In the recommended general learning outcomes for higher education teacher training issued by the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF), one objective states that participants should demonstrate the ability to ”independently, and jointly with others, plan, implement and evaluate teaching and assessment in higher education with a scientific, scholarly or artistic basis and within their own area of knowledge”. This article analyzes interpretations made by academic developers of SUHF’s wording jointly with others. It also discusses what foundations higher education teaching courses offer participants for developing knowledge, skills, and abilities to collaborate with others in their pedagogical work.
Three aspects of educational collaboration emerged from semi-structured interviews with twelve academic developers at nine Swedish universities: developing a language for learning; developing a critical approach; and developing a professional capacity to act. It also became evident during the interviews that the academic developers interpret jointly as working together with colleagues, rather than just side by side, and that they hope that their course participants are acquiring the knowledge, skills, and abilities to enable them to engage in a shared pedagogical practice. However, the academic developers also find it problematic that they rarely come into contact with teaching teams through their courses, making it difficult to assess participants’ ability to collaborate with colleagues within their own areas of knowledge. In other words, it is uncertain whether it is possible to achieve SUHF’s objective in the higher education teacher training courses as they are organized at the nine universities studied.