Rather than a rational, technical activity, evaluation reflects the socio-political dynamics of the evaluative context. This presents a challenge for universities and the individuals within them, who may assume that plans or policies for evaluation will result in straightforward outcomes. This small-scale study in one institution looks at the…

This paper argues that lecturer development programmes can best be evaluated by theory-informed, contextualised evaluations involving a structured approach. The self-knowledge obtained by course teams who engage with such an approach outweighs wisdom received from external evaluators within large-scale evaluation initiatives, although these can…