Abstract:
One aim of academic development is to help university teachers become
aware of and capable of using student-focused ways of experiencing teaching.
Phenomenographic approaches which focus on variation and relevance structures
for learning offer one possibility for affording changes in teachers' awareness.
This paper proposed a refined phenomenographic approach, based on both recent
developments in phenomenography and the findings of an empirical study of
variation in ways of experiencing change in teaching. The study showed how
teachers focused on different dimensions of variation when they described changes
in teaching and perceived different relevance structures for change. Teachers who
focused on variation in ways of experiencing teaching and sought to understand
teaching and learning were more likely to be or become aware of student-focused
ways of experiencing teaching. Those who focused on variation in content or
teaching strategies and sought to improve their own interest or comfort or their
students' behaviour did not perceive variation between teacher and studentfocused
ways of experiencing teaching and remained teacher-focused. The paper
proposes an approach which may help teachers to discern and focus on the critical
aspects of variation between student-focused and teacher-focused ways of
experiencing teaching, by focusing on variation in ways of experiencing the same
teaching strategies.
