1. Postgraduates who teach social policy: findings from a recent survey

2. Research questions What attitudes do postgraduates who teach social policy have to their own teaching and the learning of their students? What teaching roles and responsibilities do postgraduates who teach social policy hold? What kinds of support and help have postgraduates who teach social policy found particularly useful? How can good teaching and learning practice be shared across the social policy postgraduate community?

3. Method Bristol online survey Structured questions supplemented by free text qualitative data Sampling restricted to pg members of SPA; pg students supervised by members of SPA, C-SAP, SWAP. Data collated and report drafted by educational consultant

4. Demographics 65.5% (36) female and 29.1% (16) male (HESA 54% female) 82% registered as research degree students 73% of men and women UK domiciled 85% funded 47.5% of female respondents were aged 30-50 33% were in their third year of study 52.7% categorised social policy as their primary subject of postgraduate study Good HEI geographical spread with every region and UK country represented 95% pre-1992 universities. 31% classified themselves as Graduate Teaching Assistants.

5. Place of teaching in postgraduate experience (94%) of home and funded postgraduates agreed with the statement that: ‘it is very important or fairly important to gain experience of teaching’. (83%) indicated they were fairly confident or very confident as a teacher (37%) hold or are working towards credit bearing courses

6. Teaching activities: ‘Which of the following teaching or teaching related activities have you delivered?’

7. What went well – tutorials and small groups ‘The challenge is helping first years to understand that key terms in social policy don’t have one right answer and finding ways to highlight this in current debates through use of media articles seemed to work well when discussing equality’ ‘Getting the class to feed back on some newspaper articles … picking up on their points which I’d put on the board to explain how inequalities are accepted in society. Then getting them to reflect as to what this means for social policy. Seeing that they not only ‘got it’ but that they were enthused by it’ ‘Seminar series linking current social policy debates … to assist students think ‘through’ variable means and normative positions’ ‘I provided feedback and suggestions on how to interpret the course materials.. It went well because I had the time to gain an understanding of the students’ particular learning styles’

8. Challenges ‘Tutorials: can be very challenging to engage students in the material and encourage them to talk’. ‘I was given four questions to go through with the group in an hour long session. The tutorials needed completely rewriting and I wasn’t given any guidance as to what to do, or indeed if it was acceptable for me to do so’ ‘Tutoring on the MSc programme. I did not feel I had enough experience and knowledge to undertake this, having only completed my MSc the previous year’ ‘I found the first few seminars I did to be some of the most challenging because I was worried about whether or not I knew enough about the subject to be teaching it – however, this was not a problem..and I have since become confident in teaching’

9. Teaching activities: by ug and pg level

10. Support and guidance (formal and informal) 36.5% (20) held or were working towards obtaining learning and teaching credit bearing courses 35% (19) had previous experience of teaching in other sectors (e.g. TEFL; teaching other languages; sports, music, church groups)

11. Pluses and minuses for students obtaining/taking credit bearing teaching and learning courses All indicated they were confident as teachers Over half disagreed with the statement ‘students think that postgraduate teachers are not as knowledgeable or ‘expert’ about the subject they teach when compared to academic staff None engaged in more than 4 hours teaching More likely to find managing teaching alongside study difficult

12. Range of credit bearing options which students found helpful LSE’s Graduate Teaching Assistant seminars PGCerts and PGHEs (teaching workshops) Preparing Future Academics course Three day training course for teaching assistants (marking, presentations) 16 hour teacher training before start of term Threshold training course (4 hour sessions, 2 sessions) about basics of teaching One off training courses (e.g. ‘marking workshop to help us understand and mark essays’; basic intro to tutoring; helping ugs to write essays; lesson planning) Peer review group set up by learning and support centre.

13. Things students would like to have/have had Department/subject specific training and support Peer support networks (‘either a group with other PGs or some interaction with academic staff’) Specific examples of challenges and how other teachers have dealt with them (e.g. ‘pros and cons of letting students select their own presentations and topics’) Help with classroom technology ‘what is expected in terms og teaching and academic advising roles’ Payment for attending CPD Co-ordination of teaching timing and CPD training Better understanding of how module fits into bigger picture

14. Speaking for yourself do you feel you need more help on any of the following topics ?

15. Recommendations and next steps Identify a host organisation where teaching resources can be shared by peers and discussed online (e.g. SPA or SWAP websites and JISCmail lists) and links to resources recommended by postgraduate teachers added and updated. Disseminate the main components of good formal training for postgraduates teaching social policy as identified by the survey respondents (e.g. re small group teaching and oral assessment) Provide opportunities for postgraduates teaching social policy to locate their experience within the wider HEI context (e.g. events where post-graduate teachers of social policy from pre and post- 1992 HEIs share experiences and good about their practice). Create information and help sheets to support common postgraduate teaching topics and methods (e.g. key resources for specific subject areas; pointers and examples on specific teaching methods).

16. If you’d like to find out more Email: swapenquiries@soton.ac.uk or r.johnson@soton.ac.ukswapenquiries@soton.ac.uk r.johnson@soton.ac.uk Or visit our website: www.swap.ac.ukwww.swap.ac.uk