16 outcomes, teachers need to critically explore or examine their practice to know how
effectively the teaching session went. They then should gather and reflect on the information about their teaching to be examined. Thirdly, they reflect on those to help
them to identify and decide on plans to change or improve their practice. Teacher self-evaluation as a means of self-study about teaching practices
provides significant benefits for teachers. Hounsell 2006 mentions that teacher self- evaluation is “an integral part of good professional practice” p. 198. One advantage of
teacher self-evaluation is its flexibility. Struyk et al. 1993 remark that teacher self- evaluation helps teachers to obtain the information specifically about their teaching and
to evaluate their teaching any and every time they want. Also, teacher self-evaluation can be undertaken to determine the effectiveness of particular instructional practices,
which, in turn, provides concrete evidence of good teaching and a commitment to enhance it. Teacher self-evaluation is also a means to involve teachers more directly in
the evaluation process as well as in the analysis of data collected Taylor, 1994. In short, teacher self-evaluation is a useful means to influence the professionalism of
teachers by helping them to learn about, act on, and improve their teaching but also to empower them to take ownership of this process. It is clear that teacher self-evaluation
has potential to help teachers explore elements of their teaching in order to appraise their current understanding of teaching practices that require improvement. In the next
section, the elements of teaching that could be the focus of teacher self-evaluation are discussed.
2.2.1 Teacher self-evaluation – key elements
In conducting teacher self-evaluation, teachers should focus on particular dimensions of their practice that will then be examined. Teachers are often advised to
focus on narrow elements of teaching when they want to select self-evaluation areas rather than more general ones Airasian Gullickson, 1997. Kremer-Hayon 1993
points out that teaching is a highly complex interactive process, so a conceptual frame is needed to guide teachers to build their own repertoire of evaluation tools. This
conceptual map below describes elements of teaching that are possible to be explored.
17
Goals
Subject Matter TeacherTeacher’s Practice Pupils
Figure 1: Teaching elements - a conceptual map adapted from Kremer-Hayon, 1993
Kremer-Hayon 1993 emphasizes that the interdependence of teaching elements and the interaction among subject matter, goals, teaching processes, pupils, and
teacherteacher’s practice are identified by the use of arrows in the above conceptual map. It means that every teaching element is related to other elements. For example, in
evaluating their teaching processes, teachers must think about subject matter they teach, the characteristics of their pupils, and their goals of their teaching. Hence, information
about other aspects of teaching is needed when teachers want to evaluate a certain element of their teaching. Foci for self-evaluation, then, could be derived from teaching
elements of that conceptual map as most teaching practices can be classified under these elements. For example, a teacher can focus on classroom management and organization
as a part of teaching processes or teachers’ expectation of pupils as a part of the pupils element in the diagram above. The elaboration of teaching elements with regard to self-
evaluation will lead to a number of potential evaluation foci. In this study, the place of teachers in the conceptual map above is located in the middle to show the centrality of
the teacher in the pedagogy process. This means that each teaching element is held to be within the teacher’s domain.
Aspects of teaching that could be evaluated include classroom presentation skills; preparation of materials; competency in the subject-matter; the availability of a
teacher for students; the willingness and desire to work, share knowledge and skills with colleagues Shirley Earl, 1986. Having self-evaluated in these areas of teaching,
teachers are able to obtain a clear picture showing how well they have done in their profession and gaining more understanding of their identity how they perceive
Teaching Processes
18 themselves as teachers. In other words, through teacher self-evaluation, teacher
identity is continually informed, formed, and reformed as teachers develop over time and through interaction with others Cooper Olson, 1996.Teacher’s understanding
and perceptions of their professional identity “affect their efficacy and professional development as well as their ability and willingness to cope with educational change
and to implement innovations in their own teaching practice” Britzman, 1991, p. 750. In addition, Britzman 1991 argues, “learning to teach – like teaching itself – is always
the process of becoming: a time of formation and transformation, of scrutiny into what one is doing, and who one can become” p. 8. Knowing teacher identity, therefore,
paves the way for better teaching and is a crucial aspect to become an effective teacher. After getting a focus on teaching elements to be examined and observed,
teachers then start deciding on using the appropriate and possible self-evaluation instruments. There are various instruments by which teachers are able to make a
beneficial evaluation of their instruction and define improvements for their own teaching. Richard and Lockhart 1996 listed a number of procedures such as teaching
journals, lesson reports, survey and questionnaires, audio and video recordings, and observation. Teaching journals involve a continuous process of keeping a written record
of a teacher’s thoughts, experiences, and observations and could be in the form of audio or electronic journals. The topics contained in a teaching journal could personal
reactions to things that happen in the classroom; questions or observations about problems that occur in teaching; descriptions of significant aspects of lessons or school
events; ideas for future analysis or reminders of things to take action on Richards Lockhard, 1996. Lesson reports are “…a structured inventory or list which enables
teachers to describe their recollections of the main features of a lesson” Richards Lockhart, 1996, p. 9, either in the form of a written narrative or a checklist or a
questionnaire prepared by teachers. Survey and questionnaires are “sets of written questions focusing on a particular topic or area, seeking responses to closed or ranked
