David MossleySenior Adviser, Higher Education Academy

• Why have a teaching portfolio?• What should it contain?• What format should it have?• How should it be used?• How should it be maintained?• How should teaching and research be linked?• A first go at writing one …

• Based on material by George MacDonald Ross

• Good reasons:– Ambition of being a better teacher– Evidence for career progression and development

• Other reasons:– Requirement of employment …– Being a professional does mean having some evidence

of practice and CPD in all other spheres (Dearing, 1997)

– Almost universal requirement to demonstrate teaching qualification in HE

• The basics:1.A statement of your teaching philosophy 2.A statement on the linkage between your

teaching and your research3.A statement of the training you have

undergone as a lecturer and tutor4.Your employment history

• Additionally:5. If your teaching has been observed by a

colleague, you should include the report6. If you have published anything to do with

teaching, or given presentations or workshops, give a brief description

7. Give the details of any grants for teaching-related projects and specify the outcomes

8. Specify any distinctions or awards you may have received for excellence in teaching.

• Finally:9.Outline any plans you have for improving your

teaching in the short, medium, or long term. When you next re-visit the portfolio, assess how

far you have fulfilled these plans, and revise your plans for the future.

• If institutionally determined, use that, otherwise …

• Whatever works for you• Sections as above• Manageable length (for you)• Extractable information• Appendices of factual information (events,

courses, detailed student feedback etc)• Or just most recent information (with archive)• Printed master copy!

• Reflection on your own teaching – being a self-regulating professional

• Resource for promotions and awards• Internal review processes:– Institutional regular reviews (variable with

institutional)– Peer observation exercises – focuses on teacher

as performer

• Seems more burdensome than it is!• Start with your first teaching (short document

to begin … )• Update regularly as things occur or change• Use other documentation – integrate with c.v.

• TASK: Spend ten minutes noting down your own thoughts on a teaching philosophy

• TASK: With your neighbours discuss what are the most important features for such a statement

• Linking teaching and research …

• Direct (content):

– Teaching what you research (e.g. your own course design)

– Teaching in the field in which you are researching– Using your research to directly inform another

field (e.g. using epistemological research in a course in philosophy of mind)

• Indirect (delivery):

– Teaching that draws on your research (e.g. using a view of agency and autonomy to inform an understanding of education and actual practice)

– Teaching that more is informed by a more general approach to philosophy derived from research

• Content …– What is appropriate? – What criteria will you use to determine how your

research fits the needs of an undergraduate audience? (Does it give them what they need? What they want?)

– Does it fit with departmental, institutional or national frameworks? (e.g. programme specifications, Benchmark statements … )

• TASK: Consider course(s) you would like to offer in an ideal world – what is the context in which your research best fits and what else needs to be taught with it?

• TASK: Make a list of the kinds of teaching you could adapt your research to – how far could it reasonably be stretched?

• TASK: Justify your list to your neighbour

• In terms of education and teaching practice, what does your research tell you about:– The world and beings in it?– The nature of knowledge?– Agency and persons?– Value (ethics, aesthetics … )

• TASK: Discuss the implications of your research for how teaching should be done with your neighbour

• You should have beginnings of:– Teaching philosophy statement– Link between teaching and research statement

• Dr David MossleyThe Higher Education Academy

Innovation WayYork Science ParkHeslingtonYorkYO10 5BR

– Tel: +44 (0)1904 717500

david.mossley@heacademy.ac.ukhttp://www.heacademy.ac.uk