Teaching in Higher Education

Consistency and Change in Context and Role

How is the role and status of higher education teaching generally perceived in Norway today? This theme is reflected on in the Ministry’s newly published white paper on quality in higher education. A certain concern expressed is that teaching lingers ‘in the shadows of research’, that it is methodologically conservative, and that its status needs to be lifted. The voice of teaching academics themselves tends to be less heard than those of political and institutional leaderships and students. This paper presents results from an in-depth interview study that explores how the opinions of the academic teachers compares with the governmental perspective and other ‘myths’ of conservatism and resilience to change.