Collective learning, teacher beliefs and teaching behaviour in management and social-educational university programmes

An increasing number of universities around the world have adopted a learner-oriented approach to teaching. Collective learning is regarded as a way to support teachers to enhance this approach. Collective learning processes arise when the teachers collaborate and consciously strive for a shared vision, dialogue, collective action and evaluation. The goal of this explanatory correlational study was to explore whether and how collective learning is related to both learner-oriented teacher beliefs and teaching behaviour. The sample consisted of 90 teachers from management and social-educational programmes at a University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Questionnaires were used to measure teacher beliefs and their perception of collective learning. Observations were used to determine teaching behaviour. Results indicated a discrepancy between beliefs and behaviour. Teachers of both programmes generally agreed with learner-oriented beliefs but demonstrated predominantly teacher-oriented behaviour. Teachers in social-educational programmes rated collective learning significantly higher than teachers in management programmes. A positive relationship was found between collective learning and learner-oriented beliefs, however, no relationship was found between collective learning and learner-oriented teaching behaviour. In further studies, a qualitative design could be used to explore to what extent teachers collectively develop their beliefs and behaviour.