Impacts of academics’ morality on teaching quality: Evidence from teaching accountability at universities in China

Abstract

A teaching quality accountability mechanism was introduced to universities since 2003 to improve the teaching quality in China. During the teaching quality policy implementation, academics’ teaching capacity and professional development have become indicators for universities’ teaching quality. However, the moral commitment to teaching has been ignored in policy discourse and university contexts. In the study, a qualitative approach was employed at three different universities to explore the mechanism of moral behaviour on teaching quality. Forty-five academics with different subject backgrounds, ranks, and positions were interviewed. From the academics’ perspectives, teaching quality enhancement depends on personal morality dedication more than the external accountability and internal evaluation systems found at universities. Meanwhile, the perceived moral commitment to teaching is changing with different career stages, positions, and university environments. Moreover, the morality of teaching has been watered down by multiple cognitive responsibilities, and it is fighting with political norms.

Cited as:  Song, J., Zhang, Y. (2024). Impacts of academics’ morality on teaching quality: Evidence from teaching accountability at universities in China. Education and Lifelong Development Research, 1(3): 103-114. https://doi.org/10.46690/elder.2024.03.01

References:

Adam, L., Anthony, D.B.C., Roderick J., B. & Sebastian, Z. (2021). Teaching: How to ensure quality teaching, and how to recognize teaching qualifications. Industrial Marketing Management, 100, A1-A5. 

Akareem, H. S., & Hossain, S. S. (2016). Determinants of education quality: What makes students’ perception different?. Open Review of Educational Research, 3(1), 52–67.

Prisacariu, A., & Shah, M. (2016). Defining the quality of higher education around ethics and moral values. Quality in Higher Education, 22(2), 152–166.

Ardi, R., Hidayatno, A., & Yuri M. Zagloel, T. (2012). Investigating relationships among quality dimensions in higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 20(4), 408-428.

Askling, B. (1997). Quality monitoring as an institutional enterprise. Quality in Higher Education, 3(1), 17-26.

Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative research, 1(3), 385-405.

Beauchamp, C., & Thomas, L. (2009). Understanding teacher identity: an overview of issues in the literature and implications for teacher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39(2), 175-189. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057640902902252

Bergsteiner, H. (2011). Introduction:Responsibility and accountability terminology. In H. Bergsteiner (Ed.), Accountability theory meets accountability practice (pp. 13-24). Emerald Group Publishing.

Biesta, G. J. (2004). Education, accountability, and the ethical demand: Can the democratic potential of accountability be regained? Educational Theory, 54(3), 233-250.

Brandt, M. J., & Reyna, C. (2011). The Chain of Being: A Hierarchy of Morality. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(5), 428-446. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611414587

Briggs, N., & Kim, Y. (2020). The Moral Dimension of English Language Teaching: Exploring the Collaborative Reflections of Two In-Service University Instructors. English Teaching and Learning, 44(4), 331-352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42321-020-00051-5

Brunetti, G. J., & Marston, S. H. (2018). A trajectory of teacher development in early and mid-career. Teachers and Teaching, 24(8), 874-892. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2018.1490260

Burke, J. C. (2005). The three corners of the accountability triangle: Serving all, submitting to none. In J. C. Burke (Ed.), Achieving Accountability in Higher Education: Balancing Public, Academic and Market Demands (pp. 296-324). Jossey-Bass.

Buxarrais, M.R. (2021). Teacher's ethos and moral and professional indentity. In: Oser, F., Heinrichs, K., Bauer, J. & Lovat, T. (Eds), The International Handbook of Teacher Ethos (pp. 125-143). Springer, Cham.

Campbell, E. (2003). The Ethical Teacher. Open University Press McGraw-Hill.

Campbell, E. (2008). The ethics of teaching as a moral profession. Curriculum Inquiry, 38(4), 357-385. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2008.00414.x

Carbone, A., Drew, S., Ross, B., Ye, J., Phelan, L., Lindsay, K., & Cottman, C. (2019). A collegial quality development process for identifying and addressing barriers to improving teaching. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(7), 1356-1370. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1645644

Carr, D. (1993). Moral values and the teacher: beyond the paternal and the permissive. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 27(2), 193-207.

