The linking of national teaching performance indicators to improvements in teaching and learning in classrooms

The use of data from student surveys has become a common element of universities' and governments' strategies to assure the quality of university teaching. With the introduction of a new government policy in Australia in 2005, these survey"derived teaching performance indicators now determine the distribution of many millions of dollars of funding and universities are understandably keen to enhance their performance on such measures. However, the strategies by which universities might achieve these improvements are not always readily apparent and there is a real possibility that reactive responses, based on opinion rather than evidence will be the result. The paper considers the particular challenge of linking this sort of national performance indicator data with similar student survey measures of 'quality' at the level of the actual subjects students take as part of their degree course. It provides an example of how this linking might be achieved through the design of local student feedback surveys with demonstrated theoretical and psychometric relationships to these national surveys. It also considers the organisational issues affecting how such information is interpreted and responded to, to usefully inform curriculum and teaching improvement. As such, the paper presents one strategy for institutions seeking to develop local, evidence"based strategies on the basis of predictive indicators of subsequent performance on national indicators of teaching performance.