This happens all the time...they think you are slighting them because you don't do this or that or the other thing...but they will never tell you what those expectations are.....when I questioned whether they had an issue with my teaching, they told me the students and staff admired me but I need to be more social with the staff. Ok...so then I became Mr. Congeniality, saying good morning in both English and Thai and introducing myself at every opportunity.....except many Thais who are shy around foreigners never looked at me or even responded so I stopped. You can't win !

[Squeegee]

I was once evaluated by an ex-Chula ajarn at a school I was working at. Her 'constructive criticism' was that I could have out the P1 kids into pairs for dialogues. There were only 25 kids in the class, but even so, a class of 25 P1 kids doing pair work a few weeks into their first primary year?!

So if I am to be managing one pair of kids what on Earth did she think the other 23 kids would be doing?

This was early in my time in Thailand but since she was an ex-Chula professor it told me everything I needed to know to about the state of Thai education and the reality Thai big shots live in. Since then I could never take them seriously whether they were telling me I am a good teacher or whether they were trying to teach me to suck eggs.

[thesetat2013]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

So true. If for some reason a Thai teacher doesn't like you they can easily tell the kids to write about your faults or things they don't like. It is easier to find the negative than the positive.

I always laugh at these sentiments posted online and spoken at school. What do you do that would make a Thai teacher set upon you like this? Lol.

You must not be very familiar with Thai mentality. You could easily shame a Thai teacher simply by correcting your students spoken English as taught to them by a Thai teacher in another class. Loss of face and having a student telling them they are wrong is sufficient to have any teacher set out against you. You could simply ask your in class Thai observer a question she has no idea how to answer and this would give them loss of face which could harbor I'll feelings towards you. Some of the simplest things a foreigner could say or do that causes a student to doubt their Thai teacher is sufficient to get that Thai teacher to have ill feelings towards you. Edited January 14, 2016 by thesetat2013

[Jools]

I encountered the same insanity, during university teaching in the United States. Immature young turds evaluating the instructors and the students flocking to websites such as "Rate My Professor". If students are qualified to "rate" instructors, why have instructors at all?

[Mencken]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

So true. If for some reason a Thai teacher doesn't like you they can easily tell the kids to write about your faults or things they don't like. It is easier to find the negative than the positive.

I always laugh at these sentiments posted online and spoken at school. What do you do that would make a Thai teacher set upon you like this? Lol.

You must not be very familiar with Thai mentality. You could easily shame a Thai teacher simply by correcting your students spoken English as taught to them by a Thai teacher in another class. Loss of face and having a student telling them they are wrong is sufficient to have any teacher set out against you. You could simply ask your in class Thai observer a question she has no idea how to answer and this would give them loss of face which could harbor I'll feelings towards you. Some of the simplest things a foreigner could say or do that causes a student to doubt their Thai teacher is sufficient to get that Thai teacher to have ill feelings towards you.

We seem to live in different worlds. There are some shit things about working at my school, but never once a direct show the of disrespect to me. Most Thai teachers, most former directors are pretty lovely. Hell, many Thai teachers wai me crossing campus before I them. The teachers at the gate and staff in all the offices very pleasant. Hell, some teachers smile brightly when they see me and most address me as Ajarn.

If this is an issue that's following you around, perhaps some introspection is in order. If not, move to BKK sff!

New shoes? Lose the clip on tie? Trip to dentist?

[thesetat2013]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

So true. If for some reason a Thai teacher doesn't like you they can easily tell the kids to write about your faults or things they don't like. It is easier to find the negative than the positive.

I always laugh at these sentiments posted online and spoken at school. What do you do that would make a Thai teacher set upon you like this? Lol.

You must not be very familiar with Thai mentality. You could easily shame a Thai teacher simply by correcting your students spoken English as taught to them by a Thai teacher in another class. Loss of face and having a student telling them they are wrong is sufficient to have any teacher set out against you. You could simply ask your in class Thai observer a question she has no idea how to answer and this would give them loss of face which could harbor I'll feelings towards you. Some of the simplest things a foreigner could say or do that causes a student to doubt their Thai teacher is sufficient to get that Thai teacher to have ill feelings towards you.

