Teaching excellence in the context of business and management education: Perspectives from Australian, British and Canadian universities

Abstract

Teaching excellence is a multidimensional and highly contested concept among stakeholders in higher education (HE) environments. Thus, there is no universally accepted definition of, nor consensus of opinion on what constitutes, teaching excellence in HE environments. Moreover, there exists a paucity of empirical research on teaching excellence in the context of tertiary level business and management education particularly from the perspective of senior level academics. Accordingly, this study explores notions of what constitutes teaching excellence in the context of business and management education based on semi-structured interviews with 10 senior level academics in Australian, British and Canadian university business and management schools. The paper presents practitioner attributes, research activeness, the involvement of key stakeholders, the learning environment, students as active partners, the learning journey and the informed curricula as 7 perspectives on teaching excellence relating to business and management education that are shaped by how senior management (leadership) teams interpret, articulate, promote, lead, support, monitor and review a shared notion or framework of teaching excellence within business and management schools, and the faculty subculture and wider institutional culture within which they operate. The implications of the study provide credible and meaningful suggestions for promoting teaching excellence in the provision of tertiary level business and management education based on the 7 perspectives of teaching excellence presented in the paper. The research contributes to, and furthers, our understanding of teaching excellence in HE pertaining to business and management education.