Abstract:
Most vocational educators and trainers often utilise a type of reaction-evaluation questionnaire
to provide both themselves and administrators with feedback from their students
and trainees. This paper looks at some of the problems and issues associated with using
reaction-evaluation questionnaires in vocational education and training. Some of the issues
include the ability of learners to make accurate judgments about how much they have learned,
the abiliIy of learners to make accurate judgments about subject relevance, value and worth and
the link between teaching style and learning. Other issues concern the focus on teacher personality
versus learning and the role of learner activity in the learning process. An examination of
these issues leads to the conclusion that learner reaction-evaluation forms are limited in the
quality and usefulness of the data they provide and that vocational educators and trainers should
seek to supplement this data with information from other sources.