questions; or open-ended personal opinions; judgements and beliefs” Freeman, 1998, p. 94. Audio and video recordings enable a teacher to document either whole lessons or
parts of them in detail. Observation is where a teacher invites a colleague or more experienced teacher to attend and observe hisher teaching with the aim of finding what
went well and what improvements could be made. In addition, Airasian and Gullickson 1997 suggested the following tools: 1
teacher self-reflection questions, 2 media recording, 3 student feedback, 4 teacher
19 portfolios, 5 student performance data, 6 external or peer observation, 7 journaling,
and 8 collegial dialogue. These self-evaluation instruments have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, external observations provide more objective feedback
than a teacher’s own perspective, are less threatening evaluations compared with formal performance evaluations by supervisors, and provide a more thorough perspective of
teaching performance. However, at the same time external observation is time- consuming for both the teacher and hisher colleague. Furthermore, it is liable to bias
and may involve lack of honesty in the evaluation particularly if it is done among friends. As well, the observer must possess necessary skills and expertise to provide
valuable input to the teachers Airasian Gullickson, 1997. Accordingly, it is recommended that teachers consider the advantages and disadvantages of each
instrument to find the ones that are applicable to their own individual contexts before deciding to use them to accommodate the characteristics of the students, setting, time
constraints, and so forth. As such, in my study, ten Indonesian teachers were invited to participate in a
series of teacher self-evaluation activities using four mediational tools: teacher self- reflection questions, lesson video recording, student feedback, and collegial dialogue.
These tools have been chosen for the following reasons. Firstly, self-reflection questions are designed to enable teachers to focus on
particular aspects of their teaching. The outcomes of the reflexive process may then guide future planning by teachers to improve their teaching practices. As Airasian and
Gullickson 1997 suggest, self-reflection questions heighten a teacher’s awareness of practice and lead to a ‘to do’ list for teaching improvement. Self-reflection questions are
usually in the form of a checklist, rating scale, or questionnaire. This study used the questionnaire format to facilitate teachers to reflect on their practices during a particular
lesson to identify the strong and the weak points in their practices. This information then becomes a source for teaching technique improvement.
Secondly, video recording teaching and learning activities enables teachers to view their practices with the aim to identify the strengths and weaknesses. This
information also becomes a useful source for teaching technique improvement. Eroz- Tuga 2013 points out that watching lesson video recording enables teachers to have a
critical perspective on their own teaching and become more conscious of classroom issues. In addition, some studies Carson, Gilmore, Perry, Gronhaug, 2001; Hudson
20 Ozanne, 1988; Thompson, 1995 reported that lesson video recordings allowed
teachers to notice particular aspects of their teaching, which cannot be recalled. Thirdly, student feedback is also used in this study because students, as
knowledge receivers, are well-placed to evaluate their courses and teachers’ performances. Access to student feedback enables teachers to obtain an objective
evaluation thus contributing to a more comprehensive perspective of their performance. Richardson 2005 mentions that student feedback provides important evidence for
assessing teaching quality and can be used to support attempts to improve teaching quality.
Finally, collegial dialogue is included as an evaluation tool because it provides a space for teachers to share their understanding of and concerns about the classroom
practices. As asserted by Airasian and Gullickson 1997, p.16, collegial dialogue encourages “collaboration among teachers to discuss common problems, share
procedures and strategies, and compare perceptions. Exposure to the ideas and practices of colleagues is a potent strategy for teacher reflection and change”. Therefore, by
participating in collegial dialogues teachers are expected to learn from others and to seek out ways to improve their instructional practice.
The self-evaluation instruments above are chosen based on the view that improving teachers’ instructional practice involves various aspects: the self teacher’s
identity, peer or colleague, and students as illustrated in Figure 2 below.
Self
Teachers’ practice
Peers Students
Figure 2: Aspects associated with improving teachers practice
As can be seen from the above figure, teachers’ practice, which connects to self, peers, and students, is in the middle of the triangle. It means that teachers need to understand
21 their professional identity; learn from, collaborate, or share with their colleagues; and
obtain the feedback from their students in order to improve their teaching practice. In the context of this study, teachers are able to gain understanding of their professional
identity, which has a direct impact on classroom practice, by exploring their lesson video recordings. Collegial dialogues conducted in this study allow teachers to share
their teaching practice and work reflectively with other teachers to develop their teaching further. Student feedback used this study function as an effective source of
information because students are the learners who are the sole purpose of teaching. In other words, self, peers, and students become multiple sources of data to
inform teachers’ practice. The information then could be used to identify the strengths and the areas of improvement. These multiple sources can provide more detailed,
accurate, and comprehensive information of teaching effectiveness than only a single source. This is because using three or more different sources of evidence, the strength of
each source can compensate for weaknesses of the other sources Berk, 2005. Hence, a teacher needs to involve himherself, peers, and students to improve hisher instructional
practice and develop as a teacher. The next subsection of this chapter presents research on teacher self-evaluation.
2.2.2 Research on teacher self-evaluation
