The Pedagogical Qualification of the Academic Teaching Staff and the Quality of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The author takes note of the relative unpopularity of pedagogical and in‐service training for university teachers, particularly in the German‐speaking university world, and asks himself why this is the case. The reason, he suggests, has to do with the traditional view that what counts in universities is research, teaching being a secondary preoccupation of the teaching staff. Yet, public opinion as well as selected European higher education institutions and administrations have mounted efforts to make pedagogical training a standard part of the required qualifications of university teaching staff members. Following a survey of European efforts, particularly in the United Kingdom and in Germany, to interest university teachers in university‐level pedagogy, the author presents what a polling of teachers and students in Germany consider to be good teaching practices. He urges all teaching staff members to adopt these practices.