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Enabling student development and achievement Lecturers competencies qualitative Quality assurance quantitative

Lecturers Competence in Teaching and Learning

Blog Authors: David Cullen, Jan Robertson, John McVeigh, Tracey Howe

Image: Freepik (https://www.flaticon.com/authors/freepik) / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

The UK quality Code for Higher Education states that ‘staff have an appropriate level of competence for teaching and supporting learning.’ College Faculty of Nautical and STEM provides a full range of marine operations courses from mandatory training for Merchant Navy Officers to a range of short courses. Therefore we were interested in this recent paper The Analysis of Lecturers Competence in Teaching and Learning Process of Cadets At Makassar Marine Polytechnic.

Here’s what they did

The study aimed to determine the competence of lecturers in the learning process of cadets at Makassar Marine Polytechnic (PIP Makassar). The research method used was a survey method to describe the existing conditions using a questionnaire of nautical, technical and management cadets. The 4 competency aspects studied were:

  • Pedagogic, such as the right methods and media used to create a good learning environment whilst providing guidance and motivation to cadets.
  • Lecturer personality, in providing a good example, duty and authority in front of cadets and still be polite when speaking as well as neatness of dress.
  • Professionalism, in managing the class and delivering training.
  • Social, in communicating and interacting with parents/ guardians of cadets as well as establishing a rapport with peers.

To study identified the main problem of the study to be the competence of lecturers in the teaching and learning process of cadets at PIP Makassar. The research method used was a survey method to describe the existing conditions using a questionnaire as a data collection instrument. The focus of research on a sample totalling 96 consisting of nautical, technical and management cadets.

The population of the study was made up of 135 Cadets of which 65 were majoring in nautical, 55 technical and 15 in management. The number of samples with an error rate of 5% from each population gave 96 cadets. The author collected data via questionnaire, interview and a document review. This data was analysed using a quantitative descriptive analysis in the Frequency Distribution Formula:

P = f/n x 100 Where P = Procedure, f = frequency of respondent’s answers, n = number of respondents

A scale was then used to measure the competence of lecturers.

Here’s what they found

  • Through the analysis of the responses, the author reported that the four aspects of competencies of lecturers measured were good or very good.
  • Through interviewing 3 cadets, one from each of the majors identified, lecturers were able to understand students as individuals.
  • Lecturers were also deemed to have paid special attention to the biological, intellectual and psychological differences of their students in order to better understand them.

The author/s concluded

That the lecturers of PIP Makassar had met the required national education competency standards.

Our Journal Club’s views

Who are the authors of the paper and where do they work?

At the time of publication Endang Lestari worked in the Nautical Department of Politeknik Ilmu Pelayaran Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. As the author was a lecturer in the department, the objectivity and independence were challenged, and a potential conflict of interest was raised regarding the anonymity of the questionnaires where the cadets are the respondents to a lecturer.

What do we know about the journal?

The journal of Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 75. 1st International Conference on Materials Engineering and Management – Management Section (ICMEMm 2018). This paper was a conference paper submission and it is unclear whether it had been peer reviewed.

The literature review section was not linked to the aim of the study and had no critical evaluation of the literature that contributed to the paper.

What about the methodology used?

The paper was more of a practitioner article rather than an academic study – “this is what we did and this is we found”, with no further discourse made. We thought that the rationale for the study was not clearly stated.

The absence of the content of the questionnaire allowed us to speculate on the number of questions asked, the weighting, the number of responses and the format of the questions, whether simplistically framed in order to give the conclusion wanted rather than discovered.

There was no breakdown of the respondents’ data available such as gender, age, questions answered or subject majoring in.

This evidence was very limited with no general recommendations for further study. There were no ethical considerations reported of the sample population or of the interviewees (cadets and staff in the institute) and this introduced a high risk of bias. The body of this paper was poorly presented, with poor syntax, poor reporting and of a poor structure and style that is sandwiched between the abstract and the conclusion.

No strengths, weaknesses, self-critique or recommendations were forthcoming in the subsequent analysis for the responses.

Our conclusions are – that this evidence has a high risk of bias.

Implications for our practice

A topical piece that unfortunately promised more than it delivered. It highlighted the importance of social rapport with students as a competence and led discussion to the process of recruiting lecturers. Student rapport is not guaranteed with a candidate that has the required academic and industry experience. In fact, how lecturers’ interpersonal skills contribute to the team could be more of a measure of social competence.

Next steps

There is the potential for the College to conduct a similar study, learning from the inadequacies of this study and then conduct a compare and contrast critical evaluation. The focus of future study could investigate the academic and vocational competencies required in delivering vocational courses with the demands of GTCS registration and the Professional Standards for Lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges.

View from

Joe to get a relevant external commentator

What do you think?

References

Keywords: competencies, professionalism, lecturer, cadets, learning process, questionnaire

Our Blog Posts are written by staff at City of Glasgow College to inform and inspire our practice. We meet together at the Journal Club to consider the latest evidence to provide insights on hot topics related to learning and teaching, quality assurance and subject needs. It forms part of our activity for General Teaching Council Scotland registration and Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges demonstrating that we are a self-critical staff community.

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