Student-focused approaches to teaching in relation to context and teacher characteristics

The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between teachers’ approaches to teaching on the one hand, and the characteristics of context and teacher demographics on the other. Data were collected from 50 teaching staff at the University of Antwerp and from three sources: a Dutch translation of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI), information given by the participants, and information obtained through the personnel department of the university. Only the conceptual change/student-focused scale of the ATI had good reliability and was used for further analysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed no relationship between teachers’ approaches to teaching and the context variables of expert level of students, teaching discipline and the number of students in the classroom. Neither was a relationship found between the teachers’ conceptual change/student-focused approach and the teacher characteristics of gender, academic status, teaching experience, age and intention to participate in teacher training. Several interpretations of these data and perspectives for further research are discussed.

[1]  Anne Nevgi,et al.  The effect of pedagogical training on teaching in higher education , 2007 .

[2]  K. Trigwell,et al.  Relations between teachers' approaches to teaching and students' approaches to learning , 1999 .

[3]  Tony Becher,et al.  Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Cultures of Disciplines , 1991 .

[4]  Ellen R. Singer,et al.  Espoused teaching paradigms of college faculty , 1996 .

[5]  J. Bligh.  Improving student learning , 2002, Medical education.

[6]  A. Biglan.  Relationships between subject matter characteristics and the structure and output of university departments. , 1973 .

[7]  K. Trigwell,et al.  How approaches to teaching are affected by discipline and teaching context , 2006 .

[8]  Michael Prosser,et al.  The “How” and “What” of learning physics , 1989 .

[9]  Candace Lacey,et al.  Teaching Nine to Five: A Study of the Teaching Styles of Male and Female Professors. , 1998 .

[10]  G. Gibbs.  Improving the Quality of Student Learning , 1992 .

[11]  K. Trigwell,et al.  RELATING APPROACHES TO STUDY AND QUALITY OF LEARNING OUTCOMES AT THE COURSE LEVEL , 1991 .

[12]  Michael Prosser,et al.  Congruence between intention and strategy in university science teachers' approaches to teaching , 1996 .

[13]  K. Trigwell,et al.  Variation in the Experience of Leadership of Teaching in Higher Education , 2003 .

[14]  F. Marton,et al.  ON QUALITATIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING: I—OUTCOME AND PROCESS* , 1976 .

[15]  Elaine Martin,et al.  Dissonance in Experience of Teaching and its Relation to the Quality of Student Learning , 2003 .

[16]  E. V. Rossum,et al.  The Relationship between Learning Conception, Study Strategy and Learning Outcome. , 1984 .

[17]  Carl J. Huberty,et al.  Statistical Practices of Educational Researchers: An Analysis of their ANOVA, MANOVA, and ANCOVA Analyses , 1998 .

[18]  Michael Prosser,et al.  Understanding Learning And Teaching , 1999 .

[19]  K. Trigwell,et al.  Development and Use of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory , 2004 .

[20]  David Kember,et al.  Orientations to Teaching and Their Effect on the Quality of Student Learning , 1994 .

[21]  K. Trigwell,et al.  Understanding Learning and Teaching: the experience in higher education , 1999 .

[22]  G. Lueddeke,et al.  Professionalising Teaching Practice in Higher Education: A study of disciplinary variation and 'teaching-scholarship' , 2003 .

[23]  Tony Becher,et al.  Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Cultures of Disciplines , 2001 .

[24]  J. Nichols,et al.  Cooperative Learning and Student Motivation. , 1994 .

[25]  Graham Gibbs,et al.  The Impact Of Training Of University Teachers on their Teaching Skills, their Approach to Teaching and the Approach to Learning of their Students , 2004 .

[26]  K. Trigwell,et al.  Relations between perceptions of the teaching environment and approaches to teaching. , 1997, The British journal of educational psychology.