Impact of professional development on dealing with contradictory demands in teaching

The task of teaching poses contradictory demands (e.g. fostering self-regulated learning vs. guiding learners) that are especially prominent in the context of innovations. Teachers must be aware of these didactic antinomies in order to deal with them adequately. In a structured interview, 36 lecturers (20 with training in higher education and 16 without such training) were confronted with scenarios involving problematic decisions in a structured inverview. Five methods for dealing with contradictory demands were identified. Trained lecturers displayed more complex understanding in two out of four scenarios, while experience in teaching had no effect. This indicates that training in teaching in higher education contributes to a better understanding of teaching.

02.11.2011 | Elisabeth Wegner & Matthias Nückles (Freiburg)