The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum
This Chapter addresses three questions: What is good quality university teaching? How can it be achieved? How can it be assessed? To address these questions we start by making a case for a multi-dimensional, rich conceptualisation of teaching, drawing on a substantial body of higher education resea...
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| Format: | Book Section |
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Oxford University Press
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39662/ |
| _version_ | 1848795886413414400 |
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| author | McLean, Monica Ashwin, Paul |
| author2 | Scott, Peter |
| author_facet | Scott, Peter McLean, Monica Ashwin, Paul |
| author_sort | McLean, Monica |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This Chapter addresses three questions: What is good quality university teaching? How can it be achieved? How can it be assessed? To address these questions we start by making a case for a multi-dimensional, rich conceptualisation of teaching, drawing on a substantial body of higher education research that investigates what supports meaningful learning and on Lee Shulman’s notion of ‘pedagogical content knowledge’ to argue for a principled approach to the design of learning, teaching and the curriculum, which brings groups of students into productive relations with bodies of knowledge. Having established an evidence-based conceptualisation of good quality teaching, we turn to contemporary policy efforts to assess the quality of university undergraduate teaching, arguing that globally the current landscape and languages of higher education are shaped by neoliberal discourses that position learning, teaching and curriculum as a technical-rational matter. In this context, measuring quality by way of ‘metrics’ requires the use of proxies for good teaching, which runs the risk of offering an impoverished definition of the quality of teaching in higher education that also privileges certain social groups. We argue that new languages are needed for the academic community to discuss learning, teaching and the curriculum and that, if we want genuinely to enhance the quality of university education, then metrics must be augmented with peer review, case studies and high quality education and training for teaching. The argument that unfolds is underpinned by the assumption that providing all students, whatever institution they attend, with an equally good university education is essential to social justice. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:39:13Z |
| format | Book Section |
| id | nottingham-39662 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:39:13Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-396622020-05-04T18:26:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39662/ The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum McLean, Monica Ashwin, Paul This Chapter addresses three questions: What is good quality university teaching? How can it be achieved? How can it be assessed? To address these questions we start by making a case for a multi-dimensional, rich conceptualisation of teaching, drawing on a substantial body of higher education research that investigates what supports meaningful learning and on Lee Shulman’s notion of ‘pedagogical content knowledge’ to argue for a principled approach to the design of learning, teaching and the curriculum, which brings groups of students into productive relations with bodies of knowledge. Having established an evidence-based conceptualisation of good quality teaching, we turn to contemporary policy efforts to assess the quality of university undergraduate teaching, arguing that globally the current landscape and languages of higher education are shaped by neoliberal discourses that position learning, teaching and curriculum as a technical-rational matter. In this context, measuring quality by way of ‘metrics’ requires the use of proxies for good teaching, which runs the risk of offering an impoverished definition of the quality of teaching in higher education that also privileges certain social groups. We argue that new languages are needed for the academic community to discuss learning, teaching and the curriculum and that, if we want genuinely to enhance the quality of university education, then metrics must be augmented with peer review, case studies and high quality education and training for teaching. The argument that unfolds is underpinned by the assumption that providing all students, whatever institution they attend, with an equally good university education is essential to social justice. Oxford University Press Scott, Peter Gallacher, Jim Parry, Gareth 2016-12-08 Book Section PeerReviewed McLean, Monica and Ashwin, Paul (2016) The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum. In: New languages and landscapes of higher education. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 84-102. ISBN 9786198787082 higher education teaching learning teaching excellence framework pedagogical content knowledge https://global.oup.com/academic/product/new-languages-and-landscapes-of-higher-education-9780198787082?cc=gb&lang=en&# doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198787082.003.0004 doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198787082.003.0004 |
| spellingShingle | higher education teaching learning teaching excellence framework pedagogical content knowledge McLean, Monica Ashwin, Paul The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum |
| title | The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum |
| title_full | The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum |
| title_fullStr | The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum |
| title_full_unstemmed | The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum |
| title_short | The quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum |
| title_sort | quality of learning, teaching and the curriculum |
| topic | higher education teaching learning teaching excellence framework pedagogical content knowledge |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39662/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39662/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39662/ |