professionalisation of teaching in higher education

1. Cyfarwyddiadau ar gyfer Proffesiynoldeb
mewn Addysgu yn y dyfodol
Future Directions for
Professionalism in Teaching
Dr Stephen Bostock NTF FHEA SFSEDA
(Co-chair of the Staff and Educational Development Association and
part time HE Academy Future Directions Strategic Lead in Wales
but speaking in a private capacity)
With thanks to David Baume for conversations.
Bangor University 15/4/15

2. What is a profession?
• Dictionary definitions
• A skilled occupation (no help)
• Paid, not volunteer (how much?)
• Professional = good quality (circular)
• Traditional professions
law and medicine1
; church and academia2
• New professions
e.g. medical laboratory scientific officers, nurses …
• Wannabe professions
e.g. school teachers, social workers
• Status, expertise, autonomy
2

3. The traditional profession
• The social contract with professionals:
– Expertise, a secret knowledge base
– Society and clients cannot evaluate their judgements
– Must trust professionals to control themselves and
exercise their power in the interests of their clients;
autonomy
– Professional bodies, qualifications, good standing
• Professional bodies control their membership to
maintain their status as well as their clients’ benefit
• But this independence is increasingly challenged and
controlled ; trust vs. accountability – a contested
space
3

4. Problem: one profession or two?
HE teachers have a profession as a subject expert (scholar/
researcher); a professional identity from their discipline
To professionalise HE teaching, two possible solutions:
a) Dual-identity profession.
Discipline expert professional + teacher/education expert
b) Expanded identity profession. Discipline expertise now
includes teaching and learning of the discipline.
Staff developers may emphasize (a) as we see the
commonalities of teaching and learning; this risks
teaching expertise being bolt-on not integrated; a
competence check-list
But academic teachers experience teaching in their
discipline. So professional identity requires (b). 4

5. Another problem: de-
professionalisation
• Growth of managerialism in the public sector (or
a controlled marketised sector like HE) from the
1980s means increasingly
– Academic work managed by full-time senior managers
and ‘professional’ administrators, not a collegiate
academic body
– KPIs: performance indicators used to measure
productivity, determine resourcing, curriculum
– KPIs feed inter/national league tables, the basis of
strategic goals in a status-driven sector, including
– Student ‘satisfaction’ (NSS, module evaluation)
• Gains and losses for student experience but a loss
of academic autonomy constrains professionalism
5

6. History of HE teaching
• Traditionally, academic professionalism came from
discipline expertise, teaching was unproblematic and so did
not need expertise.
• But then more and varied students in HE, changed views on
knowledge and professions, and teaching became an issue
• 1970’s : short induction courses for new lecturers
• An evidence base on teaching and learning grew
• Landmarks:
SEDA’s ‘teacher accreditation’ scheme 1993
Dearing Report 1997
The ILTHE 1999 accrediting PGCerts …
Increased compulsion for new lecturers at least
2003 DfES White Paper "The Future of Higher Education"
produced the HE Academy & the UKPSF …
2012-13 HESA collects data on staff teaching qualifications.6

7. ILTHE: a cancelled experiment
• Dearing (1997) recommended that the Funding
Bodies immediately “establish a professional
Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher
Education” (ILTHE) A sort of professional body.
• Established a teaching standard, organised
recognition of individuals, accredited PGCerts,
establish standards for CPD, but no good standing
requirement.
• By July 2002 it had accredited 127 programmes and
had 16,000 applications for individual recognition.3
• Re-organised out of existence following the 2003
White Paper creating the HEA
7

8. The HE Academy
• Owned by Universities UK and GuildHE, the institutions
who support it with substantial subscriptions
• Took over the work of ILTHE, whose members were
given fellowships of the HEA, as it is not a membership
association/professional body
• 10 years later: 60,000 fellows
• Managed the development and then review of UKPSF,
now with 4 levels used for fellowships
• Government subsidy removed, size halved in 2015
• A standards and enhancement body but not an
autonomous membership professional body. But…
• Considering chartered fellowships with individual fees –
more ‘professional’?
8

9. Are HE teachers professionals?
• Standards: UK Professional standards framework, 2011,
five areas of activity, six areas of knowledge, four values
• Code of Practice for HEA Fellows:
10 statements of professional practice: e.g.
1 Act with respect, integrity and honesty
2 Monitor and review regularly our work in order to maintain
good standing. ..
• FHEA good standing is ‘continuing to work in accordance
with the standard indicated by the relevant Fellow
Descriptor of the UKPSF’; now built into HEA-approved
institutional accreditation schemes; notionally in place.
• QAA institutional review?, possibly internal peer
observation schemes, annual appraisals variable
• Variable degrees of requirement for reward, recognition
9

10. Is HE teaching becoming more
professional?
• Yes, in an instrumental sense at least: standards,
accreditation, good standing, code of practice
• (Chartered?) Fellowships increasingly required by
(some) universities
• Is this creating a dual profession or an expanded
professional identity? How will it relate to
discipline professionalism/identity?
• Does it improve teaching and learning? We know
that PGCerts do, does UKPSF add anything?
10

11. How to be professional in teaching, for
the sake of ourselves and our students
1. Be scholarly, in the discipline and in L&T; integrate L&T and
research to create an expanded professional identity
2. Be critical and reflective of our practice and policy
3. Do ‘participative action research’ into your practice, with
students as research partners
4. Explicitly use professional values, ethics, or code of practice
5. Be qualified to teach the discipline to a national standard and
continue professional development to develop personally and
maintain good standing
6. Maintain a degree of autonomy in teaching and research; they
are done best with enthusiasm, individualism is important
7. Participate in peer review and peer dialogue in a community of
practice; professions are communities. (CFHEA?)
11

12. References
1. Eraut, M. 1994 Developing professional knowledge and
competence, London: Falmer Press
2. Leaton Gray, S. 2014 Pedagogy unpacked, THE 2 April
p56
3. Bucklow C. and Clark, P. 2003 A new approach to
professionalising teaching and accrediting training: The
institute for learning and teaching in higher education,
chapter 7 in Blackwell, R. and Blackmore, P. (eds)
Towards strategic staff development in higher
education, London: SRHE
12

13. Select bibliography
Bostock, S. and Bradley, S. (2014) SEDA and HEA fellowships – What’s the
difference? Educational Developments 15.2, 6-7, London: SEDA
Brown, R. (2013) Everything for sale? The marketisation of UK Higher Education.
SRHE/Routledge
DES (2003) White Paper: The Future of Higher Education
HEA (2014) The Higher Education Academy UK Professional Standards Framework
HESA (2013) Staff record 2012/13 Academic teaching qualification
Laycock M (2009) CPD and critical learning communities: you can’t have one
without the other, (ch 3 in Laycock M. and Shrives L. Embedding CPD in higher
education, SEDA Paper 123, London: SEDA
Mann, S.J. (2003) Alternative perspectives on professional practice in academic
development, ch8 in Eggins H. and MacDonald, R. eds, London: SRHE
Nixon J (2001) ch 5 in G. Nichols, Professional Development in Higher Education,
London:Kogan page
Skelton, A. (2005) Understanding teaching excellence in higher education, London:
Routledge 13