Evaluation of teaching in higher education has drawn much attention due to the need for greater accountability and improvement in student learning. Our review of literature on Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) surveys suggests that considerable controversy and criticism have surrounded its use, fairness, and validity. Yet, many universities in Hong Kong are depending primarily on student feedback in SET surveys to provide evidence for their improvement of teaching and learning, and for their decisions made on teachers' pay-rise and tenure. If universities are to continue to use SET surveys as the main source of mechanism for measuring teaching effectiveness, teachers will have to understand and be aware of its purposes. But how much do we know about teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning and, consequently, their opinions of using SET surveys as the primary standardized evaluation mechanism of teaching for promotion and tenure and for teaching effectiveness?
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One of the challenges facing Hong Kong schools is the growing cultural diversity of the student population that is a result of the growing number of ethnic minority students in the schools. This study uses semi-structured interviews with 12 American, Canadian, Indian, Nepalese and Pakistani teachers working in three secondary schools in the public sector to examine how school teachers are handling this challenge. The study uses these interviews to establish a model for the creation of culturally responsive environments that may help to improve the academic performance and promote the personal growth of students in Hong Kong's secondary schools. Five aspects of cultural responsiveness are identified: conceptualising cosmopolitanism, raising sensitivity to ?minor acts of racism?, managing the diverse learning needs of students, promoting a deep understanding of cultural values and helping students deal with the challenges of trilingualism. This study argues that ethnic minority teachers are engaged in a continuing cross-cultural process through which they make sense of the cultural diversity of students and re-learn their own beliefs and practices. The implications for the creation of a culturally responsive environment are also presented.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2013.823379]