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This paper is a response to Cotton, Miller and Kneale's 2017 paper on the current state of higher education research within UK universities. It seeks to contribute to the debate surrounding the inclusion of pedagogic research (PedR) via SoTL in the UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the context of researchers who reside within a disciplinary context. The inclusion of PedR in the REF continues to be contentious, despite recommendations in the Stern Report which could make its inclusion more feasible. This paper focuses on PedR which is conducted, published and disseminated by academics situated within Life Science departments, rather than Schools of Education. The twenty-one teaching-focused academics in this study discussed their commitment to PedR integral to their academic identity, the challenges they faced in carrying out PedR, and their thoughts on REF 2014. Their opinions and conclusions give food for thought on decisions regarding inclusion of PedR in REF 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates the development of a secondment project designed to enhance practitioner-led social work education in a Higher Education Institution. The project was developed as part of a Teaching Partnership initiative to establish joint working and standardized approaches to social work education between Higher Education Institutes and Local Authorities across a UK region. Highlighted is how the project utilized a six-stage strategy designed to gather information to produce an evidence-base to support the implementation of a pilot practitioner secondment arrangement. The paper discusses strategies used to gather information from a range of stakeholders to inform the project, the project outcome and some considerations for future secondment arrangements. Contributing to a limited source of literature, challenges and limitations of developing formal secondment arrangements and delivering practitioner-led education in Higher Education Institutes are highlighted. This paper will assist Higher Education Institutes and Local Authorities in the design and implementation of formal secondment arrangements where these are identified as in need of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor learning experiences in Higher Education (HE) provide students with the opportunity for emotional development, cognitive development and learning. Despite this, the literature exploring the impact of emotive outdoor learning experiences on students’ development and learning is scarce. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the key factors important for the delivery of outdoor learning experiences in HE. The paper will also incorporate the authors personal experience of delivering emotive outdoor learning in HE (visiting Holocaust sites with undergraduate students). Broad recommendations for the future design and delivery of emotive outdoor learning experiences is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special section illustrates how learning and teaching in UK higher education reinforces, but can potentially also help to counteract, racism. This introduction provides some context for this intervention and provides an outline of key themes that emerge from the collection of papers. We use these themes to sketch out three guiding principles for the incorporation of explicitly anti‐racist praxis in our learning and teaching within British Geography: (1) Recognise each other's humanity, (2) Say the unsayable, and (3) Experiment with (y)our history. We call for explicitly anti‐racist praxis while conscious of the "disciplinary fragility" that moves to address racism might elicit. It is argued that an anti‐racist approach to learning and teaching in British Geography has the potential to equip staff and students with the tools to help make our discipline, and wider society, more equitable and just. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an undergraduate project, Making:Archives — Narrative Artefact, as an exemplar of collaborative good practice, expanding on its case study in the National Archives and History UK's Guide to Collaboration for Archive and Higher Education. The paper examines the expected and unexpected impacts of the Making:Archives collaborative project for the stakeholders involved: the Institution, the Archive Service, its depositors, and in particular the students. Students have both struggled and excelled in the project, with the most engaged developing a range of creative and transferrable skills that have been repurposed in the creation of work beyond Making:Archives. The paper also reflects on the challenges faced, and numerous opportunities presented, during the co-creation, delivery and evaluation of the project, drawing extensive data gathered from student participants. The project is presented in the context of relevant literature from both the textile education, industry, and archive sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an educational environment where interest in Arabic and Islam is growing, I ask the place of revisionist/critical approaches to early Islam in Higher Education. This paper uses 15 semi-structured interviews with Lecturers in early Islam to investigate how they treat controversial subject matter in the classroom. The paper examines how the different approaches taken by lecturers are linked to different kinds of academic training, and asks what kinds of approach are suited to different student demographics. It concludes by suggesting how critical ways of teaching this subject are linked to new approaches in interfaith engagement, which acknowledge the political context for the development of Scriptures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impact of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) on academic identity within the context of a UK-based research-intensive higher education institution. TEF is the latest in a series of changes that have impacted upon the UK's HE sector and it is highly likely to have a significant impact upon academic identity. Collecting evidence through sixteen qualitative interviews, findings show that while TEF may not alter the broad substance of what it means to be an academic in terms of engagement with research, education and citizenship activities, it has the potential to have profound implications in terms of exacerbating conflicts within identity. This paper argues that negative work outcomes result where role conflicts, and mismatches between expectation and reward, create difficulties in realising our desired versions of ourselves. Theoretical contributions relevant to debates around identity conflict are discussed, with practical contributions exploring the importance of resource allocations and the need to align expectations and