Transforming Leeds into a Humboldtian University: Research Informing Teaching

1. TURNING LEEDS INTO A HUMBOLDTIAN UNIVERSITY: HOW RESEARCH SHOULD INFORM TEACHING George MacDonald Ross PRS Subject Centre Leeds L&T Conference, 08.01.10

2. Programme • Some history • Some politics • Some facts • Two ways of linking R&T University of Leeds

3. When did HE become research-led? • Not for Cardinal Newman • Lecturers and doctors teach • Research mission gradual in UK (discouraged at Leeds early 1900s) • Disciplinary differences • Mid 20th century • US teaching-only colleges University of Leeds

4. Why an issue? • Unis funded better than polys • RAE called bluff of unis • Post 1992 almost all unis have research mission • Present government wants to recreate binary divide • Important to defend research-led teaching University of Leeds

5. Do prolific researchers teach better? • Academics generally say yes • Government says no • Research evidence finds no correlation • Some apriori considerations pro and con: University of Leeds

6. Pro • HE is higher because it is cutting-edge • The next generation of researchers must be educated by researchers • Good teaching requires at least up-to-date scholarship University of Leeds

7. Con (1) • Researchers may neglect teaching • Outcomes of research may be too difficult for UGs • Few UGs proceed to research (the mission of a university is not self-replication) University of Leeds

8. Con (2) • Most teaching is outside one’s research specialism, and non-experts can be good teachers • The RAE forces artificial split between R&T • Rewards for T excellence reinforce the split – should be rewards for linkage University of Leeds

9. Linking T&R • Two broad approaches: • Tell students about your research • Treat students as fellow researchers University of Leeds

10. Telling about • Probably what is understood by most people • Good if achievable • But likely to be too difficult • Students aren’t learning how to research University of Leeds

11. Teaching how • Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835): Students as apprenticed researchers • For example: • Laboratory practicals • Field trips • Case studies • Dissertations and projects University of Leeds

12. Advantages • We’re doing some of it already (but should do much more) • Active learning rather than absorption and regurgitation • Teachers know how to research, but their research needn’t be front-line University of Leeds

13. Disadvantages • Less material can be covered (but less means more?) • Doesn’t justify front-line research in teaching institutions • Difficult to implement with diminishing resources University of Leeds

14. Conclusion • The Humboldtian ideal is the best way forward • The priority should be to develop cost-effective ways of achieving it in different disciplines University of Leeds

15. References (1) • John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University (New York, Longmans, 1947). • Wilhelm von Humboldt, “On the spirit and organisational framework of intellectual institutions in Berlin”, Minerva VIII.2, April 1970, 242-267. University of Leeds

16. References (2) • J. Hattie and H.W. Marsh, “The relationship between research and teaching: a meta-analysis”, Review of Educational Research 66 (4), 1996, 507-542. • A. Jenkins, M. Healey and R. Zetter, Linking teaching and research in the disciplines and departments (York, The Higher Education Academy, 2007). University of Leeds

17. References (3) • G. MacDonald Ross, Kant on Teaching Philosophy, in Discourse: Learning and Teaching in Philosophical and Religious Studies 5/1, Autumn 2005, 65–82 • Other publications at: http://www.philosophy.leeds.ac.uk/GMR/index.html University of Leeds

18. Thank you for participating George MacDonald Ross Senior Adviser Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies of the Higher Education Academy University of Leeds