CPD in HE - Research project information

Continuing Professional Development in Higher Education Challenges and Opportunities Karin Crawford University of Lincoln [email_address] http://webpages.lincoln.ac.uk/kcrawford

Overview of presentation
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Higher Education (HE)
Context
A little about me and my interest in CPD
The national and local context of CPD in HE
My ‘desk research’ and initial investigations
Challenges and tensions
Opportunities and good practice

About me
An academic; a researcher; a teaching fellow; a student
Personal journey from professional and managerial experience to academia
CPD and lifelong learning – earlier research
Current research project
Developing an understanding of the influences on the CPD practices of academics in HE
Multi-case study - qualitative research
Set in context of change, competing demands and expectations
Offers a voice for academics and staff developers
Opportunity to influence approaches to CPD in institutions

National context of CPD in HE
A focus on CPD and the enhancement of the quality of teaching
Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in HE (HEA 2006)
The Higher Education Academy Professional Recognition Scheme
‘… good-quality teaching for everyone…(by)…staff that are trained to teach and continue to develop professionally…’ (DfES 2003: 49)

National context of CPD in HE /continued. . .
New ‘Professional Standards for teachers, tutors and trainers in the lifelong learning sector’
The 14-19 agenda (DfES 2005) and the Leitch Review (2006)
Quality audit processes – Quality Assurance Agency ( www.qaa.ac.uk )
Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) supporting ‘institutions in enhancing the quality of their learning and teaching’ ( www.hefce.ac.uk )
‘ Reflection and evaluation of their own practice and their continuing professional development as teachers’ (LLUK 2007: 3)

Local context of CPD in HE
Historical institutional context
The University of Lincoln mission
Policies and strategies
A range of partnerships – meeting a range of needs and demands
‘ To be recognised as a university of quality and distinction’

Challenges and tensions
Contradictions; ‘dualisms’; ‘fault lines’ (Clegg 2003: 37)
Dual role of HE as providers and consumers
What constitutes CPD?
Academic identity
Teaching-Research
Competing loyalties and priorities
Complexity of academic role
The rhetoric and the reality

Dual role of HE (with regard to CPD)
HE as established providers of CPD for others …….BUT
… HE is less developed in provision of CPD for own staff (Clegg 2003)
Staff development organised very differently in different institutions
Issues of location
Issues of status
There is seemingly no one way of facilitating or providing CPD in HE
Complex range of approaches; cultures; priorities; beliefs; and actions – impacting on staff developers, institutions and individual academics

What constitutes CPD?
Formal or informal learning? The iceberg analogy - ‘ not all professional knowings are explicit ’ (Knight 2006: 31)
As well as accredited courses - CPD can be seen as arising from personal scholarship and normal working activities (Becher 1999, Clegg 2003)
How will arguably increasing external demands, e.g. implementation of the standards frameworks impact on this debate?

Academic identity – ‘academic tribes’
Research – Teaching Nexus
Traditionally perceived disproportionate status
Professional standards focus on teaching and learning
University of Lincoln
drive to embed research informed teaching
revised structures to enhance the status of quality teaching and learning in the institution
Significant implications for CPD – for institutions and individuals
‘’ . . .two academic tribes – those who prioritize research within their career, and those who tend to prioritize teaching’ (Ramsden cited in Trigwell and Shale 2004: 523)

Academic identity – loyalties and priorities
Academics situated in many ‘communities of practice’ (Wenger 1998) therefore potentially different . . . .
discourses
understandings of CPD
CPD requirements
professional histories
priorities
approaches to teaching and learning

The academic role ‘… the academic role is in flux’ (Blackmore and Blackwell 2003: 19)
Traditional role of teaching, researching and administration
Changing expectations – a wider range of tasks and responsibilities
Subject ‘expert’? Teaching and learning ‘expert’ Both? Something else?
Many different forms of ‘tenure’ – part-time, hourly, ‘guest’, ‘visiting’…
Changing meaning of the term ‘academic’ - different meanings across different institutions and functions

CPD – whose goals and needs?
Relationship between needs of the institution and needs of the academic;
Tension in whose goals are to be met and who is responsible;
Potential disparity between policy rhetoric and policy achievement (Field 2002);
A lack of consensus on meaning and scope of CPD
the core tension in this relationship is that between those needs for the continuity of the work practice and individuals’ needs to realise their personal or vocational goals’
(Billett 2002: 56)

