Abstract
The notion that universal ‘best practices’ underpin higher education teaching is problematic. Although there is general agreement in the literature that good teaching is not decontextualised but rather that it is responsive to the context in which it occurs, generic views of teaching and learning continue to inform practices at universities in South Africa. This conceptual paper considers why a decontextualised approach to higher education teaching prevails and interrogates factors influencing this view, such as: the knowledge bases informing this approach to teaching, the factors from within the higher education sector that shape this approach to teaching, as well as the practices and Discourses prevalent in the field of academic development. The paper argues that teaching needs to be both contextually responsive and knowledge- focused. Disrupting ‘best practices’ approaches require new ways of undertaking academic staff development, which are incumbent on the understandings that academic developers bring to the enterprise.
Highlights
The concepts of good teaching; best practices in teaching; and excellence in teaching are being contested nationally, internationally, and locally. Behari-Leak and McKenna (2017) trouble the notion of a ‘generic gold standard’ by which teaching excellence can be measured, and offer in its place a more nuanced view which sees teaching as a contextualised response to the needs of students
Teaching Excellence Awards and found that excellence in teaching is understood in very generic ways which fail to take into account differences across institutional contexts and validates teaching as performativity
Concluding thoughts I conclude this paper by addressing the link between genericism and ‘best practices’
Summary
The concepts of good teaching; best practices in teaching; and excellence in teaching are being contested nationally, internationally, and locally. Behari-Leak and McKenna (2017) trouble the notion of a ‘generic gold standard’ by which teaching excellence can be measured, and offer in its place a more nuanced view which sees teaching as a contextualised response to the needs of students. Such understandings have implications for teaching, leading to generic practices (such as ‘best practices’ approaches) which are decontextualised from the social contexts surrounding learning.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
