Repertoires of teaching and learning: A comparison of university teachers and students using Q methodology

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare thediscursive repertoires for explicating teachingand learning that were preferred by universityteachers and students. Fifty statements,reflecting Samuelowicz and Bain's (1992)five-dimensional model of conceptualisations ofteaching and learning, were administered to 52academic teachers and 125 students for rankingusing a Q-sort procedure (McKeown and Thomas1988). Statements were grouped, based uponvarying gradations of endorsement, and thenfactor-analysed to identify common responsepatterns. In terms of the model formulated bySamuelowicz and Bain, the university teachersand students surveyed exhibited broadlydifferent preferred repertoires. We argue,however, that the model is too simplistic, inits formulation of bipolar dimensions ofteaching and learning, to capture thecomplexities of the preferences and practicesof university teachers and students. A focus oncomplexity rather than descriptivereductionism, and an acceptance of the notionthat people are inconsistent and variable inthe accounts they give, is argued to be morelikely to result in fruitful insights into theways in which people construct pedagogicalpreferences and practices. The results indicatea need for continued exploration of the rangeof discourses surrounding teaching and learningin ways that pay attention to the localcontextual frameworks within which theserepertoires are acted out.