RateMyTeachers.ie Mossy
Monday, April 04, 2005
6 comments
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This thing is causing a lot of grief ... for teachers that is. Personally I think this can only be positive. If a teacher sees they have a low rating then they can view the comments. Most are probably pretty constructive, so they can learn what the students think of them with anonymity.
Take A former teacher of mine for example (Link). This is very true. He taught me physics. I got a D3 in physics, but I don't blame him for it. I really enjoyed physics, I was just shit at it.
There seems to be a lot of good ratings for the teachers of CBS. And a lot of the comments are true. It's weird looking back at it, I suppose it wasn't that bad. After 4 years of college, all I reference is college, but I suppose CBS was a character builder too.
6 comments so far
the problem is that most people with positive comments won't bother
writing on it.
My brother was rated on it and didn't get any particularly bad feedback but one of his female colleagues was described as looking like a rat. Thats not very constructive and fairly embarassing as the site is the talk of the staff room so everyone will have logged on and read such comments.
Teachers have always had nicknames and are usually aware of them but can pretend not to be or laugh them off. I guess seeing what people think of you in print is a bit more upsetting as they've actually had to take the time to go and write it.
If you're not a teacher this site is probably good for a laugh but I wouldn't expect anything constructive to come out of it really.
A lot of schools have removed themselves from the list already
You make some good points. I guess I just see it as a voice that has never been given to students before without the protection of anonymity.
I also thought that each post was moderated and any personal comments would be removed.
I guess I haven't looked at it from a teachers point when there might be some personal negative comments.
The site does claim to moderate any foul language, personal comments and such but I suppose stuff will always fall through a loophole.
Overall I think it is a very positive thing. I can honestly say that at least 4 or 5 teachers at my secondary school were completely useless and don't deserve the job they hold in the slightest, not that they were bad people, just bad teachers and I have said as much in any comments I have made on the site.
If I was a teacher I would certainly be interested in what students had to say about me, I can understand how it might be upseting but if you are not good at your job it doesn't seem very productive to just stay in it for 20 years thinking you're the bee's knees.
If you look at Universities, well at least in mine, we are given the opportunity every semester to give feedback on a lecturers/tutors performance and by no means does anyone hold back with the questionnaires - well I know I don't! If educators at a university level can take the heat then why not secondary teachers? If you ask me they've been living in their cosy little world for too long and a bit of constructive criticism will do more good than harm.
True....universities are much more open to criticism/feedback, and in any other profession "constructive criticism" is open and welcomed.
Yet you have to remember that teachers are a special breed of people - who don't operate in the vicious business world. They're protected and have powerful unions.
I agree, the shitty demeaning comments don't help, as they just embarrass teachers, but the reality is that the country's schools would be left with a massive shortage of teachers if you only selected the good ones. The shit ones must remain, but at least they should be aware of their weaknesses and try to improve them.
Ok, that was very long.
Daithi
Ok, after reading some articles in the newspapers about this, and hearing the teachers complain - I think teacher feedback is a good idea - but making it public means it will never work. Do doctors or accountants have websites rating their work? No. Neither is university lecturer feedback public.
So to make it work, Ratemyteachers.ie should be used by students to submit comments, which are then independently filtered and passed onto individual teachers and principals. That way they might accept it, and don't look like fools.
Daithi
Good point. But another note regarding doctors or accountants. If I don't like my doctor, I get another one. Same goes for an accountant (Not Ollie, of course). Students don't get to choose teachers. Schools, but why change schools because of 1 teacher (I know it happens too).
Like all arguments, there are 2 sides. And at the moment, I personally am not on either (Not a student, nor a teacher).
If nothing else, at least this Website brings to the light the issues that have been kept quiet for years regarding a fair system to give feedback about Primary/Secondary Teachers.
You're right, it probably should not be public, but at least it's being discussed now.
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