Calibration of teachers ’ scores

In the ranking of the teaching effectiveness of staff members through their student feedback scores, there can be a problem if it is perceived to be more difficult to obtain high scores in some courses than others. The result would be, therefore, that staff taking ‘difficult’ courses are disadvantaged. For example, it is often claimed that GEM and courses at the 1000 level are more difficult to score well in student feedback than courses at higher levels. Another criterion which is sometimes suggested as a classifier for ‘difficulty’ of courses is the class size, it being easier to obtain good student scores for smaller classes.