Knowledge and teaching : an investigation on what makes good teaching in tourism higher education

Abstract

A realistic view of the literature on tourism education may be that whilst it demonstrates considerable progress, little of this has focused on teaching or its assessment. It is in connection with this point that this study seeks to add a perspective by addressing issues about the nature and the evaluation of teaching tourism in higher education. The overall aim of the thesis is to provide the background and findings of a study of the evaluation of teaching in the UK. Specifically it aims to explore the key dimensions on which teaching can be evaluated and, with reference to the views of tourism students and teachers, to identify the main factors that are associated with good teaching. In the absence of any relevant studies in the field of tourism education, the work draws on the literature from the field of education more generally in order to arrive at a set of dimensions to evaluate teaching in tourism. Following an outline of the key dimensions, the thesis describes and provides the results of a Q-study that generated a total of 60 statements that can be used to evaluate these dimensions. These statements then provide the basis for the main fieldwork of this research, involving questionnaire surveys of teachers and students from which the main factors are identified. The findings of the study suggest that the important dimensions, for both teachers and students, relate to the extent to which the teaching is linked both to the vocational aspects of tourism as well as to deeper sets of experiences associated with higher education.

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