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Teaching qualifications should be compulsory for university lecturers!

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I am going to jump in here and just highlight that universities do have training for teaching. When I started my PhD I received a hand book called 'In at the deep end' and also took a short teaching course. We do not have similar qualifications to high school teachers as teaching is a secondary purpose, but we do have some training available. The primary purpose is to conduct research and get published.

There is a reason the mantra in academia is 'publish or perish'.

We are judged upon publications and ability to get research grants. While we do get feedback from students its not particularly important. Even then feedback is of questionable use when teaching methods units will normally result in poor feedback regardless of how well the unit is structured or the quality of teaching. Methods is just an unpopular topic among students. If a unit changes structure or the assessment criteria is altered and proves to be unpopular then changes can be made for the following year to address issues.

While you are paying fees the reason universities exist is to conduct research.
Original post by Political-phd
I am going to jump in here and just highlight that universities do have training for teaching. When I started my PhD I received a hand book called 'In at the deep end' and also took a short teaching course. We do not have similar qualifications to high school teachers as teaching is a secondary purpose, but we do have some training available. The primary purpose is to conduct research and get published.

There is a reason the mantra in academia is 'publish or perish'.

We are judged upon publications and ability to get research grants. While we do get feedback from students its not particularly important. Even then feedback is of questionable use when teaching methods units will normally result in poor feedback regardless of how well the unit is structured or the quality of teaching. Methods is just an unpopular topic among students. If a unit changes structure or the assessment criteria is altered and proves to be unpopular then changes can be made for the following year to address issues.

While you are paying fees the reason universities exist is to conduct research.


That's fine for you, but not good enough for the majority of students.

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Original post by Political-phd

While you are paying fees the reason universities exist is to conduct research.


I wholeheartedly appreciate that; I got a glimpse of this during my limited experience as a PhD student. However, imagine if you are in the position as an undergraduate student. You take a course, hoping to gain some new skills and knowledge from it, but the quality of the teaching is making the learning of the course unnecessarily difficult, and the lecturer may take a laissez-faire or contemptuous attitude towards helping out the students. How would you feel if you were a student in this position?

Original post by Political-phd
We are judged upon publications and ability to get research grants. While we do get feedback from students its not particularly important. Even then feedback is of questionable use when teaching methods units will normally result in poor feedback regardless of how well the unit is structured or the quality of teaching. Methods is just an unpopular topic among students. If a unit changes structure or the assessment criteria is altered and proves to be unpopular then changes can be made for the following year to address issues.


What sorts of "methods" are you on about? Do you mean mathematical methods, research methods, or something else?
(edited 8 years ago)

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