Stimulating professional learning through teacher evaluation: An impossible task for the school leader?

Providing effective feedback through teacher evaluation is a complex task for the school leader. Many authors state that teacher evaluation does not contribute to teachers’ professional learning. Few studies focus on the specific leadership variables that contribute to effective teacher evaluation. This study explores the importance of transformational and instructional leadership for the feedback utility and teachers’ professional learning. The results of regression and path analyses showed that leadership directly influences the feedback utility and indirectly influences teachers’ professional learning. This study demonstrates the importance of school leadership for effective teacher evaluation and highlights its usefulness for teachers’ professional learning.

► Active leadership supervision directly influences the feedback utility and teachers’ professional learning.
► Charismatic leadership and leadership content knowledge directly influence feedback utility and indirectly influence teachers’ professional learning through feedback utility.
► This study demonstrates the importance of school leadership for effective teacher evaluation and highlights its usefulness for teachers’ professional learning.