UK Professional Standards Framework Research Articles

Us and IT: Capacity-building for blended learning

When Victoria University (VU) Australia, adopted a new learning management system (LMS) as part of its Blended Learning Strategy and Operational Plan in 2014, it introduced a range of support structures including a staff support and training program. Complementing this, the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (the course providing professional development for early career academic staff) offered an elective AET4010 Blended Learning Design and Development fusing the pedagogical and theoretical aspects of blended learning to foster teaching as a design science. In this study we investigate the effectiveness of AET4010 in developing participants’ capacity to design and, develop blended learning. In this paper we report on the data from the first stage of this investigation. Data is derived from assessment rubrics. Complementary qualitative data will be collected in the second stage via interviews conducted after the participants complete the unit. We analyse our findings against the JISC Building Digital Capability Framework mapped to the UK Professional Standards Framework. This Framework identifies early career academics’ capabilities (Associate Fellows). The emerging findings indicated the value of capacity building through a structured unit of study enabling participants to experience learning from their own learner’s standpoint while reflecting on pedagogical perspectives and ‘teaching as design’.

Using icebreaker questions to improve Chinese students' engagement in transnational education – An action research

AbstractEnhancing student engagement yields a multitude of benefits for students. It not only improves their satisfaction but also increases their motivation, enriches their learning experience, reduces their sense of isolation and ultimately enhances their academic performance. However, Chinese students in transnational education are known for being silent in the classroom. With overwhelming and consistent research findings in the pedagogical literature that participation in class discussion and asking questions are crucial activities that cultivate independent learning skills and develop the ability to apply knowledge, how to get Chinese students to speak up in class has clearly become an issue of concern to educators. Informed by the UK professional standards framework (UKPSF) and underpinned by Brookfield's four lenses model, this action research examined and confirmed the positive effect of using both personal‐related and course content‐related icebreaker questions at the beginning of the class to increase Chinese students' engagement. It also identified different effects these two types of questions might have on students' engagement and the potential concerns associated.

Leading Academic Development in Dynamic Higher Education International Settings

Within the super complex higher education environment academic development inhabits a dynamic domain that varies from institution to institution. Leading academic development requires the ability to effectively lead change, people, programmes, and yourself. This paper provides a critically reflective narrative of my experiences leading academic development across a lifespan in Australia and the UK. The narrative of my leadership development is shaped by my reflection on the University of Liverpool’s Leadership Commitment Framework and the UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education and integrated throughout three case studies. The first case study, set in a large Faculty in an Australian university, explores inspirational, distributed, and entrepreneurial leadership; academic development initiatives are relatively informal in this case. The second case study, set in a large Australian university at the institutional level explores strategic leadership of processes and people; academic development initiatives are more formalised through university governance processes in this case. The third case, set in a Russell Group university in the UK, explores transformational leadership relevant to leading academic development teams and programmes in a highly regulated environment. Across the three cases issues of identity, influence, and power in relation to leading academic development in dynamic environments are explored and insights highlighted to provide advice and guidance to aspiring leaders of academic development and leaders of learning and teaching in higher education.

An Evidence-Based Approach to Developing Faculty-Wide Training for Graduate Teaching Assistants

In 2000, Sharpe proposed a framework for graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training based on three key principles: departmental training, faculty training, and accreditation. Sharpe’s paper culminated in a call for Higher Education (HE) institutes to adopt this framework. Whilst the principles of Sharpe’s work remain relevant, the shape and structure of HE and accrediting bodies has changed due to the increasingly competitive market environment. Herein we provide an updated framework for GTA training based around implementation at a large English Russell Group University. We identify seven key elements for effective GTA training based on literature. We then demonstrate how this framework and the key elements can be implemented in practice, using GTA role descriptors and input from staff in Departments and Faculty. We demonstrate how the framework is applicable on a broad subject basis and how training is now supporting the 950 GTAs annually who work across the nine Schools within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, at the University of Manchester. The developed modular training sessions are mapped out and are benchmarked against both the Vitae Researcher Development Framework and the UK Professional Standards Framework allowing postgraduate students to apply for HEA accreditation through Advance HE (after suitable practice). Finally, the report discusses the benefits of implementation as well as lessons for future action, providing a set of key principles for others who want to develop their existing GTA training provision or set up a new training programme.