rewards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions in the UK are required, by law, to make anticipatory reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities. Inclusive teaching practice, if adopted across the sector, would ensure that the needs of students with disabilities are considered and provided for, before they even arrive on campus. This paper sets out the background and key findings from an institutional research project at a UK university that aimed to discover if academic staff's attitudes would be problematic or conducive to the implementation of inclusive teaching practice. The paper concludes that there is little evidence of widespread “resistance” but rather, the research discovered a prevailing belief in the rights of students with disabilities to education, albeit a belief which is limited in its practical application in the classroom. The paper also reports on a number of recommendations made to the case study university as a result of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the issues surrounding the implementation of an online reading list system at the University of Glamorgan. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports on an implementation project, using Tails List, which took place between November 2005 and March 2006. Findings - The project itself was a success, with the target number of reading lists made available being exceeded. As with any new system, the development of the processes involved in its day-to-day running can be unpredictable. Workflows did not develop as anticipated; the ways in which reading lists were collected from academics varied, as did the styles of the lists themselves. Some issues were encountered around linking to electronic resources and embedding the system into the university's virtual learning environment (VLE). Originality/value - This paper will be of value to those interested in the development and use of online reading lists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper is framed by concerns about recent UK Government policy regarding the training of mathematics and science teachers in England and discusses how two cohorts of pre-service teachers negotiated the development of a professional identity while undertaking subject-specific training. The data reported upon were garnered in two ways; through an evaluation survey that received quantitative and qualitative responses from 159 teacher trainees and through focus groups conducted with 40 trainees. In the paper, the authors take the concept of ‘participation in communities of practice’ as a departure point to explore how trainees demonstrate their development of professional identities as chemistry, maths or physics teachers. In the conclusion, the authors consider the implications of the findings for pre-service teachers and teacher trainers given the current education climate of financial austerity being experienced across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper charts the turn in the UK New Labour government’s (1997–2010) creative industries policy from an early focus on encouraging wider access to the arts to an increasingly instrumentalist emphasis on self-funding and the generation of wealth from intellectual property. The paper demonstrates the effect of this policy primarily through the case of the teaching of media and communications in UK universities. Focusing on the Skillset Media Academy Network, the authors ask whether this is both the best approach to teaching media and communications in UK universities and appropriate that many of these courses appear to be solely geared towards preparing graduates for jobs in the creative industries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the present study, we tested the effectiveness of three learning strategies (self‐explanation, learning by teaching and passive viewing) used by students who were learning from video lectures. Effectiveness was measured not only with traditional measures, but also with electroencephalography (EEG). Using a within‐subjects design, 26 university students viewed three sets of short lectures, each presenting a different set of English vocabulary words and were asked to use a different learning strategy for each set of lectures. Participants' EEG signals were assessed while watching the videos; learning experience (self‐reported motivation and engagement) and learning performance (vocabulary recall test score) were assessed after watching the videos. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed that the self‐explaining and teaching strategies were more beneficial than the passive viewing strategy, as indicated by higher EEG theta and alpha band power, a more positive learning experience (higher motivation and engagement) and better learning performance. However, whereas the teaching strategy elicited greater neural oscillations related to working memory and attention compared to the self‐explanation strategy, the two groups did not differ on self‐reported learning experience or learning performance. Our findings are discussed in terms of potential application in courses using video lectures and in terms of their heuristic value for future research on the neural processes that differentiate learning strategies. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Watching video lectures does not always result in learners actively making sense of the learning material.Self‐explaining facilitates deep learning from viewing video lectures and in traditional educational settings.Learning by teaching also facilitates deep learning in traditional educational settings.What this paper adds Learning by teaching resulted in the highest theta and alpha band power in EEG assessment while viewing video lectures.Compared with passive viewing, learning by teaching enhanced students' motivation to try to understand the material; in addition, both learning by teaching and self‐explaining enhanced the amount of mental effort students put into understanding the material.Learning was increased via both self‐explaining and teaching strategies after viewing video lectures.Implications for practice and/or policy Learners are encouraged to generate explanations during pauses in video lectures or after viewing them, in order to increase learning.Learners are also encouraged to learn by teaching, as this strategy can increase learning and also increase neural oscillations associated with memory and attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Lusofona de Educacao is the property of Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, CEIEF and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents an analysis of the ways in which UK higher education (HE) has become increasingly commercialised and commodified in the post-1980s. It critiques the strategies adopted by successive UK