Different students, same difference?

Abstract

Recent years have seen a considerable growth in the numbers of international students coming to study in the UK. In an attempt to identify the extent to which differences in understandings and expectations of `effective teaching practice' might impede their successful integration into academic life, the following article offers a comparative analysis of the ways in which UK and overseas students define good teaching. Focusing on survey results at one university, the study identifies and explores four key areas that underpin student understandings of effective teaching: teaching skills, teacher attributes, staff—student relationships and teacher knowledge. Results indicate that UK and international students appear to share broadly similar views and, despite some differences in emphasis, particular teaching skills emerge as most important, while teacher knowledge appears to be afforded a much lower priority. Potential explanations for the degree of commonality in student thinking and prioritization are investigated, and a number of conclusions considered.