This poster presents the findings of research which informed the redevelopment of a training course for PhD students at the University of Cambridge. This is a blended learning course which prepares PhD students to become small-group teachers, based within the Researcher Development Programme. As with any new teacher, it is important to ensure that PhD students have suitable preparation before embarking on teaching, both to respond to the institutional pressure to ensure high quality teaching across the university (Ginns et al, 2008), and to equip them with the skills they need for an academic career. This poster describes the findings of the empirical ‘scoping’ stage of the project, which sought to understand the role of small-group teaching within the diverse discipline contexts across the university. It discusses the range of perceptions of the nature of this kind of teaching from interviews with the academic staff running the undergraduate courses and surveys of the PhD students and of the undergraduates being taught. It then explores the findings of a large-scale secondary data analysis of around 1500 participants of the current course. This highlighted aspects of the current training students found most beneficial, and where they needed additional support. Crucially, it was found that some students struggled to relate the conceptions of teaching discussed in the course with the practices in their discipline. PhD students already hold clear perceptions of pedagogy (Gunn, 2007), and where this did not fit with the perceptions raised in the training, students did not feel as adequately prepared. The poster then outlines the application of these findings in the redevelopment phase of the project. Predominantly, it discusses how a central course of this kind can equip students with the discipline-specific, practical information that they need, whilst simultaneously providing a thoughtful introduction to teaching and learning in Higher Education, a debate which is often raised in work in this field (Chadha, 2013). References: Chadha, D., (2013), Reconceptualising and reframing graduate teaching assistant (GTA) provision for a research-intensive institution, Teaching in Higher Education, 18(2), 205-217 Ginns, P., Kitay, J., & Prosser, M., (2008), Developing Conception of Teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching through a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education, International Journal for Academic Development, 13(3),175-185 Gunn, V., (2007), What do Graduate Teaching Assistants’ Perceptions of Pedagogy Suggest about Current Approaches to their Vocational Development?, Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 59(4), 535-549

1. Teaching PhD Students to Teach: Scoping Study
Understanding Academic Perceptions of the Nature & Role of Small-Group Teaching
Aims of Wider Study:
• Redesign the training for PhD students teaching undergraduates
• Understand discipline-specific requirements & practices;
• Address problems with previous courses; e.g. balance of
background & contextual information
Aims of Scoping Study:
• Understand the role of Small-Group Teaching at Cambridge;
• Perspectives of academics, the University, students;
• Understand the role of Departmental/central teaching training;
• Inform the redevelopment of the central training.
Anna Maxim, Research Associate
in Educational Development
“The focus of small-group
teaching is passing the exams.
We want our students to do as
well as they can. Any good
“It should help students identify what
they need to work on, find gaps in
understanding, challenge them & keep
them interested & make them think & put
the course together themselves in
different ways, rather than just
regurgitating the notes for the exam”
Academic Views:
The Role of Small-
Group Teaching
teacher knows that”
“What is powerful
educationally is the
lever you pull; how
many hours of
student work does
that contact time
promote?”
“I expect PhD
students to be able to
teach the course
they’re asked to; not
mentoring students
switching to
university”
Issues & Implications:
• Need to balance flexibility to accommodate discipline-specific practices with
consistency & quality of provision;
• Need to ‘practice what we preach’ & ensure learning is student-centred;
• Must engage students in three ways: Understanding the context,
understanding role & responsibilities in teaching; considering ‘employability’
& ‘skills development’ in both training & teaching
“Training should be quite exciting
& make them think of education
as an academic area; reflecting
on their practice & what they do”
References: Chadha, D. (2013) Reconceptualising & reframing GTA provision for a research-intensive institution, Teaching in HE, 18(2),
205-217, Ginns, P. Kitay, J. & Prosser, M. (2008) Developing Conception of Teaching & the Scholarship of Teaching through a Graduate
Certificate in HE, International Journal for Academic Development, 13(3),175-185. Gunn, V. (2007) What do GTAs’ Perceptions of Pedagogy
Suggest about Current Approaches to their Vocational Development? Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 59(4), 535-549
“The training marks a
turning point for them in
terms of learning that
going into academia is
what they want to do”
Academic Views:
The Role of Central
Teaching Training
“for them to understand, or get a
chance to think about, what’s
the purpose of a challenging
discussion: discussing why we do
small-group teaching; what’s the
purpose? Why’s it valuable?”
“They value the very practical, interactive side of training; e.g.
the chance to mock-up a small-group teaching situation & have
people comment on their performance”
How much should
teaching focus on exams?
What’s the right balance
between content & skills
development?
“Students learn to work autonomously, learn with & from
others, argue & present arguments, handle problems,
question their own assumptions & meet deadlines”