Active methodologies in conceptions of teachers in higher education : “a new name that doesn’t say much”?

Abstract

This article discusses data produced in a piece of research that aimed at investigating convergences and divergences between the pedagogical conceptions and practices of teachers in Higher Education (HE) and ideas associated with Active Methodologies (AM). The text discusses findings of a categorical content analysis of five interviews conducted between October 2019 and March 2020 within the scope of a mixed methods survey conducted at a private higher education institution. The theoretical grounding comprised research focused on MA uses in ES, texts about teaching and innovation in ES, as well as literature on the History of Education and Didactics. The discussion is organized around the following themes: trajectory in the teaching profession; planning and dynamics in the classroom; conceptions about innovation; and conceptions of MA. It is suggested that, although participants declare to have little familiarity with AM, which is, in fact, a relatively recent expression, many of the teaching strategies reported by them are consistent with the practices and theoretical foundations of these methodologies as explained in the relevant literature. Thus, on the one hand, it is reiterated that there is always room for pedagogical innovation in the sense of adapting to new contexts and demands. On the other hand, it is suggested that ideas around supporting the development of students’ agency have a longer history and may already be an integral, albeit tacit, part of the ES teachers' repertoire in a way that is obscured by advocacy discourses of MA that stress their innovative character.