Abstract

Many teaching staff are working under unusual and demanding circumstances, and further changes ahead cannot be ruled out. There is a high degree of uncertainty. Questions are raised about how best to support teaching staff under these conditions.

Teaching and learning related CPD, including PGCHE courses, is conventionally organised around the kinds of teaching that academics might expect to be engaged in: large group lectures, small group seminars, perhaps specialisms like lab demonstration or work-based learning.

Our course, the Academic and Professional Pathway for Teaching Excellence (APP TE) is an AdvanceHE accredited twelve month taught online programme intended for staff who are new to the university. Most participants are early in their career, having limited teaching experience; and some are new to the UK higher education sector.

In response to the conditions brought about by the pandemic, and anticipating post-pandemic pedagogies, we have redesigned APP TE. Academics need to be prepared for significant changes to the circumstances under which they are teaching, and potentially at short notice. Moreover, the last eighteen months have made clear that we have to be prepared for unforeseen events impacting on learning and teaching, looking beyond the current crisis

As such, we believe that it is no longer desirable to organise a CPD course according to different ‘types’ of teaching, as these are liable to shift and change in response to changing circumstances. Instead, we have structured the course thematically, around different aspects of professional practice. Essentially when considering ‘teaching contexts’ we have decentred the situation (delineated by space, time, and population) and recentred elements of student learning which our participants might want to support and promote through their teaching. This approach allows us to draw participants’ attention to the underlying reasons for being concerned with, for example, student engagement, independently of any particular situation in which keeping students engaged is a challenge. Being in touch with the value of these aspects of practice, rather than primarily with how they are realised in conventional teaching practice, should enable participants to develop a more flexible approach to teaching, and better prepare them for unpredictable times ahead.

Organising thematically rather than contextually has also meant that issues which might otherwise be sectioned off and detached from teaching-related content can be more fully integrated throughout. For example, reflection on professional values and teaching philosophy is an integral element throughout the course, including in reference to the ‘teaching excellence’ discourse, the relationship between research and teaching, the value and role of critical thinking in education.

The first cohorts on the redesigned course are beginning to submit their final assessments now. While the sample size is small as yet, early indications are that the first-time pass rate has improved compared to most previous years. Participants have remained engaged with the course more fully over a longer period of time, completing group exercises and formative assessments throughout the twelve months of the programme.

Expected outcomes of this session:

Reflect on how academic developers/CPD can address conditions of uncertainty, and support academics who are teaching under challenging circumstances
Think about the underlying principles by which CPD courses are organised, and how they shape participants’ learning

Audio Presentation

Transcript

JM: