PROMOTING ACADEMICS’ CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING THROUGH A PEDAGOGY OF DISCOMFORT

Abstract

Promoting the continuous professional learning of university academics is key to the enhancement of student success in higher education (HE) and therefore a defensible practice. It is a practice that is predicated on the understanding that there is an inextricable link between student success and academic staff competence. Consequently, universities across the world have and continue to initiate various staff development programmes that are meant to enhance the competencies of academics as facilitators of learning. This concept paper examines how academics’ continuous professional learning can be enhanced through a practical framework known as the pedagogy of discomfort. The framework refers to a process that disrupts established and cherished practices in teaching and learning. The article explores how the pedagogy of discomfort can be nurtured through community of practices (CoPs) so as to raise the profile of teaching and learning. Examples are drawn from a new comprehensive university in South Africa. The article is derived from the author’s teaching experience in HE as well as current local and international literature and journal articles on academics’ professional learning. The main contention articulated is that academics need to invite their peers on a regular basis to critique and question their current teaching practices and ways of doing things as a means of invigorating their competences.