Quality of Teaching of Lecturers with a PhD in Higher Education

As the higher education landscape continues to change, the quality of teaching is becoming an issue of focus. Changes such as increased competition internationally, increased geographical and social diversity of the body of students, information technology introduction, and increased demand for value for money have led to the higher education teaching quality to become an important issue. However, the whole issue of quality of teaching in higher education has confused the stakeholders. The term quality in this context lacks a definition that is clear and can be referred to as a property, or an outcome, or even a process. Additionally, it lacks a definition that is clear as the stakeholders have a relative say in the teaching quality conceptions.

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Initiatives of good teaching are broad both in function and in nature. However, it has proved to be a challenge in choosing quantifiable and reliable indicators to measure the teaching quality of individual teachers and teaching efficiency. So this article will focus on discussing the higher educations quality of teaching and will weigh the probability of quality teaching being offered by teachers with a Ph.D. more efficiently than teachers without Ph.D.

Quality of Teaching in Higher Education

Due to the continuous shift being experienced in the higher education landscape, the quality of teaching had become an issue to be discussed from different perspectives by the concerned stakeholders. The body of students has diversified and expanded considerably, both geographically and socially. New methods are required by new students. The nature of the interaction between the lecturers and the students has been modified by modern technologies that have found their way into the classrooms. The stakeholders that is the employers, the students, families of the students, the government, and the sponsors demand value for the money. They desire teaching to be efficient. In institutions of higher learning, the quality culture and quality debate remain controversial. While some regard quality as a property, others view it as an outcome. Another section believes that quality cannot be grasped in higher education as it involves a series of processes reducing defects that can never come to an end. Therefore, all these uncertainties on the issue of quality teaching has left the public with a little clue of what really quality is from a higher-education teaching perspective. However, for the purpose of this discussion provision of graduates that are well equipped with the relevant knowledge in their line of specialization is what determines the quality of teaching that they have been accorded. In this, other factors can be put in such as moral of the students and their relation to the world.

Literature has always stressed that good teachers have priority for students. Good teachers mean experienced teachers, and a majority of them are organized. On the other hand, teachers that can be defined as excellent are those that have learning and teaching passion. However, other researchers have shown that good teaching is dependent on the teaching received and other several situational factors. Quality teaching is mostly centered on the students. Not only should the focus be concentrated on the pedagogical skills of the teacher, but also it should be concentrated to the learning environment. The learning environment addresses the personal needs of the students (OECD, 2008). The students should be able to comprehend the reason as to why they are working and should be able to receive help if needed. The learning outcomes are also improved by the adequate support from the staff to students. This includes academic and social support, financial support, counseling services, and supporting minority students.

Quality of Teaching of Lecturers with a Ph.D. in Higher Education

The question of quality of teaching escalates to whether lecturers with a Ph.D. offer better quality teaching than lecturers without Ph.D. First and foremost, it is good to acknowledge that a Ph.D. lecturer is one who has acquired much knowledge and has gone a step further to research and provide new knowledge on a given area. Therefore, any Ph.D. holder is sufficiently knowledgeable. However, drawing back to the initial discussion on the quality of education, it was evident that some factors should be put into consideration before concluding that the teaching is of high quality. Therefore, being a Ph.D. holder does not directly imply that the teacher will provide quality teaching. Other factors most of which rely on the relationship between the students and the lecturer and also the environment will come into effect.

For instance, experience is one key factor that determines how a lecturer is conversant with a specific area of study. This implies that a lecturer ought to be not merely a holder of Masters degree in a certain field but have ample experience to provide quality teaching since a lecturer may have acquired a Ph.D. but still be unable to provide quality teaching to the students. Therefore, analyzing the issue, all these factors must be considered.

However, with the rising demand for education and a majority of the graduates seeking to do their Masters, the quality has diminished. The result has therefore been the companies and other agencies complaining that they are indignant with half backed graduates from the higher education institutions. It has made higher education institutions to respond by recommending that lecturers are to be Ph.D. holders or have many years of experience in a certain field so that they can be considered for a teaching job. It, therefore, poses the question of what the quality of teaching of teachers with a Ph.D is.