Carr, D. (2003). Moral educational implications of rival conceptions of education and the role of the teacher. Journal of Moral Education, 32(3), 219-232. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305724032000136653

Chen, C. Y., Chen, P. C., & Chen, P. Y. (2014). Teaching quality in higher education: An introductory review on a process-oriented teaching-quality model. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 25(1-2), 36-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2011.637789

Cheng, M. (2010). Audit cultures and quality assurance mechanisms in England: A study of their perceived impact on the work of academics. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(3), 259-271.

Cullen, J., Joyce, J., Hassall, T., & Broadbent, M. (2003). Quality in higher education: from monitoring to management. Quality Assurance in Education, 11(1), 5-14.

Danø, T., & Stensaker, B. (2007). Still balancing improvement and accountability? Developments in external quality assurance in the Nordic countries 1996–2006. Quality in Higher Education, 13(1), 81-93.

Darling-Hammond, L., & Snyder, J. (2015). Professional capacity and accountability: An introduction. education policy analysis archives, 23, 14.

Davies, A., & Thomas, R. (2002). Managerialism and accountability in higher education: The gendered nature of restructuring and the costs to academic service. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 13(2), 179-193.

de Ruyter, D. J., & Kole, J. J. (2010). Our teachers want to be the best: on the necessity of intra-professional reflection about moral ideals of teaching. Teachers and Teaching, 16(2), 207-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540600903478474

Deem, R., & Brehony, K. J. (2005). Management as ideology: The case of ‘new managerialism’in higher education. Oxford review of education, 31(2), 217-235.

Deem, R., & Johnson, R. J. (2000). Managerialism and university managers: building new academic communities or disrupting old ones? In I. McNay (Ed.), Higher education and its communities (pp. 65-84). Open University Press.

Dill, D. D. (2000). Is there an academic audit in your future? Reforming quality assurance in US higher education. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 32(4), 34-41.

Ewell, P. (2010). Twenty years of quality assurance in higher education: what’s happened and what’s different? Quality in Higher Education, 16(2), 173-175.

Findlow, S. (2008). Accountability and innovation in higher education: a disabling tension? Studies in Higher Education, 33(3), 313-329.

Fitzmaurice, M. (2013). Constructing professional identity as a new academic: a moral endeavour. Studies in Higher Education, 38(4), 613-622. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.594501

Garn, G. (2001). Moving from bureaucratic to market accountability: The problem of imperfect information. Educational Administration Quarterly, 37(4), 571-599.

Gore, J. M. (2021). The quest for better teaching. Oxford Review of Education, 47(1), 45-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2020.1842182

Hayden, M. J. (2012). Arendt and cosmopolitanism: the human conditions of cosmopolitan teacher education. Ethics & Global Politics, 5(4), 239-258. https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v5i4.20271

Hoecht, A. (2006). Quality assurance in UK higher education: Issues of trust, control, professional autonomy and accountability. Higher Education, 51(4), 541-563.

Hursh, D. (2005). Neo-liberalism, markets and accountability: Transforming education and undermining democracy in the United States and England. Policy Futures in Education, 3(1), 3-15.

Julnes, P. D. L. (2006). Performance Measurement: An Effective Tool for Government Accountability? The Debate Goes On. Evaluation, 12(2), 219-235.

Kostynina, L. I., Nazarenko, O. S., & Panova, E. E. (2020). Morality as factor in improvement of professional skills of future physical education and sport specialists [Нравственность как фактор повышения профессионализма будущих специалистов по физической культуре]. Teoriya i pracktika fizicheskoy kultury(2), 12-14. <Go to ISI>://RSCI:42418939

LePage, P., Akar, H., Temli, Y., Sen, D., Hasser, N., & Ivins, I. (2011). Comparing teachers' views on morality and moral education, a comparative study in Turkey and the United States. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(2), 366-375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.09.005

Liu, S. (2013). Quality assessment of undergraduate education in China: Impact on different universities. Higher Education, 66(4), 391-407.

