How teachers use student evaluations in professional development

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Updated, 7 September 2026: We have clarified that this study reports teachers’ accounts of using feedback. It does not demonstrate that a particular discussion process improves teaching, or that frequently repeated feedback is necessarily more important. This review uses selected publisher-indexed sections; we could not read the complete paper.

What the study reports

Niels A. van der Baan, Tim P. J. N. B. Hennemann, Renée E. Stalmeijer, Diana H. J. M. Dolmans and Carolin Sehlbach examined student evaluations as a resource for continuing professional development. Four focus groups involved 24 teachers from two faculties at Maastricht University.

Teachers described informal learning through conversations with students, colleagues and supervisors. Discussions helped them interpret feedback and consider responses. Their judgements also reflected repetition, their teaching role and experience, and students’ seniority. These are descriptions of participants’ practices, not validated rules for weighting student concerns.

The authors recommend opportunities and protected time for discussion. Transferability is limited by the university’s problem-based, small-group teaching context and voluntary recruitment; participants may have been especially receptive to evaluation and reflection. Teaching improvement was not independently measured as an outcome of a controlled intervention.

A review process to consider locally

Our practical suggestion is to decide what happens after survey results arrive. Assign time to discuss the evidence, distinguish individual teaching issues from wider course decisions and record what needs clarification.

Repeated comments can prompt investigation, but do not dismiss an isolated account merely because it is rare. A serious concern may need attention regardless of its frequency. Agree how such concerns will be handled before summarising the results for a teaching team.

If you pilot a discussion process, assess its usefulness locally: what decisions did it support, whose perspectives were missing and what follow-up was possible? These are our proposed evaluation questions. The related briefing on redesigning evaluations with students and staff covers a separate project and states its own access limits.

Reference

van der Baan, N. A., Hennemann, T. P. J. N. B., Stalmeijer, R. E., Dolmans, D. H. J. M. and Sehlbach, C. Teachers’ continuing professional development: using student evaluations to start a dialogue. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 51(2), 363–378. Published online 10 November 2025; issue year 2026. Read the paper.