Paul Trowler and Ali Cooper have coined the concept of Teaching and Learning Regimes, which constitute collegial teaching and learning cultures. These are primarily socially constructed and enacted. They are often tacit and invisible for those acting within them, and therefore it might be difficult and wearying to go against them. Spotting them and making them more apparent might help diminish possible confining effects. This article is also suggested in the module on Your collegial context.

Trowler, P. & Cooper, A. (2002) Teaching and Learning Regimes: Implicit theories and recurrent practices in the enhancement of teaching and learning through educational development programmes, Higher Education Research & Development, 21 (3), 221-240, DOI: 10.1080/0729436022000020742

Photo of Torgny Roxå Photo of Katarina Mårtensson

Roxå and Mårtensson made an inquiry into conversations that academic teachers have about teaching. They investigated to whom academic teachers talk and the forms that these conversations take, and found that most teachers seem to rely on a small number of significant others for conversations that are characterised by their privacy, by mutual trust and by their intellectual intrigue. These private discussions provide a basis for conceptual development and learning, quite different from the ‘front stage’ of formal, public debate about teaching. This article is also suggested in the module on Your collegial context.

Roxå, T. & Mårtensson, K. (2009). Significant conversations and significant networks – exploring the backstage of the teaching arena. Studies in Higher Education 34(5), 547-559, http://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1046324