Wang, L. (2014). Quality assurance in higher education in China: Control, accountability and freedom. Policy and Society, 33(3), 253-262. 

Margolis, J., Hodge, A., & Alexandrou, A. (2014). The teacher educator's role in promoting institutional versus individual teacher well-being. Journal of Education for Teaching, 40(4), 391-408. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2014.929382

Massy, W. F. (2011). Managerial and political strategies for handling accountability. In B. Stensaker & L. Harvey (Eds.), Accountability in higher education: Global perspectives on trust and power (pp. 221-244). Routledge.

Mattei, P. (2012). Market accountability in schools: policy reforms in England, Germany, France and Italy. Oxford Review of Education, 38(3), 247-266.

Metz, T. (2010). A Dilemma Regarding Academic Freedom and Public Accountability in Higher Education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 44(4), 529-549. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2010.00776.x

MoE. (2004). Putong Gaodeng Xuexiao Benke Jiaoxue Gongzuo Shuiping Pinggu Fangan(Shixing)[The Trial Scheme for the Quality Evaluation of Undergraduate  Teaching in Ordinary Universities].

Morley, L. (2003). Quality and power in higher education. Open University Press.

Nixon, J., Marks, A., Rowland, S., & Walker, M. (2001). Towards a new academic professionalism: A manifesto of hope. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22(2), 227-244.

Oliver, C. (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of management review, 16(1), 145-179.

Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: From the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3), 313-345.

Ozga, J. (2013). Accountability as a policy technology: accounting for education performance in Europe. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 79(2), 292-309.

Patfield, S., Gore, J., Prieto, E., Fray, L., & Sincock, K. (2022). Towards quality teaching in higher education: pedagogy-focused academic development for enhancing practice. International Journal for Academic Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144x.2022.2103561

Romzek, B. S. (2000). Dynamics of public sector accountability in an era of reform. International review of administrative sciences, 66(1), 21-44.

Salter, B., & Tapper, T. (2013). The State and Higher Education: State & Higher Education. Routledge.

Sethy, S.S. (2018). Academics ethics: Teaching profession and teacher professionalism in higher education settings. Journal of Academic Ethics, 16(4), 287-299. 

Shore, C. (2008). Audit culture and Illiberal governance Universities and the politics of accountability. Anthropological Theory, 8(3), 278-298.

Smith, T. M., & Rowley, K. J. (2005). Enhancing commitment or tightening control: The function of teacher professional development in an era of accountability. Educational Policy, 19(1), 126-154.

Soleimani, N., & Lovat, T. (2019). The cultural and religious underpinnings of moral teaching according to English language teachers' perceptions: a case study from Iran. Journal of Beliefs & Values-Studies in Religion & Education, 40(4), 477-489. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2019.1634876

Tavares, O., Sin, C., Videira, P., & Amaral, A. (2017). Academics' perceptions of the impact of internal quality assurance on teaching and learning. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(8), 1293-1305. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2016.1262326

Van Thiel, S., & Leeuw, F. L. (2002). The performance paradox in the public sector. Public Performance & Management Review, 25(3), 267-281.

Webb, P. T. (2002). Teacher power: The exercise of professional autonomy in an era of strict accountability. Teacher Development, 6(1), 47-62.

Winter, R. (2009). Academic manager or managed academic? Academic identity schisms in higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 31(2), 121-131.

Ye, W., & Law, W.-W. (2019). Pre-service teachers' perceptions of teacher morality in China. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, Article 102876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102876

Ye, W., & Zhou, B. (2020). Special rank teachers' morality development in China. Professional Development in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1814384

Zhang, W. & Liu, B. (2018). The undergraduate teaching evaluation system in China: Progress, problems and suggesstions. Chinese Education & Socitety, 51(4), 248-259. https://doi.org/10.1080/10611932.2018.1493865