governments to reinvigorate the relationship between educational and economic life, and to facilitate a more corporate and entrepreneurial spirit within the academy in line with the pressures of a 'knowledge-based economy'. Arguing for a more critical exploration of teaching and learning within HE, the paper presents evidence from work carried out by the Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching in Learning (CETL) which adopts a research-based learning approach to teaching and learning at undergraduate level.1 Within the context of ongoing debates surrounding the relationship between teaching, learning and research in UK HE, the paper advocates a reinvention of curriculum design through an engagement with the broader principles of critical pedagogy, and in so doing, presents a critical engagement with the commercialisation of HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is inspired by, and constructed around, a number of fundamental questions that are relevant to teacher educators working within the context of the government policy initiatives and implementations that are influencing Higher Education in the UK at the present time. Using teacher education practices as sites of inquiry, and a number of figures from the work of Deleuze, the paper investigates approaches to teaching and learning that are described as having an aesthetic and ethically sensitive character. Mindful of such approaches and of the pervasiveness of policy influences, the paper also encourages a careful and thorough re-thinking of the theory and practice of teacher education as a terrain of complexity, multiplicity and interconnectedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines aspects of the relationship between teaching and research in higher education in social science research methods, with particular reference to the subject area of Education. There are three main themes: reflections on how social science research methods should be (or are) taught; a review of current debates about the relationship between teaching and research, both in higher education and for school teachers; and finally, reporting how a group of educational practitioners (mainly school teachers) studying at Masters level experience learned about research methods. The paper is illustrated by qualitative data from a case study of student experiences of research methods teaching on a Masters degree in Education in a research-intensive UK university. It is suggested that studying the journey embarked upon by taught postgraduate students inexperienced in research is helpful in understanding how learning about research methods takes place, which in turn can assist future research methods teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing prominence given to student satisfaction at UK Universities as a response to the introduction of fees and the growing stature of league tables has led to a desire to understand the factors that affect the quality of the student experience. Therefore, this paper examines whether students who study at universities in the UK where research is highly rated or where a high proportion of faculty are professionally qualified are more satisfied, measuring satisfaction through data from the National Student Survey. Our key results are first that students are happiest at pre-1992 universities outside the Russell group and where the amount of top-rated research is lower. Second, we uncover no link between student contentment and the percentage of faculty holding formal teaching qualifications. Our findings have important implications for university policies regarding the link between research and teaching and for the current drive to 'professionalise' teaching in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to critical understandings of the significance of employability in current debates about the transformation of Higher Education (HE). We express our concerns about the implications of orientating HE to utilitarian demands in the light of a tendency to align discussions about the significance of studying at university with the idea of employability. The research underlying this article explores how the experience of UK university students in the context of education studies programmes shapes their conceptions of employability and their understanding of their subject of study. Ideas developed by Gert Biesta are used as a framework to discuss different forms in which thoughts about employability are articulated. The analysis of data that includes reflections on the experience of placement suggests that tensions between education as training for teachers and education as the possibility for change, point to the emergence of a new form of understanding employability that may have to work the boundary between both. We argue that lessons learnt from the case of education studies can be useful to other subjects and programmes of study that also share an interest in the theoretical study of a discipline or where a narrow career expectation is being challenged by broader possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I draw attention to a lively and accessible way of helping academics to make sense of their practice as teachers. First, I define ‘collaborative close reading’ and ‘teaching texts’. Then I invite the reader to eavesdrop on three (lightly fictionalised) reading sessions. Finally, I suggest some guidelines for facilitators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Academic Literacies, the most influential conceptual framework for writing practitioners at UK universities, is closely related to widening participation. At the same time, writing support is often justified with the argument that written communication is among the most important employability skills for graduates. While these concepts are often used simultaneously, their underlying premises are not necessarily congruent. This paper reflects on a writing intervention that highlighted the difficulties that can arise from a seeming ‘pick and mix’ use of these two frameworks, Academic Literacies and writing as an Employability Skill. Based on this analysis of the practice of teaching writing at a post-92 university, it establishes the need for an expanded, theoretical framework for writing support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have detailed the range of skills required for conservation and voiced concerns that training is not fit for purpose. Still, we have little understanding of what skills conservation education aims to teach. This study uses survey data and content analysis of online module descriptions to examine skills and methods teaching in conservation higher education across the United Kingdom and Australia. We found most conservation‐specific modules aimed to develop disciplinary and communication skills, but fewer