Group works, individual grades: Conflict, trust and rationalization of effort among university students

Abstract

Group work has become widespread in higher education. Although much literature praises its virtues, there is little empirical research on its application in everyday university teaching. This article attempts to fill this gap by means of a qualitative research on the group work practices of students in social sciences degrees at a Spanish university. The methodology consisted of 52 semi-structured interviews, 15 triangular groups and 5 discussion groups. The results show that first-year students try to follow the teaching guidelines when carrying out group work. This approach is short-lived: conflicts soon break out over meeting times and the amount of effort to be invested. To solve them, the students organize themselves into stable working groups, with similar grade objectives and mediated by friendships. Gradually, the collective discussion gives way to a division of work into individual tasks in order to save maximum effort. Our results question whether group work leads to great improvements in learning. University policies should seek pedagogical alternatives compatible with students’ credentialist strategies.