A Career Perspective on Teaching & Academic Development Professor Bairbre Redmond, University College Dublin

Scope of Paper Phases of the academic career Challenges at individual phases Learning from international research in each phase Creating links between phases Creating intra-institutional links

1. Induction Phase

2. Mid-Career Development Phase 1. Induction Phase

2. Mid-Career Development Phase 1. Induction Phase 3. Senior Academic Phase

Induction Period Issues Teacher Training- Effective or not? Mandatory or not? Shareable of not?

Teacher Training - Research Substantial induction training of between hours now embedded in many institutions. No clear decision about mandatory nature of training. Training can increase ability to become more student focused. Control group (no training ) became more teacher focused (Gibbs & Coffey 2004) To be effective training should be at least 30ECTS over 1 year; short courses may undermine teacher confidence (Postareff et al 2007) However - short courses in teaching concept change (rather than techniques) shown to result in reflective changes that positively impact on student satisfaction and performance (Ho et al 2001)

Teacher Training Need to tackle decision about mandatory early T&L training. Need to identify most effective approaches for early stage academics Find appropriate mix between generic training and disciplinary-specific work Staff defensiveness increases through career: introduce peer mentoring early. Explore short concept-changing workshops, especially for more advanced academics

Induction Phase Establishing sound T&L skills and attitudes

Academic Mid-Career Development Phase Issues Effective T&L recognition and reward Effective Peer support Effective disciplinary-specific teaching Creating Communities of Practice Induction Phase Establishing sound T&L skills and values

Reward Schemes - Research No clear link between performance of award-winning and non-award winning staff. Considered symbolically important but potentially alienating (Jacobsen 1989, Ramsden & Martin 1996) Can be tokenistic; divisive; labelling recipients as non- researchers (Warren & Plumb 1999) Only 50% of winners in UK cohort had subsequently contributed to academic staff development (Frame, Johnson et al 2006) Prospective schemes more effective than retrospective ones. Promotion/bonus much more effective in raising teaching quality (Ramsden et al; Warren et al.)

Reward Schemes Need to articulate the goals for the scheme, then design the scheme to best reach these goals Have clear criteria, match to desired outcomes Consider using prospective rewards – but be prepared to put work into them. Try and create communities of practice within schemes. Design rewards to address issues of institutional strategic importance Include leadership capacity as a core function of reward scheme

Induction Phase Establishing sound T&L skills and values Academic Mid-Career Development Phase Supporting quality T&L Building Communities of Practice

Induction Phase Establishing sound T&L skills and values Senior Academic Phase Issues Developing Academic Leadership Using Leadership to Support T&L Excellence Supporting Teaching Scholarship Academic Mid-Career Development Phase Supporting quality T&L Building Communities of Practice

Successful Academic Leaders - Research Have ability to work in complex and paradoxical structures. (Askling & Stensaker 2002). Have capacity to revitalise and energise colleagues to meet the challenges of a changed and changing environment (Ramsden 1998). Have capacity to lead in T&L area through pedagogic scholarship (Healy 2000) Can significantly influence T&L attitudes in both staff and students (Ramsden 1994)

Developing Academic Leaders Create environments for individuals to work together on areas of strategic importance Create environments for individuals to work together to explore new approaches to institutional complexity Encourage cross-institutional pedagogic scholarship at disciplinary level Create academic leaders that inspire confidence and who others wish to emulate

Senior Academic Phase Developing Academic Leadership Supporting Teaching Scholarship Academic Mid-Career Development Phase Supporting quality T&L Building Communities of Practice Induction Phase Establishing sound T&L skills and values Summary of Phases

Senior Academic Phase Teaching Scholars Disciplinary T&L experts Fellows Academic Mid-Career Development Phase Supporting quality T&L Building Communities of Practice Induction Phase Peer mentoring/Disciplinary Skills Linking Phases

Can We Work Together? There are opportunities at each phase for DCAD collaboration: Shared Training Modules Disciplinary specific groups (teaching/scholarship) Cross-institutional peer-mentoring Schemes (such as Fellowships) – with clearly shared strategic objectives and recruitment criteria Pedagogic scholarship support groups (inter/intra- institutional)