The document outlines the mission and structure of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), which supports academic professionals in enhancing teaching and learning experiences in UK higher education. It details pathways for professional recognition, including membership routes for associates and fellows, and emphasizes the importance of pedagogical knowledge and ethics. Ultimately, it argues that while the HEA offers valuable frameworks for professional development, it does not replace active engagement in the learning and teaching sector.

1. The HEA advantage:
professional recognition in
learning and teaching
Jo Webb, Head of Academic Services and National Teaching
Fellow, Department of Library Services,
jwebb@dmu.ac.uk

2. The Higher Education
Academy
• Founded in 2004
– merger of
• Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher
Education (ILTHE)
• Learning and Teaching Support Network
• TQEF National Co-ordination Team
• ILTHE founded in 2000 post Dearing
report

3. HEA mission
• We support the sector in providing the best possible learning experience for all
students.
• We do this by working with individual academics to give them access to professional
recognition, advice and support, as well as networking and development opportunities
to enhance their teaching. Our network of 24 discipline-based subject centres
provides a range of services to subject departments including resources, events and
workshops and we also liaise directly with UK institutions, providing national
leadership in developing and disseminating evidence-informed practice about
enhancing the student learning experience.
• We work across the four nations of the UK, recognising the distinctive policy contexts
and priorities in England and each of the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland, but also providing opportunities to share expertise among them.
• We are an independent organisation funded by grants from the four UK higher
education funding bodies, subscriptions from higher education institutions, and grant
and contract income for specific initiatives.
From: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/aboutus

4. Professional recognition
• Associate, Fellow or Senior Fellow of the
Academy
– Associate and Fellow
– 2 membership routes
• Completion of a recognized qualification
• Application based on experience
– See
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/supportingin
dividuals/professionalrecognition
• National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (in
England and NI)

5. Accessibility to LIS
professionals - policy shift?
• Associate
• ‘This is likely to be appropriate if you:
– support students in practice based settings (eg. clinical or
social work), or in work based learning, or
– provide significant support to student learning eg. learning
technologists and learning support staff, or
– are in the very early stages of teaching eg. graduate
teaching assistants’
• Fellow
• ‘This is appropriate if you have an academic role with
a substantial teaching commitment in higher
education.’

6. Criteria for Associate and Fellow
1. Design and planning of learning activities and/or
programmes of study
2. Teaching and/or supporting student learning
3. Assessment and giving feedback to learners
4. Developing effective environments and student support
and guidance
5. Integration of scholarship, research and professional
activities with teaching and supporting learning
6. Evaluation of practice and continuing professional
development
Associates need to demonstrate meeting1 of 1-4, plus 5.
Fellows all 6.

7. Professional standards
Core knowledge Professional values
• The subject material • Respect for individual learners
• Appropriate methods for teaching • Commitment to incorporating the
and learning in the subject area process and outcomes of relevant
and at the level of the academic research, scholarship and/or
programme professional practice
• How students learn, both • Commitment to the development
generally and in the subject of learning communities
• The use of appropriate learning • Commitment to encouraging
technologies participation in higher education,
• Methods for evaluating the acknowledging diversity and
effectiveness of teaching promoting equality of opportunity
• The implications for quality • Commitment to continuing
assurance and enhancement for professional development and
professional practice evaluation

8. CILIP or HEA?
• Personally
– MCLIP  FHEA  NTF  FCLIP
– Value?
• Organizational contexts for library services
– Stakeholders in L&T
– But perception of HEA and teaching roles?
• Dual identity?
– Discipline
– Pedagogy

9. Excellence in teaching
students’ voices
Subject Pedagogy Student
J Clarke and M Watson (2009) Do student expectations of excellent teaching coincide with teachers’
understanding of delivery of excellence in teaching? Paper presented at SRHE annual conference 8-10
December

10. Excellence in teaching
lecturers’ voices Citizen
J Clarke and M Watson (2009) Do student expectations of
excellent teaching coincide with teachers’ understanding of Professional
delivery of excellence in teaching? Paper presented at SRHE
annual conference 8-10 December Autonomous
learner
Emotional, rational and
Teacher
creative engagement
Facilitative
Socratic Learner
Didactic Student
Emotional, rational and
Discipline
Emotional, rational and
creative engagement Subject Profession creative engagement

11. Conclusion
• Professional recognition of role in learning
and teaching must be based on:
– Knowledge and application of pedagogy
– Discipline knowledge
– Professional ethics and values as a practitioner
• Professional recognition via HEA is valuable
and provides a development framework but is
not a replacement for professional
engagement in LIS