Browsing by Subject "opetukselliset lähestymistavat"

Research on approaches to teaching has previously been based only on teachers' own reports of the planning of their teaching, action strategies and the intentions behind them. The purpose of the study was to increase understanding of the relationship between teachers' own reports and observed action, by comparing the correspondence of five university teachers' own reports and their observed teaching practices. The study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What kind of teaching profiles can be identified on the basis of teachers' own reports? 2. What kind of teaching practices can be identified in videotaped lectures? and 3. How do the teaching profiles and observed teaching correspond with each other? Methods. The data were received from the Helsinki University Centre for Research and Development of Higher Education. The interview and video data were collected in the autumn of 2009–2010 by the researchers in charge of the "The Interaction between Teaching and Learning in Higher Education" research project. The qualitative data chosen for the study were analysed with theory-based content analysis. Results and conclusions. The analysis of the teachers' individual teaching profiles showed that the approaches can be comprised of theoretically contradicting, dissonant, qualities. The contradictions may manifest at different levels, both in the conceptions of teaching and in the strategies concerning teaching and the purposes behind them. Observing the teaching showed that learning-focused conceptions of teaching are not always reflected in the planning and implementation of individual courses. Also learning-focused teaching strategies and intentions concerning an individual course may become considerably more content-focused in the implementation of teaching. Reports of content-focused strategies and plans for action, however, are more uniform with the observable action. Based on the data, it can therefore be stated that the individual teaching profiles of teachers and the action observable in teaching situations do not always coincide. Based on the teachers' reports and the observation of teaching, it can be assumed that the contradictions between verbal reports and realised action may be caused not only by situational factors, but also by little reflection of one's own action patterns, or by insufficient abilities to actualise intentions.