Deconstructing deep and surface: Towards a critique of phenomenography

The notion of 'deep' and 'surface' approaches to learning is critiqued along with phenomenography, the associated methodology and theory of knowledge. A number of reasons are suggested to explain why the deep/surface notion has attained what is tantamount to foundational status within higher education research, practice and development, These include its ability to both cohere with the past while at the same time enabling a new generation of researchers to rise within the discourse; the contemporaneous growth of educational development centres and staff developers within higher education institutions; the simplicity, universality and power of the metaphor. Some elements of a critique of phenomenography are suggested following both postmodern and philosophy of science objections regarding the observational and interpretive neutrality of the researcher. These point to the importance of the understandings of researchers in the construction of results. It is also suggested that the 'qualitative' nature of the research is undeveloped and does not exhibit the hermeneutical values usually associated with 'human' as opposed to positivist science. The idea of deconstruction is then introduced and the deep/surface metaphor discussed in terms of the post-structural critique of binaries. Finally, the question of power within the higher education development discourse is raised.