Blended professionals: the problem of legitimacy for UK librarians as teachers in Higher Education

The varied role of librarians in Higher Education increasingly includes a substantial amount of teaching, supported by expertise in learning design, pedagogy and technology enhanced delivery of learning. This role is demonstrably misunderstood or underestimated outside the profession, leading to difficulty for librarians achieving recognition for their expertise. This research analyses the job descriptions for 41 Higher Education librarian roles, advertised between Autumn 2016 and Summer 2017, cross-referencing them with the Higher Education Academy’s UK Professional Standards Framework, demonstrating the extent of librarian experience in learning and teaching. The job descriptions demonstrate that teaching forms a significant part of many librarian roles in HE and that Fellowship of the HEA is an attainable aim. It also indicates areas for development for librarians, in particular around assessing and providing feedback to learners. Potential further research is suggested to extend this project.

Lecturing from home: Exploring academics' experiences of remote teaching during a pandemic

This study aims to explore home-working academics' experiences of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The disruptions caused by the pandemic have posed several challenges to academics. These challenges included familiarising themselves with the use of digital technologies and their related pedagogies within a short period of time, so that classes can be moved online. In this study, we use the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF, 2011) as a lens through which to bring to light ten academics’ experiences of adapting their teaching and learning strategies to address the challenges they faced during the pandemic. We reveal how they made surface-level adaptations in lesson plans and teaching delivery, intensified institutional focus on assessments, increased efforts to support ‘connected, but disengaged’ students, and emerged as ‘learning’ practitioners. This research will inform pedagogical approaches to technology-enhanced learning and teaching, as well as staff development for blended and online learning in higher education.

Teacher Fellow accreditation – a madrigal of voices! But is it the right tune? Tensions of standardisation, engagement and neoliberalism

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact competency frameworks as standardisation can have on the employee engagement of academic staff within higher education (HE) through their employment as managerial tools.Design/methodology/approachA literature review is conducted from which the conditions for effective competency frameworks are evaluated and the influence of changes in the HE environment in the form of political agendas and tight resources are explored.FindingsThis paper provides insights into the dynamics of public service modernisation and the tensions between the dominant discourse of managerialism and the degree of agency afforded to professional academics. It highlights the relevance of informal peer relationships in setting the climate to generate collegial bonding and professional engagement that underpin successful teacher fellowship accreditations. It further highlights the key role managers play in this process and provides a conceptual framework highlighting the dynamics and combined effect of employee engagement and competency frameworks set within complex HE environment.Practical implicationsThis paper brings together the prerequisites for effective implementation of competency frameworks to implement successful employee engagement strategies set within the complexities of the HE context, which has not been studied to date. Armed with such insights, Human Resource Development (HRD) departments and universities can implement competency assessments that generate greater staff engagement.Originality/valueThe paper provides a critical approach in reviewing the impact of Continued Professional Development and its link to professional status and thus helps British Universities and others to understand how the mechanisms at work affect engagement levels of academic staff. Armed with this depth of understanding of how the change initiative works, with whom and under what circumstances, universities will be better able to meet target UK Professional Standards Framework membership levels required by the higher education academy (HEA) and, subsequently, the HEA to meet their targets for the government.

Professional Standards and Recognition for UK Personal Tutoring and Advising

The Higher Education and Research Act established both a regulatory framework and the Teaching Excellence Framework with associated metrics for student retention, progression and employability in the UK. As a key site in meeting these requirements, the significance of personal tutoring is clear. Despite this, according to existing institutional research, there is a need for developmental support, greater clarification on the requisite competencies, and adequate recognition for those undertaking this challenging role. Moreover, arguably compounding these concerns is the lack of distinct professional standards for personal tutoring and advising against which to measure effective practice, only recently addressed by the publication of The UKAT Professional Framework for Advising and Tutoring. Through a review of the literature supported by findings from a survey of practitioners, this paper discusses the need for such standards, and the skills and competencies populating them. Additionally, the usefulness of pre-existing standards pertinent to tutoring work (such as the UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning in HE) are evaluated and the value and recognition with which personal tutoring standards could be associated are advanced. The survey supported the need for specific standards – represented by the UKAT framework - as evident from the literature. Justifications provided for both this and the opposing view are examined. Clarity for both individual practitioners and institutions was stipulated along with meaningful recognition and reward for this work which is considered highly important and yet ‘invisible’. The participants and literature reviewed identify relevant content along with illuminating the debate about the relationships between personal tutoring, teaching and professional advising roles. Valuable analysis of standards, recognition and reward also emerged. This is considered by discussing the connection between standards and changes to practice, responses to policy developments and the purpose of ‘standards’ in comparison to ‘guidance’. The paper proposes that the recent introduction and use of a bespoke framework is a necessary response to alleviate some of the current tensions which beset personal tutoring and advising in higher education.

