Spheres of Influence: Ventures and Visions in Educational Development*

3-6 July, 2002
The University of Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia

Abstract

Professionalisation of university teaching: A global concern for education development

John Dearn, University of Canberra, Australia
Kym Fraser, Monash University, Australia
Yoni Ryan, University of Queensland, Australia

The last ten years have seen an increasing concern with the standard of teaching in Australian higher education, consequent on the need to provide quality assurance in an increasingly competitive and international environment. Although a number of institutions provide formal preparation programs for new teaching staff, and others offer non-credit seminars for enhancing teaching, and/or graduate certificate programs in higher education, anecdotal evidence suggests that the take-up of such programs is small. This reflects both the existing recognition and reward systems for teaching in universities as well as the lack of accepted ways of demonstrating professional competence in teaching. The seminar explores potential models of nationally recognised professional development programs for university teachers. The seminar draws on a recent federally funded Australian study that included the review of programs in other countries.

Key words:
University teacher development; Teaching professionalisation

Objectives, outcomes and activities:
Potential models of professional development programs for university teachers will be compared and contrasted. An probable outcome of the seminar will be an increase in discussion and debate amongst delegates around the issues of the professionalisation of teaching.

Professor John Dearn is Director of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship (CELTS) and Professor of Higher Education at the University of Canberra where he is responsible for a number of university services including the induction program for new academic staff, ongoing professional development for staff in relation to their teaching role and the Graduate Certificate of Higher Education. He is on the national executive of HERDSA and is President of the ACT branch of HERDSA.

Dr Kym Fraser is a Senior Lecturer in the Higher Education Development Unit (HEDU) at Monash University. She has worked in the field of teacher development for the last eight years and has conducted research and published in the area of the profession of teacher development in Higher Education. She was part of the HEDU team that developed the SEDA accredited Monash University Graduate Certificate in Higher Education, and is a subject coordinator and teacher in the Graduate Certificate.

Dr Yoni Ryan is Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre, QUT. She was immediate past Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) offered at QUT and has worked in staff development at QUT and the University of Queensland, as well as in the TAFE system, for many years. In this capacity, she has experience of a range of professional development models, via both non-credit and credit programs, and individual consultations.

Contact: John Dearn, email: dearn@cts.canberra.edu.au