Department-level Cultures and the Improvement of Learning and Teaching

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4097579
AutoresPeter T Knight, Paul Trowler (0000-0001-9039-2084), Paul R Trowler
Año2000
Volumen25
Número1
Páginas69-83
Fecha de publicación2000-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaStudies in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/030750700116028
OpenAlexW2026102404
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas47
Referencias citadas14

This article argues that good practice in teaching and learning in the English-speaking world may be compromised by structural changes in the higher education system. The impact of these changes is, however, affected by leadership practices and working cultures at the departmental level. These can, it is argued, assist in the development of 'deeper' teaching and learning practices even in a context which may be seen as unfavourable to them. Rejecting simplistic notions of transformational leadership and organisational cultural engineering, the article identifies activity systems at the local, departmental, level as the central loci of changes in approaches to and recurrent practices in teaching and learning. Desirable change is most likely to be achieved in collective and collaborative ways, which means that change processes are contingent and contextualised, and that outcomes are unpredictable and fuzzy. The data in this article come from in-depth interviews with academics in England and Canada; from one author's previous studies; and from literatures on faculty's work environments in English-speaking countries

Collaborative learning · Higher education · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Transformational leadership · Engineering · Evaluation of Teaching Practices · Management and Organizational Studies · Organizational Learning and Leadership