Geographische Hochschullehre als epistemische Praxis

Warum Forschung von Lehre profitiert!

Abstract

Building on debates surrounding the research–teaching nexus, we argue that teaching does not simply follow linearly from research but is itself epistemically productive. In teaching, academic content is structured, implicit assumptions are made explicit, paradigms are scrutinized, and established knowledge is challenged by students’ questions. Teaching thus functions as a space of resonance in which research is refined and further developed. Against this background, we analyze recent higher education policy reforms and funding programs and demonstrate that teaching has gained increasing institutional significance. However, this development is ambivalent: while it enhances the visibility and professionalization of teaching, it simultaneously subjects teaching practices to new logics of governance and evaluation. Finally, with a particular focus on geography, we discuss the implications for curricula. Owing to its inter- and transdisciplinary orientation, geography offers particular potential for fostering research-oriented approaches to learning and teaching. Research-oriented teaching formats can productively harness the tension between the unknown in research and established knowledge in teaching, provided that they are firmly embedded in the curriculum and designed with explicit didactic reflection. We therefore advocate viewing teaching as an integral dimension of academic practice and call for a rethinking and realignment of the relationship between teaching and research at institutional, curricular, and disciplinary levels.