On December 4th, a group of about twenty educators from across the university met to discuss the future of the new Teaching Academy. The discussion affirmed the rich potential of creating space to talk freely about teaching and learning within the university. It also highlighted a range of possibilities for how this particular space might take shape to:

…valorise creativity and experimentation in pedagogy; share good practice and work in progress; and identify, articulate and argue for the value of alternative possibilities;

…enable all members of the university community to discuss, in public and together, the complex issues and forces affecting higher learning and the university itself;

…organise practical mutual aid and support for educators at all stages of career;

…publicise new research and research opportunities in pedagogical, educational and educationally-relevant research;

…embrace the long-term and unquantifiable emergence of dialogue and understanding that enables deliberate development of educational knowledge and practice and mitigates against reactive responses to external forces and pressures; and

…cultivate a network of thoughtful educators producing critical knowledge about teaching, learning and higher education that can inform the development of pedagogically sound institutional practice.

Dialogue

Teachers need time to talk about teaching. While it was noted that teaching committees can serve important purposes, it was also argued that we need opportunities to share experience and good practice, reflect collectively upon pedagogical problems, discuss critical matters of educational concern that cannot be or are not addressed within the procedural institutional forms, discuss processes of institutional decision-making, and learn about new theories and practices in academic pedagogy.

Views diverged on whether such spaces should be organised and guided, or fluid and informal. The answer will be: both. We will be organising a programme of lunchtime seminars in the new year, which will offer themed discussions as well as respond to expressed questions and interests from colleagues working across the university.

Learning, sharing and cooperating

So much interesting pedagogical work is being done across the university, but poor lines of communication across disciplines and schools often make it invisible. Research often seems to have most impact outside the institution in which it is produced (or if in the latter, largely as a measure of value for competitive edge). We want to learn from each other through and across these differences within the university, to discover common insights and surface unforeseen critiques, and to offer our knowledge and experience as inspiration. The Teaching Academy will thus strive to bring educators together in creative environments to share their ideas, engage in interdisciplinary work and collaborate in research.

Cultivating a culture of collegiality where less and more experienced colleagues routinely come together is also vital for supporting the work of people who are new to teaching. A number of people have recommended that the academy organise both spaces for such collective mentoring, and more formal introductory sessions for the university’s newest teachers.

Voice

There are many issues of serious pedagogical and social concern now affecting students and teachers across the university, and throughout higher education. What is the UK Border Agency doing on campuses, and what impact are the present immigration regime and lecturers’ and administrators’ activities having on learning, on students’ lives, and on social justice in education? What logics are being employed in decisions to create or withdraw courses from curricular programmes; are they legitimate, and are there alternative possibilities? What is the intellectual and political status of the information being presented in the newly-required ‘key information statistics’ (KIS), and how do such metrics impact upon the nature and quality of teaching and learning in different fields, and upon academics’ work and identities? How is digital scholarship reshaping university landscapes, teaching and learning itself? In a period of increasing attention to research-engaged teaching and student participation, what do we actually understand about the relationships between the university’s traditional activities of teaching, research and subject formation?

It is essential for the advancement of higher education that decisions affecting the nature, organisation, purpose and everyday practices of teaching and learning are made and informed by the work of educators, researchers and students themselves. And yet, the structures and temporalities of almost any institution tend to minimise opportunities for public deliberation, the professional presentation and evaluation of research, or participation in decision-making. By creating autonomous spaces for the public exploration of institutional practices and policies within the university, the Teaching Academy aspires to find ways of helping academic educators and their students to find voice in these processes, and to be heard.

Just as in decision-making, so as in discourse – understanding what teaching and learning mean, and why they matter, to whom and for what, must be defined through practice and dialogue between educators, students, publics and institutions. Presently, in the UK particularly but increasingly globally, there is a powerful hegemony of externally-produced discourses of ‘teaching and learning’ which often constrains possibilities for alternative conceptions to flourish. The Teaching Academy will seek ways to cultivate and encourage the articulation of such alternatives; in particular those that recognise the deep subjective and social importance of teaching, the significance of higher education to individual and collective development, and the beauty of learning and inquiry as arts, sciences and crafts.

Recognition

Some teaching academies award individuals or groups of people for ‘excellence in teaching’. The UL Teaching Academy doesn’t – not because we don’t want to celebrate and recognise people’s work, but because we do. We believe that deeper and more meaningful forms of recognition are possible through institutional and public publicising of work and accomplishments, the creation of collegial environments that recognise the normality and value of struggle as well as institutionally recognisable success, practical support for the sharing and publication of work, and etc. We also believe that the distribution of resources for pedagogical work and educational research should be collectivised rather than individualised, available not simply for superstar performances (in which a teacher’s work may be exemplary but is rarely the only factor in success) but for those who want to experiment, and who need institutional support to be able to dedicate time and materials to pedagogical work as a recognised part of their academic labour.

Who owns the academy?

We should. The Teaching Academy was created by faculty members affiliated with the Centre for Educational Research and Development, most working in or affiliated with the disciplines of Education. But we do not intend for it to remain a CERD project, or for it to be shaped solely by the discourses and practices of academic educationalists and educational theorists. The academy should be owned by all those who want a space dedicated to advancing the practice and scholarship of teaching and learning, and who want to build professional friendships and solidarities. Get involved if that’s you — and if you want to help develop the project.

What’s next?

Clearly, we have work to do in order to build this space. It will take some time, and we are looking forward to the process — it will be a path made by walking. We will be developing the site, gathering in and publicising new research and pedagogical materials, and planning workshops in innovative pedagogies. We hope it moves in surprising new directions as we learn with one another.

But we also want to just keep talking. We will begin the new year with a series of informal discussions, some focusing on particular themes, and others more open.

How can you use this space? How can you contribute?

Recommend a topic for discussion, or facilitate a thematic or working group. If you’d like to do this under the auspices of the Teaching Academy and would like help organising it, please get in touch. If you are organising something more autonomously, we would be happy to help get the word out.

Tell us about your research by emailing Sarah (samsler@lincoln.ac.uk) or registering your details here.

Use the blog for sharing news, information and thoughts on matters of concern for academic teachers at Lincoln or beyond.