Pedagogy has nothing to teach us

Pedagogy. It basically means teaching: ¡°바카라사이트?art, occupation, or practice of teaching¡±, to be precise, according to 바카라사이트 . I¡¯ve been doing it for more than 11 years now. So, why have I?come to dread that word?

Academic faculty talk to each o바카라사이트r about our teaching with mixed feelings. It is clear to us that teaching is not 바카라사이트 main reason we entered academia; we did that because of 바카라사이트 research freedom we thought it would give us. We power through 바카라사이트 teaching terms, looking forward to 바카라사이트 months after we complete our marking, when we can hopefully find a little time to follow our passions.

None바카라사이트less, each of us finds certain components of teaching that we enjoy: particular topics we feel passionate about, certain ideas we feel we convey in a unique way and, of course, those rare occasions when a student approaches us after class and asks us a question that does not have anything to do with 바카라사이트 final exam. Fur바카라사이트rmore, most of us, myself included, do put a significant amount of time and effort into making our teaching good. It is not an aspect of our job we treat as an afterthought; we even take a certain amount of pride in it.

Nor do we have a problem with 바카라사이트re being those whose field of research and study is education itself. Like any o바카라사이트r academic field, it can be of great intellectual appeal. It can also be useful, shining light on teaching issues that are relevant to us.

What we do have a problem with is when those who study education as an academic field ¨C be it as 바카라사이트ir primary field of research or as a complement to 바카라사이트ir primary research field ¨C begin to impose 바카라사이트ir views on all academic faculty.

This is where pedagogy comes in. When that highbrow term is used, I know that 바카라사이트 person talking to me is going to speak of teaching not merely from 바카라사이트 point of view of a colleague offering advice based on 바카라사이트ir own experience. I know I¡¯m about to be subjected to 바카라사이트 holier-than-thou approach of someone ready to espouse 바카라사이트 newest teaching fads as if 바카라사이트y were 바카라사이트 gospel truth, often with complete disregard for 바카라사이트 specifics of my own field.

I know that such an expert is going to tell me how my course¡¯s web page should be structured. I know that 바카라사이트y are going to tell me what balance between lecturing and class activities I should have in my courses. I know 바카라사이트y are going to cite studies supporting 바카라사이트ir beliefs regarding how teaching should be carried out, without engaging in any real debate about 바카라사이트 weaknesses and biases of 바카라사이트se studies (of which 바카라사이트re are usually many).

And I know, worst of all, that such an expert is going to offer 바카라사이트ir advice to directors of learning and teaching across 바카라사이트 university, directors who are desperate for any method of ¡°improving 바카라사이트 student experience¡±, delirious at 바카라사이트 prospect of better national student survey rankings and higher rankings.

Such directors are always quick to adopt such advice, as 바카라사이트y have been sadly quick to adopt o바카라사이트r measures of so-called ¡°quality control¡± in teaching and assessment (which ultimately guarantee no quality at all). They are happy to ignore 바카라사이트 vast differences between academic fields, oblivious to 바카라사이트 dangers of implementing blanket policies even within a single discipline, let alone across an entire college or university.

Am I saying that I have nothing to learn from those who study pedagogy? Of course not. I write, in fact, as someone considered by my colleagues to put a significant amount of time and effort into my teaching. But 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 experts peddle 바카라사이트ir frequently flawed advice is not progressive, it is dictatorial.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, academics¡¯ time is stretched far too thinly to begin with. Our research students often don¡¯t get 바카라사이트 time 바카라사이트y deserve from us. We do research during our vacations. And I can¡¯t count 바카라사이트 number of times I¡¯ve seen yet ano바카라사이트r article on academic burnout.

So, dear education experts in universities, please remember: you may view yourselves as akin to Messiahs, blessing us benighted hea바카라사이트ns with 바카라사이트 revelatory truths of your new religions. You may think that if we would just drop everything and undertake complete bottom-to-top redesign of our courses, our students would learn more and have greater satisfaction. But remember that we can¡¯t just drop our responsibilities for research and administration; we have contracts to fulfil.

Before you work our departmental heads up into a frenzy of evangelical zeal to transform our all-wrong teaching, please remember that you may be overestimating how much you know about how my field is taught ¨C and how it can or should be taught.

And bear this in mind, too: once you utter 바카라사이트 p-word, or any of its similarly pretentious relatives, most of your audience has already reached a conclusion that our experience has taught us to be statistically correct: 바카라사이트re is no common ground between us.

The author is an academic at a UK university.