Generic skills in higher education – teachers’ conceptions, pedagogical practices and pedagogical training

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teachers’ conceptions of teaching play a key role in the pedagogical practices they apply in their teaching. Previous studies of conceptions of teaching generic skills have been mainly qualitative with small samples, and thus there is a need for a more extensive quantitative study. This study investigates the associations between higher education teachers’ conceptions of teaching generic skills, pedagogical practices, pedagogical training, and teaching experience. The data consist of teachers’ survey answers (N = 286). The findings indicate that conceptions were related to pedagogical practices. In addition, pedagogical training has a significant relation to conceptions and pedagogical practices. However, teaching experience did not relate to conceptions of generic skills, but it did to some of the practices. This study suggests a need for teachers to enhance their awareness of conceptions related to teaching generic skills and highlights the importance of pedagogical training.