Learning to Teach Qualitative Researching

Perspectives for a Balancing Act in Times of Institutionalization and Neoliberal Study Conditions

Abstract

In our article we reflect the institutional, curricular, and policy-related transformations in the field of qualitative method training that we face in our respective academic environments. Our reflections originated in a series of open discussions and intervision meetings in which we collectively tackled teaching crises we went through in recent years, but also exchanged moments of successful and resonant engagement with students. We pick up on this discussion process by presenting a narrative account from one author’s experience. On this basis, we explore paradoxes and challenges for teaching and learning qualitative methods along three key principles – openness, circularity, and reflexivity – which define the qualitative research paradigm in the contemporary academic landscape. In our critical reflexion of this landscape, we look out for perspectives that might guide the risky ridge walk of teaching qualitative methods.