Raj Dhimar

Teaching as a professional activity in higher education

• Explore the challenges for teachers in current higher education settings

• Draw on our understandings and interpretations of teaching quality

• Using a self-management survey model by the OECD to help explore how we might develop excellent teachers from institutional perspectives

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Session outline

- Rapidly changing higher education context – move towards pedagogical competencies for teachers

- Expectations of teachers – proficiency in a range of multidisciplinary area

- Utilisation of corporate and public service expertise to tackle increasing student and institutional demand – however pedagogical expertise can be limited

- - Developing subject specific experts as quality teachers

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Challenges for higher education teachers

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Challenges for institutions

Engagement in CPD activities are related to the quality of student

learning (not just about qualifications,

role or status)

Making explicit connections between CPD and educational

objectives of provision

Reflecting on and aligning CPD needs with the quality of

teaching and learning and university values,

identity and expectations –

everybody involved

HE teaching/lecturing one of few professions in which people can work with no requirement to have any qualification or licence to practice – although increasingly universities do require staff new to teaching to be trained.

Students go to university to learn - good teaching is integral to effective learning.

Those who have undertaken training and professional development in teaching are better equipped to support and inspire their students.

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Who is doing the teaching?

Those who are trained have greater self awareness of the subtle factors impacting the learning environment such as psychology, philosophy and sociology of learning.

Professional development leading to professional recognition provides a benchmark for individuals and institutions, and gives the general population and students themselves confidence that they are being supported by qualified, capable and competent professionals.

Research evidence in this area is limited for HE though considerable evidence exists for the positive impact on student learning from qualified teachers in secondary education.

Key that HE providers have autonomy to develop and manage staff for their own individual circumstances.

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Why are training and CPD important?

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Fostering quality teaching

Henard, F. and Roseveare, D. (2012)

At the institution-wide level: including projects such as policy design,

and support to organisation and internal

quality assurance systems.

Programme level: comprising actions to

measure and enhance the design, content and

delivery of the programmes within a

department or a school.

Individual level: including initiatives that help teachers achieve

their mission, encouraging them to

innovate and to support improvements to student

learning and adopt a learner oriented focus.

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A centre for teaching and learning development

Professional development activities (e.g. in-service training for faculty)

Teaching excellence awards and competitions for remarkable improvements

Teaching innovation funds, teaching recruitment criteria

Support to innovative pedagogy, communities of teaching and learning practices

Learning environments (libraries, computing facilities…)

Organisation and management of teaching and learning

Support to foster student achievement (e.g. counselling, career advice, mentoring…)

Students’ evaluation (i.e. programme ratings, evaluating learning experiences)

Self-evaluation of experimentations, peer-reviewing, benchmarking of practices

Community service and work-based programmes, development-based programmes

Henard, F. and Roseveare, D. (2012)

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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2005

Self assessment questions(exercise)

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Developing excellent teachers

1. How is teaching anchored in the quality culture of your institutions?

2. How are pedagogical competencies required for quality teaching identified and articulated in your institutions?

3. How are the pedagogical skills of staff upgraded through professional development?

4. How is inspiring teaching supported and recognised? 11

Developing teaching practice – group visualisation – your context

Henard, F. and Roseveare, D. (2012), Fostering Quality Teaching in Higher Education: Policies and Practices, An IMHE Guide for Higher Education Institutions, OECD, URL: http://www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/QT%20policies%20and%20practices.pdf

OECD (2005) Teachers Matter – Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers

Paris OECD links to summaries, full report and multilingual versions 12

References