T Teacher Evaluation and Islamic Education, A Critical Perspective Saheed Ahmad Rufai Department of Curriculum Studies, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria Teacher Evaluation and Islamic Education Teacher evaluation is intended to improve student outcomes through the instrumentality of better teacher performance in the form of both enhanced teaching quality and improved teaching practices. Yet it should be pointed out from the onset that what separates other forms of evaluation from teacher evaluation is just a very thin line. While generally evaluation is concerned with the act of associating values with scores achieved through measurement, teacher evaluation is associated specifically with teacher performance. The Orga- nisation for Economic Cooperation and Develop- ment (OECD) Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes (2009, pp. 3–4) identifies six main interrelated aspects that constitute teacher evalua- tion and therefore distinguish it from the general concept of evaluation. One, there is the unit to be assessed which covers the “who” question of evaluation and concerns the individual teacher whose performance is to be analyzed as part of an evaluation and assessment framework alongside other components like the system, the school, and the student. Two, there are the capa- bilities to assess and to use feedback which answer the “by whom” question of teacher evalu- ation. The focus of this question is the preparation to evaluate and offer feedback. Three, there also are aspects assessed and this is all about the “what” question of teacher evaluation. The con- cern here are the main activities of teaching that should be covered in the exercise. These include planning and preparation, the classroom setting, and the teaching process itself. Four, evaluation “technology” which is all about the “how” ques- tion and addresses issues bordering on procedure, device, or approach to evaluation. Fifth, purposes of evaluation which address the “for what” ques- tion, namely, objectives of evaluation and mech- anisms formulated and targeted at the realization of the objectives. The sixth and last are agents involved and focus on the “for whom” question which deals with the stakeholders such as parents, teachers, school administrators, teacher unions, and policy makers in the development and imple- mentation of teacher evaluation processes. The question to raise at this juncture is, if the evaluation of students is so central to the job of the teacher for the purpose of achieving academic excellence which is targeted by teacher perfor- mance, would it be out of place to rationalize that the teacher who him or herself is arguably the chief promoter of excellence through his or her pedagogical performance cannot but be subjected to such an enrichment experience that seeks to # Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2016 M.A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory , DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_537-1