One or two ‘I’s in development: ‘individual’ and/or ‘institutional’?

Dr Saranne Weller

King’s Learning Institute

Indi

vidu

al

Inst

itutio

nal

Specif

ic/dis

ciplin

ary

Generic

/inter

discipl

inary

Teaching

Research

Local needs

National frameworkTra

dition

al/m

ono-

cultu

ral

Non-tr

aditio

nal/in

terc

ultur

al

Enh

ance

men

t

Ass

uran

ce

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Reflective practice

Evidence-based practice

Academic Development

HE teaching qualifications

“It will be a condition...that institutions require all new academics with teaching responsibilities to undertake a teaching training qualification accredited by the HE Academy”

Browne Report (2010)

Focus of academic development

• “romantic” or “reflective practitioner” orientations (Land, 2001)

• “shifted from work with individuals to more strategic change management initiatives” (Clegg, 2009)

• underlying principle - reflective practice (Kandlbinder & Peseta, 2009)

Challenges

• Potential limited impact of individual-focused academic development

• Transformation of academic identity & role in contemporary HE

• Disengagement from professional development at mid-career & beyond

“New” lecturers

Heads of Department / School

Senior Officers

Traditional tripartite “all-round” academic role is “unbundling” with greater role specialisation (Macfarlane, 2011)

Emergence of “third space professionals” (Whitchurch, 2008)

Enquiry-led programme

Postgraduate Certificate in

Academic Practice

Bamber et al. (2006)

Collaborative approaches

• “integration of [...] development into an existing setting” (Stes et al., 2007)

• Collaborative/peer focus in:

– Teaching (Byrne et al., 2010)

– Assessment (Hughes, 2009)

– Curriculum (Zeigenfuss & Lawler, 2008)

The value of the “peer”?

“a narrow definition of ‘peer’ can be a tendency to reinforce the reproduction of the traditional values and practices of the group [...] it is necessary to find social groupings that will assist the process of transformation rather than reproduction without sacrificing or threatening individual identity”

Gosling (2005)

Implementation

• Project- or enquiry-based focus for enhancement

• Flexible structure recognising individual experience & reactive to institutional agenda

• Group rather than individual level assessment

• Shift of focus from teaching to collaborative curriculum enhancement

• Systematic evaluation of long-term impact

Questions

• Are teaching qualifications a “private” or a “public” good?

• How do we integrate individual excellence into sustainable institutional excellence?

• Do teaching qualifications have a normative or transformative function in institutions?

References• Bamber, V., Walsh, L., Juwah, C. & Ross, D. (2006). New lecturer

development programmes: a case study of Scottish higher education institutions. Teacher Development, 10(2): 207-213.

• Byrne, J., Brown, H. & Challen, D. (2010). Peer development as an alternative to peer observation: a tool to enhance professional development. International Journal for Academic Development, 15 (3): 215-228.

• Betts, J. (2004) Theology, therapy or picket line? What’s the ‘good’ of reflective practice in management education, Reflective Practice, 5(2): 239-251.

• Clegg, S (2009) Forms of knowing and academic development practice, Studies in Higher Education, 403-416.

• D. Gosling (2005) Peer Observation of Teaching SEDA Paper 118 (London, SEDA)

References (cont.)• Hughes, C. (2009) Framing the activities of institutions and academic

developments units in support of assessment, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 46(2): 123-133.

• Kandlbinder, P. & Peseta, T. (2009) Key concepts in postgraduate certificates in higher education teaching and learning in Australasia and United Kingdom, International Journal for Academic Development, 14(1): 19-31.

• Land, R. (2001) Agency, context and change in academic development, International Journal for Academic Development, 6(1): 4-20.

• Macfarlane, B. (2011) The morphing of academic practice: Unbundling and the rise of the para-academic, Higher Education Quarterly, 65(1): 59-73

• Pill, A. (2005) Models of professional development in the education and practice of new teachers in higher education, Teaching in Higher Education, 10(2): 175-188.

References (cont.)• Quinn, L. (2011) Understanding resistance: an analysis of discourses

in academic staff development, Studies in Higher Education, iFirst Article, 1-15.

• Stes, A., Clement, M. & van Petegem, P. (2007) The effectiveness of a faculty training programme: Long term and institutional impact. International Journal for Academic Development, 12(2): 99-109.

• Whitchurch, C. (2009) Shifting identities and blurring boundaries: the emergence of third space professionals in UK higher education, Higher Education Quarterly, 62(4): 377-396.

• Zeigenfuss, D.H. & Lawler, P. (2008). Collaborative course design: changing the process, acknowledging the context, and implications for academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 13(3): 151-160.