Qualitative-Based Methodology to Teaching Qualitative Methodology in Higher Education

There is no defined theory for teaching Qualitative Inquiry, and very few studies have focused on the topic. This study is a qualitative case study focused on the Qualitative Methods course that I teach at a college of education in Israel. The aim of the study is to explore and describe the course, to provide a true picture of my pedagogy, and to learn from it. The participants are 30 student-teachers, aged 25-46, who teach in elementary schools and have no previous research experience. Research tools used for data collection are 10 observations of the course lessons by a colleague; 10 open self-reflections written by participants; 10 self-reflections of the researcher who is, in this case, also the teacher; participants' feedback for the course; participants' responses to the researcher's routine comments written on students' papers; and field notes. The constant comparative method and the grounded theory techniques are used for analysis. Results show a qualitative research-led pedagogy model which is consistent with the conventional systematic outlook while fostering post-modern epistemological views, high levels of student's self-efficacy, high performance, self-direction, and integrity in conducting research. I hope my description would encourage other researchers to continue exploring new pedagogic strategies for teaching Qualitative Inquiry.