Research-teaching nexus in higher education: stakeholders’ discourses and perceptions in Portugal and England
Author(s):
Rita Sousa (presenting / submitting) Amélia Lopes Pete Boyd
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES G 07, Education and Secondary Schools

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-02
09:00-10:30
Room:
FPCEUP - 246
Chair:
Christine Winter

Contribution

This project comes from international relations and research results from the FIPAIF project [PTFC/CPE-CED/113015/2009], concerning the relationship between teaching and research in professional fields (see Lopes et al., 2013).

            Currently one of the cornerstones of European politics is to modernize and make more competitive the sectors of higher education and research to levels of excellence (Ivan, 2011). The leaders in the areas of education and research have a decisive role in this new European scenario, where the learning process should be focused on students (Geraldo et al., 2010) with the aim of producing knowledge and develop the necessary skills required in the knowledge society (Ivan, 2011; reportBolognaBeyond 2010; Europe Commission, 2013).

            The present situation is an excellent opportunity to rethink the relationship between teaching and research (Geraldo et al., 2010) and to understand how it is possible to integrate students in this relationship. In this perspective, students and lecturers are extensively seen in the literature as members of the same “community of learning” (Locke, 2012; Wood, 2009). The way in which research and education relate can assume a variety of meanings (see Willcoxson et al., 2011; Visser‐Wijnveen et al., 2010; Healey & Jenkins, 2006, Robertson, 2007), becoming a field of study of strong relevance (Healy & Jenkins, 2006; Simons & Elen, 2007; Boyer Commission, 1998).

            The nature of the relationship between teaching and research may be influenced by the area of knowledge, by the level of education but also by the individual characteristics of each individual (Taylor, 2008). However, much of the research on the research-teaching nexus (RT nexus) has privileged studies across traditional universities based on the Humboldt tradition (Robertson, 2007); as well as on the perspectives of teachers and students,  which tend to ignore the perspectives of other stakeholders, such as employers and professional bodies. Simons and Elen (2007) refer that the concept of "education through research" is generally used to define a central feature of the academic education at the Universities, distinguishing it from the higher education provided in professional institutions. In this sense, it’s pertinent to produce scientific knowledge that includes different higher education institutions, as well as, different perspectives.

            Currently all areas of knowledge in higher education are dealing with several challenges: the transition to a model centered on students and learning; the emphasis on the acquisition of soft skills and their relation to the processes of learning by research; and the appeals to the social utility of knowledge (Robertson, 2007; Ivan, 2011).Teaching and nursing - by the requiring of their professional knowledge and its vocational nature –  and engineering and economics – by having an academic tradition and a strong professional nature – can be particularly representative of the diverse problems that involve these challenges, both in their similarities as in their differences.

            The main objective of this project is to identify the meaning and the importance that various stakeholders (lecturers, students, professional bodies, employers) involved in higher education confide to research as a strategy for teaching and learning and as a source of skills for employability and work, considering different professional fields – teaching, nursing, engineering and economics – and different contexts – Portugal and England.

Method

Methodologically, the objectives and the theoretical and conceptual framework shape an investigation focused on the case study (descriptive and interpretative). In order to better achieve its objectives in terms of operational viability and accuracy, the option will be for a multi-case study. This decision has to do with the intention to investigate in depth particular cases that, despite their specificity, constitute institutional examples of the same research problem. The multi-case comparison is based on the detailed examination of each case, in the attempt to identify similarities and singularities in its comparison (Lessard-Hébert et al. 1994). This research will start with an extensive and systematic review of the literature concerning the links between teaching and research. The study develops, taking by reference the Portuguese and the English context and their higher education institutions. Achieving the goals of this project will require the following means of gathering information: key informant interviews; document analysis and online surveys. The key informant interviews will be held at the beginning and at the end of the investigation. Key informants represent special sources of information about the context in study. Thus, this methodology approach is the preferred technique for deepening the knowledge of their meanings and perceptions (Quivy & Campenhoudt, 2008), as well as to validate information obtained from other sources. Discourse analysis of selected published documents will provide insight into the positions of employers, professional bodies and higher education programs towards research knowledge and skills. Published documents will include, for example, a sample of employer professional development policies, professional standards documents of relevant professional bodies and higher education programs specifications. Surveys produce mainly quantitative information. Surveys are appropriate for research questions about self-reported beliefs or behaviors (Quivy & Campenhoudt, 2008), which is the case of this project. This project will adopt a mixed approach using objective and open ended prompt questions in an online survey distributed to a sample of stakeholders. Stakeholders to be consulted include: experienced professionals; students; work-based learning supervisors and higher education lecturers in the different fields; employers.

