Slides from What does it mean to be an academic in the Social Sciences?by Dr Helen Jones at the BSA Teaching Group Conference 2012.

1. What does it mean to be an academic in the
Social Sciences?
Dr Helen Jones HEA Discipline Lead for Sociology
Birmingham Sept 2012
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2. Aims
• To set out some of the issues resulting from recent
changes in HE
• To consider the Who, Where, Why, What, How and When
of being an academic in the 21st century university system
• To outline the role of the Higher Education Academy in
supporting excellence in teaching
• To provide you with a little more useful knowledge about
working smarter
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3. Context
Sector changing rapidly: all institutions face
challenges
If the ‘student learning experience’ wasn’t the
key driver before, it is now!
What was previously ‘bolted on’, now becomes
‘central’: employability, skills, student success,
student satisfaction, value for money, flexibility,
service.
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4. Who?
• Post-Doctoral students • Academics moving
in their first academic disciplines (ie from
post (increasing %) Social Policy to
Criminology)
• ‘Mid-Career Shifters’
following a previous • Academics moving
career elsewhere between culturally
(sometimes still in different institutions,
practice) e.g. post ‘92 to Russell
Group
• International academics
with a first UK post
• And many other
variations… 4

5. Where?
• In HE and in FE
• Wide range of subjects – politics to criminology
• Range of contexts – Russell Group, Million+, HE in FE
• Mix of career paths – post-docs, professions
• Often non-social science first degree
• Mix of motivations – teach, research, status, travel, career
• Range of student numbers, experience, cultures, languages
• Cohorts sizes from 20 to 1,000 +
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6. Why?
Even to those committed to it, Academia makes little
sense:
• We are assumed to have a lot of leisure time filled
with reading books but actually work all evenings and
weekends;
• we send multiple e-mails but complain our own inbox
is full;
• we read e-mails in supermarkets telling us a journal
has rejected our life’s work;
• our newspaper and magazine articles, read by
millions, are ignored in research assessments;
• we are surrounded by students who own better
technological gadgets than we do.
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7. What?
Simply:
Research
Teaching
Service
But includes:
Lecturing, tutoring, marking, researching,
writing bids, publishing, providing pastoral
care, academic admin, consultancy,
checking emails, attending meetings,
blogging, reviewing journal articles,
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providing references, conducting curriculum

8. How?
Subject you teach:
‘your expertise’………………….…………….… ‘out of comfort zone’
Content you teach:
‘content freedom’………………………..…….… ‘content prescription’
How you work:
‘alone’……………….……………………….…………… ‘in a team’
Approach to teaching:
‘free to choose’……………………………..…….… ‘prescribed’
Use of institutional learning systems:
‘haphazard’………………..…….…….…….… ‘obligatory/systematic’
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9. When?
How can we cope with the reality of 21st century demands within a
model that was developed in the 19th century?
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10. Supporting Teaching
Who can help academics get AHEAD and WITTY?
A – Access W – World
H – Higher I – Innovators
E – Education T – Teaching
A – Academy T – Today’s
D- Y - Youth
Developments
We all need a little help sometimes
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cd7Bsp3dDo

11. What Is This Thing Called…
The Higher Education Academy?
What do I know about the HEA?
1 = next to nothing 5
9 = plenty
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12. Structure
Social Sciences
STEM Health A&H
John Craig
Sociology and Law
Crim Anthropology Education
Economics
Finance and Business and
Politics
Accounting Management
Hospitality
Islamic Marketing
Studies

13. Opportunities and resources
• UK Professional • Seminar and Workshop
Standards Framework Series
• National Teaching • Change Programme
Awards
• Student Experience
• Teaching Development Surveys
Grants
• Resources Centre
• International Scholarship
• HEA Annual Conference
Scheme
• Cluster Conference
• Doctoral Programme
• New to Teaching events
• New to Teaching events
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14. New to Teaching Events
We support staff new to teaching
whether they are full time or part
time lecturers, postgraduates who
teach or graduate teaching
assistants. We provide both
discipline specific and generic
support in the form of workshops,
resources and toolkits.
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/new-to-
teaching
http://blogs.heacademy.ac.uk/social-
sciences/category/new-to-teaching/
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15. Opportunities and resources
• UK Professional • Seminar and Workshop
Standards Framework Series
• National Teaching • Change Programme
Awards
•• Fellowship
Fellowship
• Teaching Development
• Student Experience
Grants
Surveys
• International Scholarship
• Resources Centre
Scheme
• HEA Annual Conference
• Doctoral Programme
• Cluster Conference
• New to Teaching events
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16. Fellowship
Provides an indicator of professional identity for higher education
practitioners, including the entitlement to use post-nominal
letters. Recognition can be obtained by following an accredited
programme or by submitting an application to the HEA.
AFHEA – Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
FHEA – Fellows of the Higher Education Academy
SFHEA - Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
PFHEA – Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/professional-recognition
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17. Resources
Regular newsletters for each discipline
Resource Centre and new resources
development
16 Journals – including ELiSS
Consultancy and change
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/my_academy 17

18. What can the Higher Education
Academy do for me?
What do I want the HEA to do for me?
3
I want the
HEA to…
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19. Sociology Roadshows
Northern Ireland - January
Scotland - April
North East - March
North West - February
North Wales - January
South Wales - September
Midlands - October
East Midlands - July
South West - May
Southern England - December
East Anglia - June
South East - November 19

20. Key Contacts
Helen Jones – Sociology and Criminology
Michael Bromby - Law
Richard Atfield - Business and Management
Lyn Bibbings - Hospitality, Sport, Leisure, Tourism and
Events
Lyn Vos – Marketing
Dorron Otter – Economics
Kathy Wright and Will Curtis – Education
Steven Curtis – Politics
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/disciplines 20

21. What do I now know about the
Higher Education Academy?
3
I want the HEA to …
What do I now know about the HEA?
?
1 = next to nothing
9 = plenty
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22. References
Knight, P. (2002) Being a Teacher in Higher Education, Open University
Press.
Marr, L. and Forsyth, R. (2011) Identity Crisis: Working in HE in the 21st
Century. Trentham Books.
Ramsden, P. (2003) Learning to Teach in Higher Education, 2nd Edition,
Routledge.
Wood, A. (2012) Doing more with less? – a survey of the work/life balance
of sociology postgraduates. HEA Research Project (forthcoming)
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23. Discipline lead contact details
Dr Helen Jones - Discipline Lead for Sociology
Mobile +44 (0) 725 257513
Email helen.jones@heacademy.ac.uk
Twitter - @HEA_Sociology
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/disciplines/sociology
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