From glorifying method toward post-method stance: Searching for quality of teaching/learning

Abstract

This paper deals with the changes in the way of conceptualizing method in the context of teaching and learning and their meaning for the study of quality in education. We have used two sources of information: didactic terminology relevant for understanding the methods and the way of conceptualizing the method. Overview and analysis of the relation of method with the related didactic terms (teaching approach, strategy, technique and organizational forms) have shown that the process of conceptualizing method is still open. The paper discusses four ways of conceptualizing the method: teaching method, teaching/learning methods, post-method and methods taken as the expression of the mutual understanding of the participants in teaching/learning process. Both sources of information suggest that: (1) the current didactic moment can be considered as a period of re-defining comprehension of methods and position to the methods; (2) didactic literature includes modern, post-modern and critical concept of methods; (3) there are no uniform responses on what is quality of teaching/learning in respect to the methods; and (4) different tendencies in considering methods are linked to the different criteria for understanding the quality of teaching/learning. We have reached the conclusion that there are two opposed tendencies in conceptualizing the methods: (1) glorification of “quality” method(s) and (2) abandonment of the method concept in the in the favour of teachers’ search for a “good” relation to the methods in teaching/learning context.