98 Factors influencing teachers’ use of digital student feedback to improve their teaching stands out. Rachel’s students appreciated having the feedback discussed in the class, while Mike’s students regretted not having the feedback discussed. Discussions with students on the feedback received show students that the teacher really uses the feedback for their developmental processes and therefore motivate students to provide accurate, honest feedback in follow-up feedback measurements (Bracken & Rotolo, 2019). Moreover, such a discussion helps the teacher to interpret the digital feedback given by the students, because the discussion may clarify and explain the (quantitative) student responses (Gärtner, 2014). As far as the characteristics of the school context are concerned, most teachers identif ied several characteristics as being important for the use of digital student feedback. These were a school atmosphere in which giving, receiving and (collectively) using feedback is normal; receiving support such as from an external coach or a colleague, and sharing and comparing student teaching quality ratings with other colleagues. According to some teachers in our study, the use of digital student feedback by teachers can be fostered by the school leader. The leader’s support can include providing time and resources to teachers for analysing and interpreting the feedback, and to (collaboratively) discuss, develop, and carry out actions aimed at improving teaching behaviour in class (Röhl & Gärtner, 2021). Röhl (2021) also found that those student feedback interventions that include the provision of resources by the school leader for reflection and teaching development based on the student feedback show signif icantly higher positive effects on teaching quality compared to interventions in which such time and resources were not provided by school leaders. However, although school leaders can play an important role here, Rachel argued that the improvement of teaching quality starts with the willingness and motivation of teachers to improve. This may be related to teachers’ locus of control: the degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces (beyond their influence), have control over the changes in their lives (Rotter, 1966). Rachel had an internal locus of control (whether or not she improved depended in her view on her willingness and motivation to change), while Mike had an external locus of control (whether or not he improved depended on the actions of the school leader, according to him). Wisniewski and Zierer (2021) and Zierer and Wisniewski (2018), also pointed to teachers’ motivation to improve and their locus of control as crucial factors to improve teaching quality.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY0ODMw