Work in groups for a brighter future - reflections on the feasibility of some Western pedagogical practices
I am working in a context where I have to support international* students (predominantly Chinese) prepare for study at a UK university. Like everywhere else, I adopt pedagogies fostering active learning, group work (GW) and discussions (by GW here I mean classroom tasks where students are encouraged to perform them in pairs or small groups and work together generally). However, I am increasingly perturbed by the fact that there is a mismatch between widely adopted pedagogical pemises and classroom reality. Recently, I chatted to a student in class and they told me they prefer to work individually and do not like chatting and discussing with others. It seemed to be an idiosyncrasy but there are a great number of students predominantly from China who seem to adopt a similar stance. This made me question the suitability of the pedagogy we are largely employing despite it being implemented with view of the fact that it will foster the necessary skills for thriving in the world of work. Act...