Conceptions of teaching

Outcomes of research into conceptions of teaching held by university teachers indicate a variety of views regarding teaching (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Trigwell & Prosser, 1996). Teaching was conceived as:

• transmitting concepts of the syllabus
• transmitting the teachers’ knowledge
• helping students acquire concepts of the syllabus
• helping students acquire teachers’ knowledge
• helping students develop conceptions
• helping students to change conceptions

These categories range from those that are teacher-focused (transmission model) to those that are student-focused (conceptual change model). Lecturers holding the more sophisticated conceptual change view may see all the different strategies as being part of their teaching, while those holding the simpler transmission view may see the purpose as being little more than “to increase knowledge through the transmission of information” (Trigwell & Prosser, 1996).

In addition to their conception of teaching, the teaching approaches adopted by lecturers may depend on factors such as their feelings of freedom and control over how and what they teach; their perceptions of the size of their classes; their views on how well they think their students can cope with the subject matter that they are teaching; how well they think their department values teaching; and their perceptions of their own workloads (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999).

Lecturers’ perceptions of their teaching situation may or may not reflect the actual situation. For instance, even if the situation affords a ‘conceptual change/student focused’ approach, lecturers may adopt the ‘information transfer/teacher focused’ approach and the quality of teaching outcomes may be low (Trigwell & Prosser, 1996).

• Prosser, M. & Trigwell, K. (1999). Understanding learning and teaching: The experience in higher education. Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press
• Trigwell, K., & Prosser, M. (1996). Towards an understanding of individual acts of teaching. Paper presented at the 1996 Annual Conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia (HERDSA), University of Western Australia, Perth.