scholarly journals “I Still Feel Isolated and Disposable”: Perceptions of Professional Development for Part-time Teachers in HE

Author(s):  
Jennifer S Leigh

Part-time teachers form an increasingly large part of the workforce within the Academy, in the UK and internationally. They can be employed on sessional or hourly-paid lecturer contracts, and as casual employees are not always able to access professional or academic development and support that is available for other employees. In 2013/14, there has been extensive coverage in the national and higher education press about ‘zero-hours’ contracts. Although some part-time teachers are also graduate students and able to access development through graduate schools and the like, it is likely that many hourly-paid lecturers are left without support. A survey of hourly-paid lecturers at one University in the UK provided data on how these individuals perceived the support and development opportunities available to them. Accessing the hourly-paid lecturers was challenging. Unsurprisingly, given the difficulties in communicating with them as a cohesive group, 60% (n=78) reported that they were unable to access or unaware of any development opportunities. In addition, this group of UK part-time teachers reported feeling isolated and lacking in support, as has been reported by casual academics in Australia.

Author(s):  
Amparo Lallana ◽  
Lourdes Hernández Martín ◽  
Mara Fuertes Gutiérrez

We are delighted to be able to present to you this fifth anniversary volume which inaugurates a series of publications emanating from conferences organised by ELEUK, the Association for the Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education in the United Kingdom (www.eleuk.org). Nearly a decade ago, Spanish Language Teaching (SLT) was going from strength to strength across higher education; however, there were hardly any conferences or professional development events within the UK dedicated specifically to the teaching of Spanish. University colleagues and language professionals got together to launch a space from where to promote the teaching and learning of Spanish, foster research in SLT, provide opportunities for teacher development, facilitate collaboration among its members, and enhance subject expertise.


Author(s):  
Amy Burge ◽  
Maria Grade Godinho ◽  
Miesbeth Knottenbelt ◽  
Daphne Loads

The aim of this research project was to deepen our understanding of the professional development of postgraduates who teach (tutors). Using arts-based methods, we asked postgraduate tutors and senior staff how they saw tutors’ roles and development needs. Based on our research outcomes, we found that both postgraduate tutors and senior staff were concerned in their different ways about a lack of community, the administrative burden on tutors, the importance of enjoyment, how tutoring should be recognised and valued, and the question of training versus development. We make use of a framework borrowed from gerontological nursing for thinking about and addressing these issues in practice. Note: In this paper, ‘tutor’ refers to the part-time, adjunct, assistant, sessional or casual staff who make a significant contribution to small and large-group teaching, assessment and feedback in higher education. We are particularly concerned here with postgraduates who teach; ‘senior staff’ refers to a variety of colleagues who have some responsibility for supporting tutor development, including course organisers, senior tutors and administrative staff.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Sally Ann Bradley

This paper discusses the issues around the professional development needs of sessional teaching staff in the UK. The introduction of the UK professional standards framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education in 2006 raised the issue of engaging the wide range of staff, faculty, and learning support in professional development. Sessional teaching staff present a challenge when their main employment is outside of the institution.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vito Abbruzzese

This Supporting Learning Programme Portfolio is part of a range of professional development opportunities for people involved in teaching and supporting learning and is accredited against the UK Professional Standards Framework for the Advance Higher Education.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Spowart ◽  
Rebecca Turner

Institutional accreditation is an integral part of moves to professionalise teaching and learning in higher education (HE). Despite this growing trend, there is a paucity of literature which examines the benefits and challenges of institutional accreditation. In this chapter we draw on survey data collected in 2020 from 55 HE institutions globally which are accredited by Advance HE to award Fellowships. These teaching Fellowships are aligned to the UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning (UKPSF). Findings show that institutional accreditation supports the career development of teaching-focused academics and impacts on teaching and learning in a number of ways. These impacts include providing an external benchmark, raising the profile and quality of teaching and encouraging teaching-related professional development, including engagement with scholarship in teaching and learning. Accreditation was also found to align with neoliberal agendas of quality, league tables and marketization. The perennial issue of how to evaluate the impact on student learning is something respondents continue to grapple with. Finally, these data demonstrate there is a clear need to develop a more systematic and embedded approach to evaluation that captures the outcomes of teaching-related professional development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-369
Author(s):  
Tom Clark ◽  
Rita Hordósy

In 2012, the UK government introduced the National Scholarship Programme – a scheme that aimed to ensure that young people from families with low household incomes would not be discouraged from entry into higher education by increases in tuition fees. Drawing on longitudinal evidence in the form of 80 semi-structured interviews conducted in an English Red Brick University over a 3-year period, this article uses Jenkins’ work on social identification to examine the processes by which these post-2012 undergraduates used and experienced the financial support made available to them as part of the Programme. The article explores how the initially categorical label associated with being a student in receipt of financial assistance was variously understood and experienced as they moved through their degree. Not only did the additional finance allow students to avoid excessive part-time work, recipients also felt increasingly valued by the institution when they began to recognise how their financial circumstances differed from their peers, and that the university had made this provision for them. It remains to be seen whether these, more intangible, benefits of non-repayable financial support will transfer to the system of ‘enhanced’ loans that have subsequently replaced maintenance grants and the National Scholarship Programme.


Author(s):  
Audrey Faye Falk ◽  
Christina M. Berthelsen ◽  
Linda Meccouri

This chapter focuses on the use of appreciative inquiry in higher education and community contexts, providing an extensive review of this literature. Furthermore, the chapter describes how appreciative inquiry has been applied within the Community Engagement Program at Merrimack College. Jointly written by the program director, a graduate student, and an adjunct instructor, the chapter includes all three voices and perspectives. It includes lessons learned that may be generalizable to business and organizational contexts.


2014 ◽  
pp. 1301-1318
Author(s):  
Alan Hurst

Despite the progress made in the development of policy and provision for disabled students in Higher Education since the issue first received attention in the UK in 1974, there is still some way to go before a state of genuine inclusion is reached. The key to further improvement and enhancement of quality is seen to lie in training for staff. After presenting evidence showing the need for more and better training, a number of issues relating to initial training and continuing professional development are discussed. A number of sample tasks for inclusion in staff development sessions are described.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Maria Cutajar

Digital technologies are becoming seamlessly incorporated in all we do, no less in teaching and learning. As technological developments and interdependent social change steer us deeper into a postdigital existence, higher education institutions are observed increasing the availability of learning technologies and related academic development initiatives. Alongside these developments, models of teaching as transmission are popularly criticized and set in contrast to models of teaching as participation, which are commended and avowed as more suited for the present day digital university. This paper presents the research findings of a qualitative study, which was specifically taken up in response to observed developments. The findings derive from phenomenographic analysis mapping variation in the accounts of 27 academics describing their experiences using digital technologies for teaching. These results represent a wide-ranging description confirming previous research findings and add new detail. They reaffirm teaching orientations of transmission and participation as important and significant facets of teaching moreover existing claims based on logical argumentation. These research results potentially serve professional development constructively supporting academics seeking to incorporate contemporary digital technologies in their teaching practices.


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