Should 'teacher centred teaching' replace 'student centred learning'?
Abstract
Mission statements of most HEIs across the UK support 'student centred learning'. In this paper, it is suggested that 'teacher centred teaching' should also have a major role to play, improving the quality of the learning experience in higher education. Students are extremely diverse in their skills, weaknesses, and learning styles, but lecturers are just as diverse in their abilities and areas of expertise. Moreover, teaching methods are now more varied than ever before (e.g. lectures, tutorials, workshops, labs, ebl/pbl, on-line provision, transferable skills exercises), often requiring specialist skills that not every university lecturer possesses. Identifying those strengths and weaknesses, and building our teaching around the qualities of our teachers, is surely one way of improving the student learning environment, and perhaps leading to happier students and more fulfilled lecturers.