than half aimed to develop interpersonal or project management skills. Social science methods training was absent from the core offering of over half of the conservation degrees reviewed. To prepare students for conservation careers and the complex problems they will encounter, the conservation education sector should further focus on building essential nonacademic skills and provide training on the breadth of methods that contribute to effective conservation science. This analysis can help educators to reflect on teaching aims and forge a curriculum that will best prepare students for contemporary conservation challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the impact of the increased importance of International GAAP (International Financial Reporting Standards [IFRS]) in the U.K. higher education teaching and learning environment. This change was caused by the increased harmonization of accounting standards during the first decade of the 21st century and, in particular, the adoption within the European Union (EU) of IFRS for fully listed companies in 2005 and other listed companies soon after. After outlining the nature and diversity of accounting education and its relationship to the U.K. accounting profession, we discuss the approaches taken in a range of U.K. accounting degree programs and how U.K. faculty and students adapted to the change from U.K. GAAP to IFRS. The U.K. university sector is divided into "old" universities--those formed before 1992, often referred to as the "research universities," and the "new" universities--those founded in or after 1992, whose main focus is vocational, the "teaching universities." We conclude that despite various troublesome adjustments in terminology, definitions, and layout, for different reasons the different groups of faculty have generally not had to undergo excessive adjustments in their teaching in order to embed IFRS into their courses. We conclude the paper by acknowledging the limitations of our research and with some indications of lessons for others who face the transition to IFRS in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to focus on developing critical understanding in human resource management (HRM) students in Aston Business School, UK. The paper reveals that innovative teaching methods encourage deep approaches to study, an indicator of students reaching their own understanding of material and ideas. This improves student employability and satisfies employer need. Design/methodology/approach - Student response to two second year business modules, matched for high student approval rating, was collected through focus group discussion. One module was taught using EBL and the story method, whilst the other used traditional teaching methods. Transcripts were analysed and compared using the structure of the ASSIST measure. Findings - Critical understanding and transformative learning can be developed through the innovative teaching methods of enquiry-based learning (EBL) and the story method. Research limitations/implications - The limitation is that this is a single case study comparing and contrasting two business modules. The implication is that the study should be replicated and developed in different learning settings, so that there are multiple data sets to confirm the research finding. Practical implications - Future curriculum development, especially in terms of HE, still needs to encourage students and lecturers to understand more about the nature of knowledge and how to learn. The application of EBL and the story method is described in a module case study - "Strategy for Future Leaders". Originality/value - This is a systematic and comparative study to improve understanding of how students and lecturers learn and of the context in which the learning takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of the concept of the audit culture in UK higher education argue that from the late 1990s onward audit functioned as a form of power control and had a profound effect on academics and their work. Such arguments continued to be made into the early 2000s. Since then, however, the level of external scrutiny surrounding UK academics' teaching has decreased. This paper presents a case study of academics at a pre-1992 university to examine how they perceived the audit culture and audit-related quality assurance mechanisms. This paper reveals that nearly two-thirds of those interviewed considered audit and quality assurance mechanisms as a bureaucratic practice that had little impact on their work. Only about one-third found the audit useful for improving undergraduate classroom teaching practice, particularly increasing academics' awareness of the importance of good teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s higher education (HE) in the UK has been continually developing to meet the needs of a changing economy. An economy now based largely on knowledge and its transfer, rather than manual skills and labour, has led to an emphasis by the government on increasing the number of adults with high level skills to contribute to economic success. The widening participation agenda is an example of the government drive to increase the numbers and range of people attending university. It is within this context that the term innovation has grown in currency. A growing student population requires learning and teaching methods to be developed, adapted and changed to address the diversity of needs within it. Innovation in learning and teaching therefore may become vital to the success of an institution. But what encourages staff to innovate? The majority of this paper will discuss the context for the focus on innovation in HE in terms of its contributing factors, such as changing economic needs and the government agenda to widen participation. Brief discussion at the end will be given to one faculty's initiative to encourage staff to innovate within their own practice. This initiative presents the potential benefits of creating opportunities for staff to present, exchange and discuss new ideas as a stimulus to taking the first step in innovating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study, conducted in a British university department, which focuses on teaching students with dyslexia in higher education. It examines the type of adjustments to delivery appropriate for students with dyslexia in higher education setting. Results are discussed which shows that a variety of adjustments may be required for students with dyslexia in higher education environment including adjustments to teaching delivery, assessment and pastoral care.

