Perception and Barriers of Quality Teaching: From the Perspective of University Teachers in Italy, UK and China

Abstract

Quality higher education teaching is crucial in enabling higher education institutions to produce creative and adaptable graduates, and it should be the center of gravity of higher education; however, quality of teaching is often overlooked and undervalued (High Level
Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education, 2013). Based on the literature, a possible reason for overlooking and undervaluing the quality of teaching is because “quality” is a value-laden concept with little agreement over the description of quality and without reliable way of assessment (Andreson, Powell, & Smith, 1987; Ehlers, 2009; Harvey & Green, 1993; Harvey, 2007; Moodie, 1986; Vettori, 2012; Williams & Blackstone, 1983). As university teachers
are the core practitioners who are responsible for the quality of teaching, it is important to cognize their perception as it represents the central value of quality teaching. Beside to understand their perception, it is also essential to find out the barriers for them to pursue quality teaching because it will trigger other stakeholders in higher education system to reflect on how to support teachers on improving teaching quality. With these two aims, there are two research questions. The first one is what does university teachers define the quality in their teaching; the second one is what are the barriers that university teachers are facing in their way of improving quality teaching. In this study, the researcher interviews 23 university teachers across various disciplines from Italy, UK and China to find the answers.