Spheres of Influence: Ventures and Visions in Educational Development*

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

Abstract

Meeting the personal and professional needs of all staff: Rise to the challenge!

Kogi Naidoo, Massey University, New Zealand

There are common challenges facing us in higher education globally, viz. Increasing workloads and accountability, competition for students from other providers, financial cutbacks in government subsidies, staff reductions as a result of institutional restructuring, among others. This has resulted in increasing demands being made on staff time, resources and expertise. A tension exists between increased expectations of staff and providing them with the support and encouragement they need. In the current environment in higher education, one that is characterized by competition, secrecy, and uncertainty, there is hope. We see evidence of collegiality and sharing even in large organizations, like Massey University, a multi-modal, multi-campus university.

The workshop is planned to be flexible to adapt to the needs of the participants. Participants in this workshop will be actively involved in discussion, brainstorming, planning and critical analysis of relevant mentoring issues. Relevant literature will be used to stimulate discussion. Participants will also have the opportunity to respond to preliminary data from Massey, viz. Focus group meetings with staff. It is hoped that participants would be able to share their knowledge and experience of mentoring, and gain meaningfully from the presentation, discussion and interaction with other participants during the workshop. Finally, another desired outcome of the workshop is that the discussion and feedback will contribute to enhancing the Massey mentoring programme.

Key words:
Collegiality and community; Mentoring; Staff and educational development support programmes

Objectives, outcomes and activities:

• Participants will participate in pairs/small groups to discuss and reflect on strategic issues relating to the planning and implementation of a mentoring programme;
• Participants will obtain an overview of MAP@Massey, a mentoring assistance programme proposal;
• Participants will have opportunities to share best practice and offer constructive critque of the Massey programme; and
• Brainstorm and reflections on what we can do in the future.

Dr Kogi Naidoo is Training Consultant at Massey University responsible primarily for the research management skills development programme. She has extensive experience having worked in the areas of staff development, research and quality assurance. Her post-graduate research outputs include designing self-evaluation programmes for academic staff development and a quality assurance mechanism for academic programmes. She has presented and published her work nationally and internationally. To her credit she has numerous prestigious academic awards and fellowships.

Contact: Kogi Naidoo, email: K.Naidoo@massey.ac.nz