Copyright of International Journal for Academic Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual model of student satisfaction with their higher education (HE) experience, based on the identification of the variable determinants of student perceived quality and the impact of those variables on student satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction with the overall student experience. The paper will also identify those determinants most likely to have either a positive or negative impact on subsequent student loyalty behaviours. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reports the results of a study of 163 undergraduate students at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, which utilised Critical Incident Technique (CIT) as the method that encouraged the recording of situations that the students themselves perceive as critical incidents. It is envisaged that these situations have occurred in their experience of HE teaching, learning and assessment and their experience of other university ancillary service aspects, i.e. within and beyond the classroom experience. Findings - The results of this study indicate that responsiveness, communication and access are the critical areas that Education Managers need to focus upon. Also the CIT method of data capture could be adapted and adopted by the wider Higher Education sector. Research limitations/implications - There are a number of limitations with this study. For the quantitative results, the sample size was relatively small and involved only one Faculty within a University. There is also an assumption that the statements made in relation to the loyalty behaviours would actually be acted upon, i.e. they would do what they say. The study is based on the respondents'' recollections of past events and it is assumed that these were accurate. Practical implications - The implications for university managers are that creating and maintaining a responsive, communicative and useful environment is necessary across the teaching, learning and assessment areas, whilst within the Ancillary areas responsiveness, access and socialising are the important factors. Reducing the number of dissatisfying experiences may not be an easy task, but if successful, then improved student recruitment, retention and ultimately financial stability for the Institution should ensue. The wider implication is that CIT should be considered by HEIs as a means of collecting student intelligence. Originality/value - Critical Incident Technique is a method that is already attractive to many researchers. However, within higher education, the norm is to use traditional student feedback questionnaires which restricts the student to questions that have been predetermined. CIT allows respondents to freely describe their experiences and unreservedly express their feelings without being constrained to specific areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports and discusses some of the practical and contextual difficulties facing the teaching of Islamic studies within the British higher education environment. The main problems in the author's view stem from the haziness surrounding the discipline definition and the methodology employed in teaching it. This is particularly observed when 'Islamic Studies' is taught within an academic environment which does not recognise the fusion that Islam holds between the spiritual and material. The paper also examines contrasting voices debating the subject and its methodology. Finally the paper provides suggestions for how Islamic Studies could be more effective in the West and particularly in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the current assumptions behind vocational training for graduate teaching assistants at a large, urban, research-led UK university. Through qualitative evaluation it reflects on the perceptions of participants on a graduate teaching assistant 'learning and teaching module' in terms of an interpretation of their views on pedagogic practice. These reflections suggest that three of the assumptions upon which GTA training has been, and still is, predicated view the process in a relatively simplistic manner. The paper suggests that the pedagogic socialization process has been inaccurately homogenized as a postgraduate issue, ignoring the possibility that relatively sophisticated perceptions of good teaching practice are already firmly in place when a graduate enters a doctoral programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was Taylor (1981) who emphasised that "in order to have a sense of who we are, we want to have a notion of who we have become and of where we are going." In the higher education setting of a teaching community, being self-referential enables lecturers who are new to the profession to make judgements derived from their own interpretations of past experiences. (Soros, 1994) This paper reports upon a collaborative study between the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa the NottinghamTrent University within the UK, that has considered the extent to which cultures, ethnicity and background contribute to the reflexive-self, as individuals respond to experiences within their first years of teaching. Focusing upon four case studies, the research attempts to illustrate the influence of the reflexive-self in different contexts. In doing so the research attempts to show that reflexivity has become, as Leydesdorff (1994) emphasises, "the operationalisation of reflection as a recursive phenomenon." Through identifying the stories of individuals as they recount the processes before and during their time in higher education, this research attempts to analyse processes of reflexivity and its impact upon their professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the financial and intellectual issues facing the university sector as many institutions in the UK pursue alternative revenue streams. As a consequence to the increasing financial pressures, university departments are increasingly exposed to new forms of potential litigation and also face the risk to the prestige of their university and departmental brand. