Survey on pedagogical experience and training
In October 2025, we sent out a survey targeting three groups to ask about their teaching experience and education.
The target groups of the survey were:
- Course directors of doctoral courses over the past three years.
- Teachers of doctoral courses at KI (at least 3 hours during the last 3 years).
- Current steering group members of research schools or thematic doctoral programmes.
Purpose
- To explore the practical teaching experience as well as pedagogical training among those involved in doctoral courses.
- To use the responses as a contribution to discussions on how to enhance pedagogical practices in KI’s doctoral courses.
Outcome
We received 124 responses to the survey, spread across the various target groups. The survey results show that there is extensive experience and expertise among many of those who work with doctoral courses at KI.
The final free-text question was:
From your perspective, what are the most important factors for strengthening pedagogical development and support for teachers in KI’s doctoral education?
This question received 63 responses. Using AI, we divided the responses into the following eight categories:
- Collaboration & Community
- Curriculum & Content Development
- Leadership & Strategic Support
- Mentorship & Supervision Quality
- Pedagogical Training & Competence
- Recognition & Incentives
- Resources & Infrastructure
- Student-Centered Approaches
Next steps
The Course and Program Committee and the Unit for Teaching and Learning (UoL) have initiated discussions on developing support for course providers and their pedagogical development. The free-text responses provide important input to this, both through a description of needs and through ideas and suggestions. They also provide insight into the difficulty of both spreading information about what is actually available and offering it in a way that makes course providers willing and able to set aside time for participation.
The survey results were also discussed at a semiannual meeting with representatives from doctoral programmes and research schools. Notes from the group discussions are included in the attached summary below.
We will update this page with the steps we take in our continued work.