We seem to live in different worlds. There are some shit things about working at my school, but never once a direct show the of disrespect to me. Most Thai teachers, most former directors are pretty lovely. Hell, many Thai teachers wai me crossing campus before I them. The teachers at the gate and staff in all the offices very pleasant. Hell, some teachers smile brightly when they see me and most address me as Ajarn.

If this is an issue that's following you around, perhaps some introspection is in order. If not, move to BKK sff!

New shoes? Lose the clip on tie? Trip to dentist?

And you must not have any understanding about thais at all. No Thai will directly confront you or frown at you or do anything to lose face in your presence. It is a terrible thing for a Thai to do.

[LazySlipper]

This is the second secondary school I see do this. Bear in mind, it is only the foreigners that get evaluated.

Horrendous? To say the least. This is taking empowerment to a whole new level. The thing is, it is done without the teachers knowing the criteria on which they are being evaluated and that seems to add a page of unfairness to the already crappy crap book that this <deleted> is.

What did I get myself into!!!

So true. If for some reason a Thai teacher doesn't like you they can easily tell the kids to write about your faults or things they don't like. It is easier to find the negative than the positive.

I always laugh at these sentiments posted online and spoken at school. What do you do that would make a Thai teacher set upon you like this? Lol.

You must not be very familiar with Thai mentality. You could easily shame a Thai teacher simply by correcting your students spoken English as taught to them by a Thai teacher in another class. Loss of face and having a student telling them they are wrong is sufficient to have any teacher set out against you. You could simply ask your in class Thai observer a question she has no idea how to answer and this would give them loss of face which could harbor I'll feelings towards you. Some of the simplest things a foreigner could say or do that causes a student to doubt their Thai teacher is sufficient to get that Thai teacher to have ill feelings towards you.

We seem to live in different worlds. There are some shit things about working at my school, but never once a direct show the of disrespect to me. Most Thai teachers, most former directors are pretty lovely. Hell, many Thai teachers wai me crossing campus before I them. The teachers at the gate and staff in all the offices very pleasant. Hell, some teachers smile brightly when they see me and most address me as Ajarn.

If this is an issue that's following you around, perhaps some introspection is in order. If not, move to BKK sff!

New shoes? Lose the clip on tie? Trip to dentist?

And you must not have any understanding about thais at all. No Thai will directly confront you or frown at you or do anything to lose face in your presence. It is a terrible thing for a Thai to do.

Hmmm, I don't remember talking about whether the Thai teachers were nice or not. What my main concern is about is the timing of the evaluations--right after the examinations. Moreover, I question why the Thai teachers do not get evaluated. I am talking about my school, so if this rings a bell to anyone, good. So instead of taking this to a personal level discuss the issues I mentioned. I fail to see how my breath or my shoes come into account. As far as I am concerned you seem to be a cyberbully... correct me if I am wrong.

[Mencken]

Well, of course your breath and shoes come into account. But of course!

Who cares about standards of Thai teachers. Different standards, measures, this that wah wah wah.

Do you have an Ed degree, ten years experience and a native of Thailand? If not stop complaining. I hear this from a guy all day long at work all year long.

What I never here is what an awesome teacher he is and that's why he deserves more dosh.

All that matters is what you need to do to first, keep your job and second get more money.

You need to get off the pitty parade. Did your parents tell you life was fair or was it a teacher here in Thailand?

You are a package, each day, each moment, every interaction with each teacher and every student you are (hopefully) selling yourself.

Activities, gate duty, contests, large exams, comments on curriculum changes all contribute to a more positive you. Are you a part of the school? Do the teachers and admin see this? Do you sleep at your desk and slunk out the door asap?

Do Thai students smile and wai you, do you return the smile? It all gets back to the admin and teachers.

...that and a nice pressed shirt and clean breath.

When you are well liked, your evaluation will follow - or not.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Mencken

[LazySlipper]

I just love it when people do not answer the question and keep going on and on about something. Maybe these people should be politicians. If being a poster boy is your gripe then why don't you start a post about laundry soap, toothpaste and shoe shining techniques. Your obsession with not discussing my op indicates that you must never have farted in your life, out of fear of what people would say.

