The educational beliefs of a group of university teachers and their students: Identification, exploration and comparison

The quality of teaching and learning in tertiary education contexts is influenced by many factors including the educational beliefs of the university teachers and students who teach and learn in such contexts. Most belief research in the tertiary education sector has, to date, reported on the teaching or learning beliefs of just teachers or the teaching or learning beliefs of just students. Much less research has explored the connections between the educational beliefs of these two groups. This research has aimed to extend the parameters of previous research by investigating the point of intersection between the educational beliefs of a group of university teachers and their students. To attain this objective, the study adopted a mixed method approach which employed predominantly interpretivistic data gathering, data analysis and reporting methods. These methods incorporated elements of inductive and comparative analysis, and were augmented by other qualitative methods. Combined, these methods facilitated the identification, exploration and comparison of the educational beliefs of the participants in the study