Due to the knowledge that a Ph.D. holder bear, they are found more suitable to offer higher education teaching. This has been triggered by the economic competitiveness that is being witnessed across the globe. Todays economy is more knowledge driven, and therefore to equip students with the relevant knowledge, many higher learning institutions rely mostly on Ph.D. teachers. Quality has been the main agenda of the institutions of higher education putting into consideration that competition is coming from different quarters (Chalmers, 2007, p. 110). For instance, state-owned institutions are in constant rivalry with private owned institutions to outdo each other in the competitive market. Each seeks to offer quality by hiring knowledgeable teachers. Many institutions utilize the broad knowldge that a Ph.D. holder bears believing that all the knowledge will be passed to the students. However, it is critical to note that although the level of education of the teachers will be a boost to the students, the contribution of relevant departments, members of the faculties, and the state will also determine the measure of quality in the institution.

Research Problem

The research problem of this study is the quality of teaching of lecturers with a Ph.D. There has been a growing attention surrounding the teaching quality which has been triggered by debates. The knowledge and experience that comes with a Ph.D. teacher have been viewed as a solution to the deficient quality teaching in the institutions of higher learning. Thus, the primary concern has been on the quality of teaching of Ph.D. lecturers.

Aim of the Research

The purpose of this research is to find out whether a lecturer with a Ph.D. delivers better quality teaching than lecturers without a Ph.D. The research will seek to offer a discussion as for why teachers with a Ph.D. are considered the best to provide quality teaching. At the same time, it will provide an argument as to why teachers with a Masters degree should also not be sidelined having the required experience. However, since the focus is on Ph.D. teachers, the study will highlight their benefits and give reasons as to why they are the ones to provide quality teaching. However, other factors that determine quality teaching will also be touched upon in the course of the study.

Ideas for Research Methods

The sample of the study comprised 29 institutions of higher education chosen from 20 countries ranging from business to vocational and technological institutions; from postgraduate specialized institutions to those that offer undergraduate teaching. Each of the institutions used up to three initiatives for quality teaching. Therefore, the study focused on 46 quality teaching initiatives. The higher centers for education used in the study varied in size, degree structure, autonomous level, disciplinary orientation, and typology of the institutions. The study utilized primary research methods such as questionnaires to collect the data. Each of the institutions involved in the study was issued with a questionnaire that allowed them to analyze and set out their own actions.

Research Dilemma for This Specific Topic and Research Problem

The dilemmas experienced in the research mainly emanated from the undefined meaning of quality teaching in institutions of higher education (Altbach, 2006, p. 87). The debates and drivers that generate the concern on the quality of teaching were also a confusion. The institutions aim when offering quality and the approach that guides their philosophy was a dilemma to (Telford, 2005, pp. 109-112). Other dilemmas that presented themselves in the study includes coming up with the monitoring and measurements of the progress, the impact of teaching on institutional, teaching, and research culture.

Findings of the Study

Several findings came out from the study:

The initiatives that support quality teaching are empirical. They address the needs of the institution at a particular given time.

There is an increasing number of strategies, actions, and policies geared towards improving teaching quality as teaching matters in the institutions of higher education.

Coherent consolidation of the initiatives to ensure quality teaching remains a non-linear and long term process as it faces several constraints.

The pedagogy of interactions between teachers and students has been improved by technology.

Due to the shifts in the teaching landscape in the institutions of higher learning, quality teaching has to be viewed from a dynamic perspective.

The top most management in higher educations institutions must be willing and committed to handling all the relevant factors that affect teaching quality.

Both the internal (from the context of the institution) and external factors (from the context of international level, for instance, Europes Bologna Process) should be implemented together (UNESCO/CEPES, 2005).

The size of an institution is not an obstacle in achieving quality teaching as long as the management of the institution is well committed, facilities are adequate, and there is sufficient funding.

A balance must be ensured between the quality support technical aspects and fundamental issues.

Limitations of the Research

There were several limitations in the process of the research. One of the key limitations of the study was the given timeline. The time provided to complete the research was not adequate, and therefore, some of the questionnaires had to be collected in haste so as to beat the deadlines. Another limitation of the study is that it only relied on present day sources. Ideas of transformation written by scholars such as Gibbs (1995) or Boyer (1990) were overlooked. Since the problem statement of the study touches on the teaching quality that is offered by teachers with a Ph.D. in higher education institutions, the study left out other relevant problems that relate to the problem. The study was specific to Ph.D. teachers and focused on the input in teaching, but not the outcomes of learning.

Another major limita...