Impact of institute and person variables on teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching

Abstract

Background: Teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching are important for faculty development to result in enduring changes in teaching practices. Until now, studies on these conceptions have mostly focused on traditional, lecture-based curricula rather than on small-group student-centred educational formats, which are gaining ground worldwide.

Aim: To explore which factors predict teachers’ conceptions in student-centred curricula.

Methods: In two Dutch medical schools with 10 and 40 years of student-centred education, teachers were asked to fill out the Conceptions of Learning and Teaching (COLT) Questionnaire to assess their ‘teacher-centredness’, ‘appreciation of active learning’ and ‘orientation to professional practice’. Next, we quantitatively assessed the relations of teachers’ conceptions with their personal and occupational characteristics and institute.

Results: Overall response was 49.4% (N = 319/646). Institute was the main predictor for variance in all three scales, and discipline, gender and teaching experience significantly explained variance in two of the scales. More than 80% of the variance was not explained by these factors.

Conclusion: Longer exposure to a student-centred curriculum was associated with fewer teacher-centred conceptions, greater ‘appreciation of active learning’ and stronger ‘orientation towards professional practice’. In line with studies on lecture-based curricula, discipline, gender and teaching experience also appeared important for teachers’ conceptions in student-centred curricula. More research is necessary to better understand the influence of institute on the three teachers’ conceptions scales.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all 319 teachers from VU University Medical Centre Amsterdam and Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht who filled out the questionnaire. We are grateful to Lisette van Hulst for her support in editing this paper’s English.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes

* The study was conducted at VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam and Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, the Netherlands.