107 6 learning. Jansen in de Wal (2016) found that improvement motivation varies strongly among teachers, but can also be positively influenced by encouragement and facilitation of improvement from within the school organization. “Social motivation” is also important for improvement, that is, colleagues who work collaboratively on the improvement of (aspects of) teaching quality and support each other (Visscher, 2017). Some aspects of teaching quality might be harder to improve than others, if they require the improvement of complex teaching skills (Maulana et al., 2015; van der Lans et al., 2018). Moreover, for improvement to occur, the intensive practicing of teaching skills that need improvement is required. Otherwise, it is easy for teachers to fall back into familiar ways of teaching and to continue doing what they have always done (Avissar et al., 1996). Practicing the teaching behaviour that needs improvement ideally is supervised by a coach who knows what ideal behaviour (e.g., high-quality classroom management) looks like, how it can be trained effectively and what practices are effective if problems occur during the improvement process (Ericsson, 2006; Ericsson & Pool, 2016). In our study, teachers who used the Impact! tool used it as a stand-alone event: they received only the feedback, with no follow-up (e.g., advice for improvement, discussion with colleagues) provided. One could say teachers were left alone in their attempts to improve their teaching. As students’ ratings do not in themselves lead to the improvement of teaching quality, this probably is not enough for the average teacher (Loeb, 2013). Does this mean that we should not provide teachers with feedback about how their students experience their lessons anymore? As stated in chapter 4 of this dissertation, the use of the Impact! tool can serve as a quick scan for teachers that provides them with insight into where there is room for improvement. However, that is only the starting point. In the following we will discuss three factors that we think may contribute to more effective use of student feedback by teachers for improving their teaching. 1. Teachers’ attitudes towards student feedback Apart from teachers’ motivation to improve, teachers’ attitudes towards student feedback may foster the improvement process. We know from chapter 5 of this dissertation that having a positive and critical attitude towards students’ feedback (that is, teachers’ acknowledgement that the data reflect the strengths and weaknesses of a lesson, but at the same time reflect the subjective perspectives of students about a lesson, and not a professional
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