Does research‐informed teaching transform academic practice? Revealing a RIT mindset through impact analysis

Integration of research into teaching is a major area of interest in the field of higher education. Considerable work has been done on how staff and students view this integration, how it can be achieved in practice and how it might best be researched by scholars. However, relatively little research has considered how research‐informed teaching (RIT) impacts teachers’ own practice, in multi‐disciplinary contexts. We interviewed a purposive sample of 20 research‐active teachers from a range of disciplines, at an English University. Using the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF), we mapped our findings of a thematic analysis, concluding that RIT impacts academic practice in a range of distinct and complex ways. Because of RIT, lecture design, delivery, assessments and student support activities have become more inquiry‐focused; study spaces have turned into collaborative learning contexts and classroom communications have become more comprehensible. For lecturers, RIT has helped create a professional identity and a closer engagement with continuous professional development. Based on our analysis, we argue that what makes these impacts possible is a set of characteristics—termed here the ‘RIT mindset’—that drives academics to voluntarily engage in pragmatic research‐teaching integrations to liberate students into real learning. We offer evidence for RIT impact and make visible how and why RIT impacts academic practice. We provide a caution that RIT happens only by design, and to make that design a reality, developing the RIT mindset may be critical.

The alien world of reflective practice: A non-fictional ‘tale’ of academics’ experiences of applying for Senior Fellowship

ABSTRACT Since the release of the revised version of the UK Professional Standards Framework in 2011, researchers have examined the benefits and challenges of gaining teaching accreditation in the higher education (HE) sector. Here we employ creative non-fiction techniques to stimulate further discussion around the development opportunities associated with gaining Senior Fellowship. This lens permits greater freedom from political agendas that might otherwise remain hidden in our analysis, and therefore offers greater protection to the research participants. The ‘tale’ is constructed from data produced by qualitative interviews with 30 university staff members to illustrate the competing discourses of HE teaching accreditation and teaching quality. The conversation takes place following a presentation about the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and university league tables. The debate is driven by Mac’s cynicism to the accreditation process, and Josie’s desire to be recognised for her excellent contribution to raising teaching standards.

CMALT and cMOOC - a community of educators and their learning technologies

CMALT is a peer-reviewed accreditation based upon the UKPSF (UK Professional Standards Framework) to enable staff (whether academic or administrative) who embed learning technologies in either their teaching or support roles, to showcase their experiences and gain recognition. This programme has been developed by ALT and is co-delivered online, by ASCILITE.
 
 Building upon the experiences of supporting a geographically distributed project involving six institutions nationally across New Zealand during 2014-2015, we (AUT) have developed a support structure for building communities around CMALT accreditation using a cMOOC model. The cMOOC framework enables us to bridge and broker authentic participation within an international community of academics and learning technologists interested in exploring CMALT accreditation, and we have had participation from the UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, and NZ. The CMALT cMOOC was developed in 2017 by the Centre for Learning and Teaching, at Auckland University of Technology, and endorsed by ALT and ASCILITE in 2019.
 
 This presentation will highlight the ecology of resources that are used to support the community and hear from current participants of the programme

Demonstrating the impact of your teaching: benefits of Higher Education Academy Fellowship for librarians.

This feature suggests that health librarians who teach or support Higher Education (HE) students can and should gain accreditation and recognition for their teaching by the route of HEA Fellowship. We outline the process by which Fellowship could be attained by those working within HE and those in NHS libraries who work with HE students, suggesting which aspects of librarianship practice could provide the necessary evidence for Fellowship. The synergies between Fellowship and Chartership are examined and the criteria for HEA (UK Professional Standards Framework or UKPSF) are mapped against those for Chartership (Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB). D.I.

Should we use video technology for giving feedback?

ABSTRACTThis study explored the use of video screencasts to supplement written feedback with a small cohort of early-career academics (n = 29) undertaking a postgraduate programme aligned to the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching in higher education. The aims were to support the academics’ professional development following their summative assessment as well as introducing the technology to inform their own feedback practice. Whilst staff, as learners, were positive about the video feedback, only 50% would consider providing it to their students. They would, however, consider other ways to incorporate video screencasts into their teaching. In addition, the differences between the marks awarded for the first and second assessment were analysed and compared to those of a previous cohort (n = 32) that received written feedback only. The findings would suggest that in spite of positive perceptions about video feedback, there were no differences in performance between the two groups.

Investigating the use of ‘professional dialogues’ when assessing academic practice: revealing learning, managing process, and enabling judgements

ABSTRACTIn 2015, over 40% of UK higher education (HE) institutions employed oral assessment when assessing and awarding fellowship on HE Academy-accredited schemes using the UK Professional Standards Framework. This article develops research on assessed ‘professional dialogues’ for this purpose. Data collected at four UK institutions, in which 12 assessed dialogues were recorded, transcribed, and analysed, revealed common patterns and processes. The article discusses how the ‘assessed dialogue’ evolves to expose learning and is managed, in order to support those using dialogue for assessment. It augments the body of knowledge on oral assessment in the UK and internationally.

