The IMA considers it crucial that students should receive instruction from staff who are appropriately qualified and committed to delivering high-quality teaching. In an era when many students emerge from a degree course with a large debt in the form of a student loan, this may be viewed as part of what constitutes “value for money” for the student.
To this end new academic staff should be required to attend an appropriate induction course provided by or for their HE institution. This need not be a formal teaching qualification, assessed as such, although for some such a teaching qualification may be a benefit. Since staff in HE all have a very substantial background in subject knowledge, research and scholarship, all specific to their particular discipline, there is often a tendency to give reduced esteem to anything that is perceived as “generic”, an attitude which may reduce the value of any provision so labelled. Furthermore, “generic” courses, by definition, do not focus on discipline-specific issues. We consider it essential that new lecturers should be aware of the learning techniques and issues specific to their discipline, including innovative teaching approaches which have proved to be successful – some of these approaches will be very different in the mathematical sciences when compared to the humanities. In addition, new lecturers should have the opportunity to meet and interact with successful and well-regarded teachers in their discipline, as well as colleagues in their discipline from other universities who are at the same stage of career development. For these reasons we consider it strongly beneficial to participate in a residential event, such as the induction programme for new lecturers in Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research originally developed by the MSOR Network, at which this focus on discipline-specific teaching approaches and interaction with others in the discipline can be realised. We strongly recommend that participation in such a course be awarded appropriate credit towards their home institution’s new lecturer induction course.
The IMA believes that, with appropriate support and mentoring, the great majority of academic staff can attain high standards of teaching, and that each university should devote sufficient effort to such support and mentoring to make the attainment of high teaching standards a normal part of a new lecturer’s progress. In addition, it should be an expectation that academic staff undertake regular professional development in relation to teaching – this may take a number of forms including attending teaching focused workshops and conferences (both generic and subject specific), participation in educational development projects and intradepartmental discussions of ‘live’ teaching issues. To ensure that staff remain committed to the delivery of high-quality teaching after their initial training period is over, the IMA expects universities to have in place procedures to identify and reward high standards of teaching (with attainment of these high standards being the norm rather than the exception) and to provide developmental support where high standards are not achieved. The IMA supports the introduction of promotion routes, which can now be found in some institutions, based on the quality of an individual’s teaching underpinned by scholarship, including scholarship in learning and teaching.
Higher Education Service Area Committee
June 2015
