Abstract
This conceptual paper tackles the matter of teaching in higher education and proposes a concept of ‘horizons of teaching’. It firstly offers an overview of the considerable empirical literature around teaching—especially conceptions of teaching, approaches to teaching and teaching practices—and goes on to pose some philosophical and social theoretical considerations that open further the territory around teaching in university. Against this background, we propose the concept of ‘horizons of teaching’. Horizons of teaching provide a context in which it makes sense for teachers to give themselves to the teaching enterprise and to go on giving themselves to teaching. Horizons include diverse and intricate layers at both micro- and macro-levels that interact in a permanent and dynamic way; they involve persons and collectivities; and they concern structures and agency. The paper concludes by proposing that horizons of teaching configure and delineate curricula and the pedagogical relationship in a way that might contain a revolutionary potentiality in recasting teaching in higher education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adorno, T. W. (1997). Dialectic of enlightenment (Vol. 15). London: Verso.
Åkerlind, G. S. (2003). Growing and developing as a university teacher variation in meaning. Studies in Higher Education, 28(4), 375–390.
Archer, M. (1995). Realist social theory: The morphogenetic approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ashwin, P. (2009). Conceptualising teaching and learning interactions in researching higher education. In M. Tight, K. H. Mok, J. Huisman, & C. Morphew (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of higher education (pp. 37–46). Oxford: Routledge.
Ashwin, P., & McLean, M. (2005). Towards a reconciliation of phenomenographic and critical pedagogy perspectives in higher education through a focus on academic engagement. In 12th international improving student learning symposium, diversity and inclusivity (pp. 377–389).
Bhaskar, R. (2002). From science to emancipation. New Delhi: Sage.
Bhaskar, R. (2008/1975). A realist theory of science. London: Verso.
Boutang, Y.-M. (2011). Cognitive capitalism. Cambridge: Polity.
Dall’Alba, G. (1991). Foreshadowing conceptions of teaching. Research and Development in Higher Education, 13, 29–37.
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (2007/1980). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. London: Continuum.
Fanghanel, J. (2009). Pedagogical constructs: Socio-cultural conceptions of teaching and learning in higher education. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag.
Fanghanel, J. (2011). Being an academic. Abingdon: Routledge.
Gadamer, H. G. (1989). Truth and method. New York: Crossroad.
Ginns, P., Kitay, J., & Prosser, M. (2008). Developing conceptions of teaching and the scholarship of teaching through a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. International Journal for Academic Development, 13(3), 175–185.
González, C. (2009). Conceptions of, and approaches to, teaching online: A study of lecturers teaching postgraduate distance courses. Higher Education, 57(3), 299–314.
Guzmán-Valenzuela, C. (2013). Challenging frameworks for understanding teaching practices in higher education: The end or the beginning? Qualitative Research in Education, 2(1), 65–91.
Guzmán-Valenzuela, C., & Barnett, R. (2013). Developing self-understanding in pedagogical stances: Making explicit the implicit among new lecturers. Educação e Pesquisa, 39(4), 891–905.
Habermas, J. (1978). Knowledge and human interests. London: Heinemann.
Kane, R., Sandretto, S., & Heath, C. (2002). Telling half the story: A critical review of research on the teaching beliefs and practices of university academics. Review of Educational Research, 72(2), 177–228.
Kember, D. (1997). A reconceptualisation of the research into university academics’ conceptions of teaching. Learning and Instruction, 7(3), 255–275.
Marginson, S., & Rhoades, G. (2002). Beyond national states, markets, and systems of higher education: A glonacal agency heuristic. Higher Education, 43(3), 281–309.
McAlpine, L., Weston, C., Timmermans, J., Berthiaume, D., & Fairbank-Roch, G. (2006). Zones: Reconceptualizing teacher thinking in relation to action. Studies in Higher Education, 31(5), 601–615.
Meyer, J. H. F., & Land, R. (2005). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning. Higher Education, 49(3), 373–388.
Parpala, A., & Lindblom-Ylanne, S. (2007). University teachers’ conceptions of good teaching in the units of high-quality education. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 33(34), 355–370.
Postareff, L., & Lindblom-Ylänne, S. (2008). Variation in teachers’ descriptions of teaching: Broadening the understanding of teaching in higher education. Learning and Instruction, 18(2), 109–120.
Prosser, M., & Trigwell, K. (2014). Qualitative variation in approaches to university teaching and learning in large first-year classes. Higher Education, 67(6), 783–795.
Rosen, M. (1996). On voluntary servitude: False consciousness and the theory of ideology. Cambridge: Polity.
Sabri, D. (2010). Absence of the academic from higher education policy. Journal of Education Policy, 25(2), 191–205.
Sartre, J. P. (2003/1943). Being and nothingness. London: Routledge.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith.
Schön, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Stes, A., De Maeyer, S., & Van Petegem, P. (2010). Approaches to teaching in higher education: Validation of a Dutch version of the approaches to teaching inventory. Learning Environments Research, 13, 59–73.
Trigwell, K., & Prosser, M. (1996). Changing approaches to teaching: A relational perspective. Studies in Higher Education, 21, 275–284.
Trowler, P. (2005). A sociology of teaching, learning and enhancement: Improving practices in higher education. Papers: Revista de Sociologia, 76, 13–32.
Trowler, P., & Cooper, A. (2002). Teaching and learning regimes: Implicit theories and recurrent practices in the enhancement of teaching and learning through educational development programmes. Higher Education Research & Development, 21(3), 221–240.
Watson, D., Hollister, R. M., Stroud, S. E., & Babcock, E. (2011). The engaged university: International perspectives on civic engagement. New York: Routledge.
Acknowledgments
We thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers of this paper for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. Funding from PIA-CONICYT (Chile) Basal Funds for Centers of Excellence Project BF0003 and also from Fondecyt 1141271 (Fondecyt-Chile) are gratefully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barnett, R., Guzmán-Valenzuela, C. Sighting horizons of teaching in higher education. High Educ 73, 113–126 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0003-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0003-2