Construction of educational proficiency in academia: peer review of educational merits in academic recruitment in Sweden

Abstract

ABSTRACT Little is known about the nature of educational proficiency in evaluation practices in academia. This is unfortunate, since excellence in teaching is increasingly seen as significant for the prosperity of contemporary higher education institutions. This study explores the meaning ascribed to educational proficiency in the recruitment of academic teachers, and draws on data from a comprehensive research-intensive university in Sweden offering educational programmes within a broad range of scientific domains. The data consists of 100 evaluation reports derived from 54 appointments. A thematic analysis and an analysis of reviewers’ strategies of intertextuality are carried out. The findings show that (1) although qualitatively distinct aspects are attributed to educational proficiency, the principal meaning ascribed to it is the mere act and experience of teaching; and (2) reviewers draw on the application files using distinct textual strategies that have significant consequences for their construction of educational proficiency. These strategies involve referring to existing information in the file in different ways (quoting/listing, paraphrasing/summarising, commenting/assessing), stressing the absence of information in the file (wanting), and disregarding information in the file (withdrawing). Reviewers’ dominant use of paraphrasing or summarising as a strategy of intertextuality is consistent with educational proficiency primarily being conceptualised as a matter of quantity.