I fart and toot away all day and I have no trouble getting and keeping a job. Whether I pass the evaluations or not is not what I started to discuss...

[Mencken]

No problem keeping a job. Huh, cuz seems to me your sorta worried about the evaluation, and presumably your job.

Apologies if I was not able to clue you in properly.

By all means. Show up five minutes late in the same pants you wear all week, make sure they are riding below your hips and your tired, crumpled shirt is sufficiently untucked. Those off color grey/blue shirts the English are partial to are perfect, they look fashionably working class as well as worn and soiled bought new.

Be certain your yellow, cigarette stained teeth and foul breath from a lack of hygiene and dentistry are placed close enough to students so they recoil in horror and you smell like benzine and the street from the ride to work.

As you make your way about the room, please rip a few loud enough that your students rush for the doors. This always makes a stellar impression upon the Thai Director and evaluator.

Be certain not have a lesson plan nor practice it as well. Never attempt to teach the lesson prior in another class. Have a few drinks the night before, just enough so the alcohol shows on your face and clouds your thinking.

Knowing your students by name and calling upon them is another horrible idea. Look clueless, point and say...hey, you there...or simply -student. Show the evaluator indirectly, prior that you get on with your students well by brooding and stressing alone at the desk prior to your lesson.

Never meet with your evaluator prior and overwhelm them with your charm, cordiality, charm and kwam pen Thai.

All the teachers complaining about their evaluations before they even start really speaks to the heart of how unqualified and barely presentable they are.

In the end, the evaluation is just you, presenting yourself to your Thai students, standard lesson, best foot forward. If your are struggling with that concept, I'm afraid the pixie dust is all sold out at Big C.

Maybe you could work that farting thing into a lesson as an activity.

Hey, if you fail and they shitcan you, always know that you have no problem.

Maybe you should have a look at all the well pressed and scrubbed Thai teachers. Perhaps a consult with dozens of websites stressing the importance of dressing properly in Thailand - and Asia.

Evaluation... what is there to say? Do the lesson to the best of your abilities and map it all out including contingencies. Make sure to circulate in the room, check students books, call upon them by name. Show that you have a prifessional yet personal relationship with the students. Be warm, smiling, deferential. Control and guide the class with an iron fist wearing a velvet glove.

Or...you could just rip a big fart and say - class dismissed!!

[Scott]

Few of the Thai Admin that I have worked with are at all equipped to evaluate anything other than the cosmetic appearance factors that permeate the Thai system.

If you are being evaluated, it's a good idea to have an idea of what it is that they are impressed with. At one school I know, the whole evaluation process is based on whether you have visual aids. Hang a chart on the board or have a few flash cards are you are up for Teacher-of-the-year. I have seen people walk in with a chart and flashcards that have absolutely nothing to do with the lesson, in fact, they were borrowed from another teacher who teaches a different subject, but the Admin were impressed. I was too with his ingenuity and his ability to BS his way through a lesson!

Another school I know the big thing is vocabulary. They want a certain number of words every day. You must know the number they have predetermined is correct for the age or grade level. One less word and you are lazy. One too many and your no good and don't understand how to teach. Then the children must say them and spell them. This must be done 3 times.

A lot of schools will evaluate you on how well you 'tick' the notebooks and workbooks.

As a general rule, if they like you, you will get a positive evaluation. If not, you will get a negative one. It comes down to personality more than performance. Again, this is a generalization. In my experience, if the Thai staff don't like you, you won't remain at the school, unless they are completely unable to get teachers.

I occasionally do evaluations. One is an impromptu evaluation and one is a formal one. For the formal one, I want to see the lesson plan and the evaluation is based on how well the teacher implements the plan. They are shown the criteria they will be evaluated on and there is a meeting afterwards to discuss it point-by-point.

[pearciderman]

On 1/13/2016 at 7:30 PM, LazySlipper said:

just like in the days of the Romans where a thumbs down meant death,

 

"According to Anthony Corbeill, a classical studies professor who extensively researched the practice, thumbs up signalled killing the gladiator while "a closed fist with a wraparound thumb" meant sparing him."