The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL): the thorn in the flesh of educational research

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Thirty years ago Boyer's report Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate (1990) inspired the launch of the 'SoTL movement' which sought to raise the status of learning and teaching in higher education. In this paper we argue that despite its honourable intentions the SoTL movement has been a thorn in the flesh of serious scholarship into learning and teaching in higher education. Drawing on various debates within and outside the SoTL movement and interviews with teaching and learning leaders in the UK, we argue that the time has come to consign SoTL to history, and start the process of asserting the value of higher education research. A widened understanding of SoTL that we conceptualise as SoTL 2.0 has superseded and edged out earlier conceptualisations of SoTL (SoTL1.0), weakening SoTL's potential research rigour, legitimacy and validity.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1084-1096
    JournalStudies in Higher Education
    Volume47
    Issue number6
    Early online date19 Oct 2020
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2022

    Bibliographical note

    Note: This work emerged from a Higher Education Academy project 'Defining and supporting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): A sector wide study'.

    Impact: Authors invited to spoke on subject of
    'A discussion of the review into scholarship definitions currently being conducted by the Australian Government Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) 21 Feb 2021 following publication of article. (Presentation online). HERDSA
    John Canning invited to speak to University of Sussex law colleagues.

    Keywords

    • Education

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