The declared teaching practices of the “best teachers” at the University of Vigo

Abstract

The present article intends to identify, make visible, describe, and explain the teaching practices that the best teachers of the University of Vigo declare to carry out. To do so, the authors have developed a process of research that includes qualitative interviews. Before stating the main conclusions of our research, we wish to explain that the concern of this work was not to do an evaluation of the teaching practices, good or bad, of the University of Vigo professors, but to look for models of good teaching practices. The main conclusion is that, even among the best teachers, the majority of current teaching practices could be classified as the traditional model of teaching in which the teacher and content play a central role. This fact shouldn’t be surprising, nor should it cause us to diminish the importance of studying and making visible the teaching practices of good teachers, even if they are less innovative, as this is the best way to stimulate all teachers to improve their teaching practices.