Expected Outcomes

Previous research of the FIPAIF members (Lopes et al., 2013) point to the special way higher education lecturers are committed with professional education and to the difficulties they have to develop research and to connect research and teaching. Almost invariably the link between teaching and research lies in the Healy and Jenkins (2006) research-led model (students are audience; emphasis on content). Nevertheless, some original, but embryonic, meanings of (professional) research arise linking research to teaching and to students’ professional development. One of the current challenges for higher education lecturers is choosing between teaching and researching, but many times the challenge lies in choosing between lecturers’ research and future students’ professional education. Lecturers see research as defining them as higher education teachers. Research, in this sense, refers to researching for academic purposes (which ensures career progression) and to inform teaching (without student participation). Much of the lecturers nowadays wish they could use research for publishing, but they are aware of limitations caused by an excessive amount of work that may prevent them from fulfilling their wish (Lopes et al., 2013). These previous findings show how important it is to foster knowledge on others stakeholders’ perceptions of RT nexus as a means to provide insight into tensions around the value placed by stakeholders on different kinds of graduate knowledge and skills.

References

Bologna beyond 2010 (2009). Report on the development of the European Higher Education Area. Background paper for the Bologna Follow-up Group prepared by the Benelux Bologna Secretariat - Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Ministerial Conference 28-29 April 2009 http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/Irina/Bologna%20beyond%202010.pdf Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University (1998). Reinventing undergraduate education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities. Stony Brook: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Europe Commission (2013). HORIZON 2020 - The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=home Geraldo, G. J., Trevitt, C., Carter, S., & Fazey, J. (2010). Nexus in undergraduate education: Spanish laws pre-and post-Bologna. Educational Research Journal, 9(1), 81-91. Healey, M. & Jenkins, A. (2006). Strengthening the Teaching-Research Linkage in Undergraduate Courses and Programs‘. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 107, 45-55. Ivan, S. (2011). The new paradigm of Higher Education in the knowledge society. Journal Plus Education, VII(2), 46-59. Lessard-Hébert, M., Goyette, G., & Boutin, G. (1994). Investigação Qualitativa - Fundamentos e práticas. Lisboa: Instituto Piaget. Locke, W. (2012). The dislocation of teaching and research and the reconfiguring of academic work. London Review of Education, 10(3), 274-361. Lopes, A., Pereira, F. & Mouraz, A. (2013). A formação inicial de profissionais de ajuda: a enfermagem e o ensino unidade e diversidade. In A. Lopes (org.), Formação Inicial de Professores e de Enfermeiros: identidades e ambientes, (pp. 169-180). Lisboa: Mais Leituras. Lopes, A., Boyd, P., Andrew, N., Pereira, F. (published online, 2013). The research-teaching nexus in nurse and teacher education: contributions of an ecological approach to academic identities in professional fields. Higher Education. DOI 10.1007/s10734-013-9700-2. ISI WEB Quivy, R. & Campenhoudt, L. V. (2008). Manual de Investigação em Ciências Sociais. Lisboa: Gradiva. Robertson, J. (2007). Beyond the ‘research/teaching nexus’: Exploring the complexity of academic experience. Studies in Higher Education, 32(5), 541-556. Simons, M. & Elen, J. (2007). The ‘research-teaching nexus’ and ‘education through research’: an exploration of ambivalences. Studies in Higher Education, 32(5), 617-631. Taylor, J. (2008). The teaching-research nexus and the importance of context: a comparative study of England and Sweden. Compare, 38(1), 53-69. Visser‐Wijnveen, G. J., Van Driel, J. H., Van der Rijst, R. M., Verloop, N. & Visser, A. (2010). The ideal research‐teaching nexus in the eyes of academics: building profiles. Willcoxson, L., Manning, L., Johnston, N. & Gething, K. (2011). Enhancing the Research-Teaching Nexus: Building Teaching-Based Research from Research-Based Teaching. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 23(1), 1-10.

Author Information

Rita Sousa (presenting / submitting)
Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto
Porto
Amélia Lopes
Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
Pete Boyd
University of Cumbria

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