Challenging accepted wisdom about conceptions of teaching in academic development

In recent years, conceptions of teaching held by academic staff have achieved an increased focus in the scholarly and practical work of teaching developers. Views on the impact of conceptions of teaching on improving university teaching, as well as their significance in doing so, vary from those that advocate changing conceptions as a necessary first step in the process of improvement to more recent views that characterize conceptions of teaching as merely artifacts of reflection on teaching. This paper explores this range of views, raises a number of questions about the current accepted views on the importance of conceptions of teaching development work, and challenges the current accepted wisdom in this important area.