A local investigation
Very small scale, early ‘test-bed’
Qualitative questionnaire
Purpose – to explore understandings of CPD and perceived links to teaching quality enhancement
Respondent profile:
fourteen respondents –
9 departments,
academics, learning resources, one person was a manager, individuals working in relevant central functions supporting teaching and learning
57% (8) male – 43% (6) female
Average years working in HE = 12
Average years at University of Lincoln = 8

Summary of findings – defining CPD CPD in HE is ‘ subject development, updating, scholarly activity, and research and/or pedagogical development updating, innovation, and/or development opportunities for management/leadership ’ (Academic, female) CPD in HE is ‘in a constantly changing environment, the process whereby you ensure that the skills and knowledge required to teach your subject and support student learning are up to date ‘ (Staff member in a role that supports teaching and learning (male) ‘ different approaches and understanding across faculty and departments, therefore different arrangements’ (Academic female)

Summary of findings – whose goals and needs? CPD in HE is ‘ support in making progress in line with the objectives of the university, faculty, department and personal aspirations for career development’’ (Academic manager, male) ‘ ..addressing the needs of the individual member of staff’ (Academic male) ‘… advancing one’s own work’ (Academic, male)

Summary of findings – content and focus of CPD

Opportunities
New policies, structures and strategies at the University of Lincoln
The opportunity to ‘take ownership’ as academics drive ‘a combination of top-down and bottom-up strategies…’ (Zuber-Skerritt 1992: 192 italics in original).
Considering how to involve the students of the university in CPD for staff (Leeds Met. University)
Acknowledge and value difference across disciplines – but share good practice – ‘mainstream’ CPD

Opportunities
Explore and learn from the practices of other institutions (nationally and internationally)
A shift to a focus on learning – then being inclusive across the institution – everyone involved in student learning working together on common projects (Clegg 2003)

Presentation Summary
Challenges and opportunities
Reflection on own practices
Opportunity for debate
‘ .. problematising our conceptions of continuing professional development can open up space for debate’ (Clegg 2003: 37)

For any further information – visit my web pages at http://webpages.lincoln.ac.uk/kcrawford or email me [email_address] Thank you for listening !

References
Becher, T. (1999) Professional Practices: Commitment and capability in a changing environment New Jersey: Transaction Publishers
Billett, S. R. (2002) ‘Critiquing workplace learning discourses: Participation and continuity at work’ Studies in the Education of Adults 34 (1) 56-67
Blackwell, R. and Blackmore, P. (2003) ‘Rethinking strategic staff development’ in R. Blackwell and P. Blackmore (Eds) Towards Strategic Staff Development in Higher Education’ pp3-15
Clegg, S. (2003) ‘Problematising Ourselves: Continuing Professional Development in Higher Education’ International Journal for Academic Development Vol 8, No. 1/2 pp.37-50
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2003) The future of higher education The Stationery Office
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2005) 14-19 Education and Skills Nottingham: DfES publications
Field, J (2002) ‘Governing the ungovernable: why lifelong learning policies promise so much yet deliver so little’ in R. Edwards, N. Miller, N. Small and A. Tait (Eds) Supporting Lifelong Learning Volume 3, Making Policy Work . London: Routledge

References Continued/….
Higher Education Academy (HEA) (2006) The UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education www.heacademy.ac.uk
Knight, P. (2006) ‘Quality Enhancement and Educational Professional Development’ Quality in Higher Education Vol 12 (1) p.29-40
Leitch, S. (2006) Leitch Review of skills – Prosperity for All in the Global Economy: World Class Skills Norwich: HMSO
LLUK (2007) New overarching professional standards for teachers, tutors and trainers in the lifelong learning sector www.lifelonglearninguk.org
Trigwell, K. and Shale, S. (2004) ‘Student learning and the scholarship of university teaching’ Studies in Higher Education Vol 29, No.4. pp524-525
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identify Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Zuber-Skerritt, O. (1992) Professional Development in Higher Education London: Kogan Page

CPD in HE - Research project information

by Karin Crawford on Oct 23, 2008

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