What can they say about my teaching? Teacher educators' attitudes to standardised student evaluation of teaching.

This article examines teacher educators' attitudes to standardised student feedback on the quality of their teaching in a teacher education college in Israel. It is part of a comprehensive study initiated by the management of the institution, and the focus in this writing is on teacher educators' attitudes to student feedback: the way they perceive students relating to the feedback, and the extent to which feedback is used for professional growth. Our findings suggest there is acceptance of feedback as part of students' democratic rights (entitlement). However, differences were found between the analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data. Teacher educators were much more critical when expressing their attitudes freely. Moreover, professional development based on the feedback seems to be carried out mainly in isolation. We suggest that teacher education institutions should develop supportive professional development centres in which teacher educators can be helped to view the feedback as a 'feed-forward' tool, necessary for engaging students in purposeful professional development activities. Cette communication examine l'attitude... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]