Qualitative research as a method for making just comparisons of pedagogic quality in higher education: a pilot study

• Published in: British journal of sociology of education Vol. 28; no. 6; pp. 723 - 737
• Main Authors: Abbas, Andrea, McLean, Monica
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 01-11-2007; Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group; Taylor and Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Classification; College instruction; College students; Comparative analysis; Curricula; Documentation; Educational Quality; Educational research; Educational sociology; England; Equal Education; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Internationalization; Ireland (Northern); Justice; Learning; Methods; Northern Ireland; Pedagogy; Qualitative analysis; Qualitative Research; Quality Assurance; Quality Control; Quality of education; Quality standards; Social Justice; Sociology; Sociology of education. Educational systems. Lifelong education; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Tutoring; United Kingdom; Universities; United Kingdom (Northern Ireland); United Kingdom (England); England; Higher Education; Quality
• ISSN: 0142-5692; 1465-3346
• DOI: 10.1080/01425690701609979

Systems designed to ensure that teaching and student learning are of a suitable quality are a feature of universities globally. Quality assurance systems are central to attempts to internationalise higher education, motivated in part by a concern for greater global equality. Yet, if such systems incorporate comparisons, the tendency is to reflect and reproduce inequalities in higher education. Highlighting the European context, we argue that, if higher education is to play a part in tackling social inequalities, we must seek alternative methods to explore pedagogic quality in institutional settings. The sociologist Basil Bernstein's concepts of classification and framing provide an illustration of the potential of sociologically informed, qualitative approaches for exploring and improving higher education pedagogy and also for addressing social justice issues: these two concepts are used to analyse documentation about undergraduate sociology in two universities that have quite different reputations within the English and Northern Irish higher education system.