Author copy: Case, J. M. (in press). Emergent interactions: Rethinking the relationship between teaching and learning. Teaching in Higher Education. Emergent interactions: Rethinking the relationship between teaching and learning Jennifer M. Case University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa jenni.case@uct.ac.za Abstract. The relationship between teaching and learning is captured in contemporary higher education research which has looked at the correlations between students’ approaches to learning and teachers’ approaches to teaching. This article proposes a rethinking of this relationship, building on a critical realist perspective. Here, the teaching-learning interaction is argued to be emergent from the activities of teaching and of learning, and it is this emergent property which provides the explanatory mechanism for the relationship between them. Support for this position is located in recent work by Paul Ashwin and also in the sociology of Margaret Archer. Keywords: teaching and learning, teaching-learning interactions, critical realist analysis, approaches to learning, approaches to teaching 1