A body of literature on students as partners (SaP) in higher education has emerged over the last decade that documents, shares, and evaluates SaP approaches. As is typical in emerging fields of inquiry, scholars differ regarding how they see the relationship between the developments in SaP practices and the theoretical explanations that guide,…

The ongoing challenges in equitable research involving Indigenous peoples and their communities and ways to overcome these are discussed in this article. Central to this article is the narrative reflection of a non-Indigenous researcher following research on Indigenous spirituality, well-being and resilience in the Yaegl community of northern New…

"Wicked" issues are one-off problems that have no algorithms to follow to solutions. They are ill-understood or understood in multiple, perhaps conflicting, ways and are fundamentally complex in character. This paper argues that the term is an apt one to describe many aspects of the relationship between theory and data in educational research, and…

The article begins by examining the variety of meanings that can be given to the word "theory", the different attitudes that may be taken towards theories of these various types and some of the problems associated with them. The second half of the article focuses on one of these types, explanatory theory, and the question of what is required if…

This article considers the value of clarity--of theory, method and purposes--in educational research. It draws upon the work of early critical theorist, Theodor Adorno, and particularly his notion of negative dialectics and his challenge to the traditional dichotomy of theory and practice. Using the notions of virtuous mess and wicked clarity, I…

This paper calls into question the idea that we can simply think about higher education as a research field and explores different meanings of the term field. It asks whether there are related fields: research into higher education, academic development and disciplinary teaching research, rather than one. The approach of the paper is conceptual,…

In the past decade there has been a marked push for the development of employability skills to be part of the PhD process. This push is generally by stakeholders from above and outside the PhD process, i.e. government and industry, who view skills as a "summative product" of the PhD. In contrast, our study interviewed stakeholders inside…

The summary of a Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia conference identifies significant themes in the presentations concerning theories of learning, and comments on them. It is noted that, despite the diversity of presentations, important areas of agreement emerged. (MSE)

The "Approaches to teaching inventory" (ATI) is now being widely used as an instrument for formally monitoring approaches to teaching. A lesser-known use is as a stimulant for discussion among groups of teachers to raise awareness of the variation in qualitatively different ways of approaching teaching. The phenomenographic origins of…

The relationship between phenomenography, an approach to research that aims to identify and describe individuals' qualitatively different experiences, and learning is examined. A number of problems in teaching and learning are then explored from this perspective. It is stressed that students' unique experiences are fundamental to what they learn.…

A discussion of hermeneutics focuses on the central role of language in learning. Four areas of understanding, all realized through language, are identified. It is argued that, with a hermeneutic approach, both cognitive and student-centered approaches to teaching are transcended and fused into a broader conception of understanding. (Author/MSE)

A model of higher education learning and teaching based on systems theory, in which all parts of the teaching-learning context are seen as seeking equilibrium, is proposed. The task of the teacher is seen as achieving good teaching practices that are workable within the existing matrix of systems and subsystems. (Author/MSE)

Two kinds of teaching/learning theories in higher education, formal and informal, are examined critically. It is argued that the contribution of formal theory is often ignored in favor of an amateur approach to instructional improvement driven by institutional imperatives, the rewarding of compliance over risk taking, and trivialization of the…

This paper discusses issues arising from three case studies of the ways people have become tertiary teachers in a polytechnic, a wananga (Maori tertiary institution) and a university in New Zealand. Despite institutional differences, the teachers gained most of their teaching knowledge and skills on the job, learning informally and experientially,…

The organization and role of higher education research and development units (HERDUs) are described, and international perspectives on educational development theory and practices are examined. Factors constraining educational development operations in HERDUs are discussed, and recommendations for addressing current concerns are offered. (MSE)