Big brother or harbinger of best practice: Can lecture capture actually improve teaching?

Lecture capture is used increasingly in the UK, and has become a normal feature of higher education. Most studies on the impact of lecture capture have focused on benefits to student learning, the flipped classroom or student non‐attendance at lectures following its introduction. It is less clear how the use of lecture capture has impacted on lecturers’ own academic practice. In this study, we use a mixed‐methods approach to explore the impact of this intrusive yet invisible technology on the quality of teaching. We have mapped our findings to the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). In doing so, our data paints a mixed picture of lecture capture's Janus‐faced reality. On the one hand, it enhances lecturer self‐awareness, planning and conscious ‘performance’; on the other hand, it crushes spontaneity, impairs interaction and breeds wariness through constant surveillance. While the Teaching Excellence Framework rewards institutions for providing state‐of‐the‐art technology and lecture recording systems, our findings pose awkward questions as to whether lecture capture is making teaching more bland and instrumental, albeit neatly aligned to dimensions of the UKPSF. We provide contradictory evidence about lecture capture technology, embraced by students, yet tentatively adopted by most academics. The implications of our study are not straightforward, except to proceed with caution, valuing the benefits but ensuring that learning is not dehumanised through blind acceptance at the moment we press the record button.

Retrospection and reflection: The emerging influence of an institutional professional recognition scheme on professional development and academic practice in a UK university

Raising the quality and profile of teaching and student learning is something universities across the UK are aspiring to achieve in order to maintain reputations. Currently, the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) provides a standard by which academic staff can gain professional recognition for their academic practice and many UK universities are now offering professional development opportunities via in-house recognition schemes, based on retrospection and reflection, to enable staff to achieve an HEA Fellowship. This paper provides a case study of one such institutional recognition scheme and discusses the impact it is beginning to have on experienced academics. The findings suggest that recognition schemes contribute to participants’ staff development, provide opportunities for the enhancement of practice and that those who participate in the scheme identify value in the reflective process for reconciliation, confirmation of achievements and reinforcing commitment to teaching and/or supporting learning.

Recognising and developing students as teachers: Introduction of a novel Undergraduate Certificate in Veterinary Medical Education

A key responsibility of healthcare professionals is the education of clients/patients, colleagues and students undertaking placements. Peer-assisted learning (PAL) has been incorporated in our veterinary medicine programme for a number of years. The aim of this project was to develop a mechanism to formally recognise the important role that students play in the School’s teaching and learning processes and foster students as partners in education through the development of a novel Undergraduate Certificate in Veterinary Medical Education (UCVME). Students and veterinarians were surveyed in order to inform the design of the programme. The programme is modular and aligned with the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). Students enrol in their third year, undertaking core and elective components, with completion over the final three years of the degree. The UCVME has been positively received, with 30 of 160 third year students enrolling in the programme’s first year. Activities receiving credit and designed in partnership between staff and students have included: PAL sessions, widening participation school educational workshops and client education events. This initiative has created numerous student-driven educational opportunities. It is hoped that this programme will facilitate the educational training of students and enhance employability and career satisfaction.

Faculty development in teaching and learning: the UK framework and current debates

Following the publication of a recent report, commissioned by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and conducted by Staff and Educational Developers Association, this short paper considers the HEA UK Professional Standards Framework in the UK Higher Education Sector, in the context of recent and continuing debates about how best to support faculty professional development in teaching (and supporting learning). The need for a framework is briefly articulated, followed by a description of its main elements and a summary of recent evidence on its impact. A discussion of issues and (international) debates about the role of formal qualifications in delivering the kind of faculty development envisaged in the framework and aligned programmes is then presented. The paper concludes with some suggestions for research that arise from this review.

Standards of university teaching

A set of standards is proposed for university teaching. Embedding these within the Higher Education Academy UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) would allow a more robust assessment of whether a university teacher has met a minimum acceptable threshold.

Professional standards in the context of mathematics teaching in HE

Particularly with increased student fees coming in, the formal recognition of teaching is now high on the HE agenda. It is therefore timely that the Higher Education Academy has recently revised its UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education, (henceforth UKPSF), which sets out the standards that HE teaching should meet. Full details can be found on the HEA website, www.heacademy.ac.uk/ukpsf. Here we outline what it means for the training of a new MSOR (Maths, Stats and OR) lecturer.