Good education motivates growth

How students, teachers and administrators view quality in higher education and teaching

Abstract

The increased demand for higher education and changing ideas on the role of education in modern society have led to an increasing call for research on higher education quality and what it entails. Despite various quality systems and higher education standards, the quality concept is multi-layered, and concerned parties tend to have different perspectives on its meaning. Scholars have attempted to analyse external and internal quality factors in higher education regarding international quality standards, institutional standards, and quality culture in academic work. In this study, which is part of a larger study: Cooperation between teachers and students for increased quality of learning and teaching, the administrators, teachers, and students at one academic unit in an Icelandic university were asked what constitutes the quality of learning and teaching. Individual interviews were conducted with four administrators, and focus group interviews were conducted with nine teachers and fifteen students. The interviewees shared a vision of some key quality learning and teaching elements. However, it was noticeable that student views were sometimes rooted in different ideologies than the administrators’ and teachers’ when defining what it means to be “educated”. Students wanted practical approaches to their education that directly prepared them for the labour market. They also emphasised modern teaching methods that spark students’ interests and motivate them and found the clear organization of studies essential as well as timesaving for student schedules. Administrators and teachers also wanted students to acquire knowledge and skills that would be useful to them in their future workplaces. However, they concurrently emphasised that an essential part of higher education was to delve deeply into academic subjects and develop critical thinking and social vision on important challenges in the global world. Therefore, many students seemed to experience themselves as consumers in the learning environment. They did not consider students’ decreasing engagement and independence in their studies problematic, as they found it unpreventable considering that students are trying to juggle many balls at once. Students mentioned that clear course requirements, good structure, and modern teaching methods were crucial to their studies. Still, they added that teachers had to be willing to give them some flexibility when something related to family or work came up in their lives. On the other hand, the teachers raised the issue of considerable pressure being on them to discount academic requirements due to students’ busy schedules and less dedication as most of them were working in addition to their studies. They pointed out the urgent need to stop this trend, as quality education needs students’ dedication and time, and it is a transformative process instead of a consumer product. They declared that they were trying to accommodate students and adopt innovations. Still, they pointed out that growing demands in their work as academics for new technical and pedagogic skills led to increasing workload and stress among staff who already are dividing their efforts between teaching, administration, and research. All interviewees believed that good and active communication between students, teachers and administrators constituted an essential part of a quality culture in learning communities. Under such circumstances, opportunities opened to discuss the quality of courses, teaching, and study lines, as well as the development of education and needed reforms. It also mobilised a diverse group of concerned parties in the learning community to share their vision of what quality education entailed and how it must evolve. According to all interviewees, the main obstacle to involving more parties in the conversation was the lack of time and the fast pace of daily life. It affected students’ devotion to their studies and reduced their participation in conversations on reforms and studies’ evolvement. At the same time, teachers and administrators appeared to experience increased workloads and, sometimes, stress related to fast changes and requirements in the learning environment. In line with the findings, it can be concluded that an open and honest conversation must take place about what steps must be taken to ensure students’ opportunities to increase their educational engagement. Also, quality work must be continual, and measures must be taken to meet societies’ changing conditions to support quality culture in universities. In addition, improved working conditions are needed for university institutions, teachers, and administrators to meet quality standards in teaching and learning.