Lecturers and Teaching – key and vocabulary
C I F K A J E H B G D
C I agree with John Morris.
I One government after another has not succeeded in improving the teaching of undergraduates at university level.
F Successful researchers are not necessarily decent teachers or lecturers.
K In the past a small percentage of school-leavers used to apply and go to universities.
A A few decades ago, an average university undergraduate was more used to studying independently than today’s undergraduates.
J The size of classes is getting bigger and bigger.
E Nowadays it is research (rather than student or staff numbers) which determines the amount of money university departments have to spend.
H Many university lecturers choose to hand over the running of seminars, lectures and classes to others, so they can spend time on their latest works for publication.
B Newly-appointed dons should expect to do some form of training before taking up a university post.
G Teaching should be valued just as highly as research in universities.
D It is crucial that if university staff are good at teaching, they should not be penalised for not contributing as much as others to the research pool.
Vocabulary
John Morris rightly criticises….. = he is correct to criticise
successive – adj – following one another (or others)
The size of classes is getting bigger and bigger – ‘staff-student ratios are worsening‘.
newly-appointed – recently recruited
A don = a university lecturer, especially of an Oxbridge college (i.e. a college at Oxford or Cambridge)
To be penalised – to be put at a disadvantage, to be treated unfairly