Grove, J. (2011) British Academics Reject Training, Times Higher Education Supplement, November 3
‘Standardized teacher training for all new academics has been emphatically rejected by British academics after it was proposed by the Higher Education Academy. The teaching and learning organization launched a consultation on its career-development proposal, the UK Professional Standards Framework, last November. It said at the time that it “strongly recommended” that all new academic staff “be required” to complete an HEA-accredited teaching program, such as the postgraduate certificate in higher education.
It also said that all postgraduates who teach should undertake training, that existing staff should be “offered opportunities” to do a PGCHE or the equivalent, and that classroom observation should become part of any teaching qualification.
But the HEA’s report on the consultation, published this week, reveals that more than 70 percent of respondents oppose compulsory discipline-based teaching qualifications. Mandatory teaching observations and mentor ideas are also rejected, with the sector stressing that such practices should be left to individual institutions.
The revised professional standards framework makes no mention of obligatory teacher training.’
Comment
This was the result of a consultation process where the idea was floated then totally rejected by the profession. The argument for rejection was that this was a threat to university autonomy – universities do their own training.
First, kudos to the Brits for at least having a national discussion about this issue. However, the weakness of the universities’ position is that training is still voluntary and not mandatory, and there are no accepted standards for training. There was no constructive response from the universities about how training could be improved, and more importantly, systematized so that all new instructors were properly trained in teaching. It should not be beyond the wit of supposedly bright people to develop a national standard that still leaves autonomy for the institutions in how they deliver training to those standards.
Without adequate training we are not going to see the return on investment in technology. I’m getting to the point of thinking that we should stop investing in technology for teaching in higher education because the system is just not prepared to make the changes needed to justify the investment. It’s like giving a Porsche to a 7 year old .
See also: Why the current professional development model is broken
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
[…] This is another excellent and well-researched publication from the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, and this post is not unrelated to my previous post on British academics rejecting systematized training in teaching. […]
If all advances in learning technologies ceased now, we would still be working for years trying to implement what we have and the potential for improvement would still be enormous.
Like Tony, Brian and many other educators and researchers, I think that the real problem of innovation is that the institutions and gate keepers don’t want to change. The problem is NOT lack of good research or evidence: there’s tons of evidence for new pedagogies and teaching approaches, as well as innovative applications of new media (and also innovative new media). The old guard just won’t unblock and unlock the gates; but they will not be around to pay the huge price. Society and teachers and our future will pay. So why are we educators allowing this scandal to grow?
I am feeling angry and ripped off: its like the economic scandals by our banks and financial institutions. These guys are looting our society: the banks are generating enormous profits, while society gets poorer.
And in education, the old dinosaurs are sitting on innovation and refusing to budge. And no one seems to be able to do anything about it.
Houston! We’ve got a problem.
(Tony: that was an important albeit depressing article.]