Teachers' Perceptions of a 360-Degree Feedback Process
In recent years, the 360° feedback process, which originated in the business world in the 1980s, has been increasingly used for the purpose of teacher evaluation. When this is done, feedback from peers, parents and students, as well as teacher self-reflection and student achievement data, are used in addition to more traditional evaluation strategies. Despite its growing popularity, however, there have been very few published studies about the impact of the 360° feedback process in the business world and even fewer in the field of education. The overarching purpose of this qualitative study was to discover teachers' perceptions of a 360° feedback system. The following questions were used to guide the inquiry: (a) What are teachers' perceptions of 360° feedback? (b) What sources and kinds of feedback do teachers find helpful? (c) How do teachers use feedback to improve instruction and student performance? (d) How do teachers deal with the emotional aspect of receiving critical feedback on their performance? The focus was on the perceptions of ten teachers who worked in an American school in Asia. Data were gathered primarily through interviewing. In addition, a focus group discussion with an additional eleven teachers was used to triangulate the initial findings. The focus group procedures entailed presenting the findings in a Reader's Theater format and asking participants to comment on what they had seen and heard in the performance. The findings suggest that: (a) students are considered the most valuable source of feedback on a teacher's performance with parents perceived as the least valuable, primarily because they have not observed the teacher in the classroom. (b) Working with a peer in a collaborative environment appears to be the most desirable situation for sharing peer-to-peer feedback. (c) The cultivation of a non-threatening, non-competitive school culture encourages teachers to reflect critically on their teaching. (d) Using a teacher evaluation process for both formative and summative purposes is problematic. (e) The costs of implementing the system may outweigh the benefits. (f) Using a Reader's Theater format was an effective method of presenting data for the purposes of generating a focus group discussion.
360-Degree Feedback process, collaborative environment, evaluation, Leadership studies, perception, qualitative, self-reflection, student achievement data, teachers
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