Strategic staff development: more than a rhetorical flourish? Richard Blackwell, LTSN Generic Centre Paul Blackmore, University of Warwick 1/18/2019
SD Strategy in HE: ends and means? Organisational function - effectiveness Own ends - professionalism Educational development/SEDA SD as support for T&L Consensus around reflective practice Judicious mixture/peaceful co-existence. 1/18/2019
Some issues for HEIs? Lifelong Learning [and WP] ‘Employability’ and competitiveness Generating 3rd leg funding Entrepreneurial activity elearning and globalisation elaearning and pedagogy Management and Leadership Team working and efficiency ….. are they our business too? 1/18/2019
Strategic HRD Relationship to organisation goals Top management support Environmental scanning Staff development plans and policies Relationship to line management Relationship to human resource management (HRM) Role of staff developer Cultural engagement. Evaluation. (McCracken and Wallace 2000). 1/18/2019
Learning organisation Flexible, adaptive, continuous learners Single, Double and Triple loop learning Structured serendipity [James 1997] Nurturing leadership [Duke 2002] Problems of linkages and openness SD at organisational core 1/18/2019
Communities of practice Learning embedded in practice Apprentice model Informal, social, tacit, distributed. ‘Part of the Furniture’ SD as internal consultant to depts SD as horizontal facilitator 1/18/2019
Are we appropriately experienced? Are we well and visibly qualified? Some key questions Are we appropriately experienced? Are we well and visibly qualified? What is our expertise? What is our remit? Are we organisationally well positioned? What is our ethical position? 1/18/2019
Leaders in staff development Common set of core values Diverse people and backgrounds Diverse - and dynamic - roles Working across boundaries 1/18/2019
What does expertise look like? positions and roles vary people vary and shape the job effect of reputation and previous actions ambiguous relationships varying expectations of others ……… role as interaction 1/18/2019
Resources for learning 57 varieties of academic background Some PhDs Some trained to teach Little formal management development Little formal reflection / development ...………. but lots of HE experience 1/18/2019
Structures for EDUs 1/18/2019
Taking a stance A technician? A critical friend? A radical critic? Situational ethic? 1/18/2019
Ongoing questions How aligned is it possible to be? System instabilities Ambiguities over mission Complexity and unpredictability How might the SD leadership role evolve? A more central role? A less ambiguous role? Support for professional development? 1/18/2019
A research agenda Empirical research on SD effectiveness What works? (models and location) Who benefits? Professional learning in disciplines/departments Can we understand it better? (concepts of communities of practice, situated and tacit learning) How can we help improve learning processes? 1/18/2019
Further information Blackwell and Blackmore ‘Towards Strategic SD’. OUP/SRHE. Forthcoming Summer 2003 Blackmore, Stainton and Wilson ‘Leadership in Staff Development: a Role Analysis’. Forthcoming richard.blackwell@ltsn.ac.uk p.blackmore@warwick.ac.uk 1/18/2019