Detailed View

Export the results of this page in detailed view as PDF
V. Foreign Higher Education and Education Systems, International Relations, Bilateral Relations
B. Essays, Commentaries, Statements
Author LECOUTEUR, Amanda
Title Repertoires of teaching and learning: A comparison of university teachers and students using Q methodology
Publication year 2001
Source/Footnote In: Higher Education. - 42 (2001) 2, S. 205 - 235
Inventory number 12834
Keywords Ausland : Australien : Studenten, Studium, Lehre ; Lehre
Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the discursive repertoires for explicating teaching and learning that were preferred by university teachers and students. Fifty statements, reflecting Samuelowicz and Bain?s (1992) five-dimensional model of conceptualisations of teaching and learning, were administered to 52 academic teachers and 125 students for ranking using a Q-sort procedure (McKeown and Thomas 1988). Statements were grouped, based upon varying gradations of endorsement, and then factor-analysed to identify common response patterns. In terms of the model formulated by Samuelowicz and Bain, the university teachers and students surveyed exhibited broadly different preferred repertoires. We argue, however, that the model is too simplistic, in its formulation of bipolar dimensions of teaching and learning, to capture the complexities of the preferences and practices of university teachers and students. A focus on complexity rather than descriptive reductionism, and an acceptance of the notion that people are inconsistent and variable in the accounts they give, is argued to be more likely to result in fruitful insights into the ways in which people construct pedagogical preferences and practices. The results indicate a need for continued exploration of the range of discourses surrounding teaching and learning in ways that pay attention to the local contextual frameworks within which these repertoires are acted out. (HRK / Abstract übernommen) Amanda Lecouteur, E-mail: amanda.lecouteur@psychology.adelaide.edu.au