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical and analytical approach is adopted whereby an introduction to the topic of revenue streams is presented before a review is conducted of the two most prominent and important streams available to the higher education sector – teaching and technology transfer. The paper furthers this analysis through a discussion of the accompanying legal consequences to UK universities and offers strategies to be adopted by such institutions to avoid these pitfalls. Findings – The investigation has identified that the pursuit of additional sources of money from teaching and technology transfer pose significant risks and should only be considered after a rigorous analysis of the associated cost by institutional and departmental management structures. Originality/value – The paper offers an insight into the experience of litigation and the intellectual problems encountered by university departments in the USA. This evidence is utilised to consider how it may provide UK-based counterparts with a guide to avoid similar problems. It will be of relevance to practitioners, managers and strategic planners in the university sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years in social work we have increasingly come to address the issue of how to integrate research into practice. Implicit in the research and practice discourse is an assumption that there is an active and reciprocal relationship between research and teaching. In this paper, we question this assumption and after setting the political context, we review research into the relationship between discipline-based research and teaching. We then explore a proposal to redefine knowledge, research and teaching and examine the concept of scholarship. We go on to review some strategies we will be promoting in the UK Higher Education Funding Council's Learning and Teaching Network Support (ltsn) Social Policy and Social Work Subject Centre (SWAP) to support the development of positive linkages between teaching and discipline-based research, specifically on-line possibilities for supporting research mindedness among academics (and students and practitioners). Finally, we end by briefly discussing the equally important integration of pedagogic research into the practice of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by providing an overview of the UK's national key skills agenda, with a view to placing in context the subsequent description of the formulation and implementation of a skills policy by a traditional, research led university, namely Queen's University Belfast. The paper is written from the perspective of two members of academic staff who spent two years on part-time secondment as Skills Development Officers. We outline how a number of small-scale investigative projects informed our thoughts and decisions, how aspects of management and internal politics influenced the formulation or a university skills policy, and how a series of initiatives evolved that were aimed at supporting staff and students in implementation of that policy. We conclude that while external pressures to explicitly develop students' key skills within higher education are intense, restitutions need to reflect more on the implications of any policies and strategies for implementation they impose upon their staff. Within traditional institutions progress can be slow, with the pace of change influenced not only by the level off support and drive from senior management, but also dependent upon the knowledge, experience, energy and enthusiasm of academic 'champions' who have a balanced view' of the skills agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at recent trends in UK postgraduate education and aims to identify key issues to be addressed over the next five years. Based on detailed statistical analysis, the paper shows the following: • Increasing student numbers in both research and taught courses, but especially the latter. • Taught courses: expansion in Business and Administrative Studies and in Computer Science, and, among part-time students, in Subjects allied to Medicine. • Research: increasing diversity with the Physical Sciences and Engineering declining in relative importance. • Expansion in international student recruitment. • Increasing proportion of female students. • Increasing proportion of part-time students. • Expansion in postgraduate activity in the post-1992 universities, especially in taught courses and part-time study. Against this background, the paper assesses possible changes over the next five years, addressing, in particular, issues relating to student numbers, funding arrangements, modes of delivery and quality assurance. The reasons for continued expansion are considered together with likely developments in research training. The increasing impact of competitive market forces, especially in the determination of fees, is explored from the point of view of both universities and their students. Further changes in course delivery, especially through the application of modern technology and the development of web-based systems, are identified together with associated questions relating to quality, cost and institutional identity. Finally, the paper discusses possible changes in the structure and content of postgraduate qualifications in the UK and their likely implications for the organisation of postgraduate study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an X-efficient mixed economy, the benefits of benign competition would be striven for in the public sector. Adapting the classical theory of trade to the contemporary British economy, where manufacturing industry does not flourish, Britain would have a large comparative advantage in higher education and many other services. Graduation data provide a satisfactory output measure for higher education. When output measures are set against input measures, Britain compares very well with other nations in higher education. A comparable international league table for manufacturing would show Britain's overwhelming comparative disadvantage in that field. The recent Green Paper's higher education 'demand' figures are inadequate; even its own annex on performance measures gives an 8% earnings related social return to higher education. There is strong evidence to show that over the decade up to 1982 the real teaching cost per degree declined sharply, i.e. a direct improvement in national X-efficiency. It is desirable to make higher education less dependent on public funding,' an alternative funding plan is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction education is context-laden, navigating and reflecting the byzantine influences of period, place and person. Despite considerable rhetoric, in UK higher education and construction studies in particular the importance of contextualized teaching is being devalued. Over the past decade a growing number of new teaching staff to university lecturing has limited or no industrial experience of the construction sector. This paper explores the rise of the career academic in construction education and implications for teaching standards and student learning. Whilst career academics exhibit research skills and afford funding possibilities that universities find appealing, pedagogical studies suggest that experience-led, contextualized teaching offer students enhanced educational value. Policy-making and pedagogical strategies that continue to value research at the expense of teaching excellence coupled with recruitment of career academics as opposed to industry professionals present new challenges for construction education, teaching and student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a small-scale longitudinal study of ‘local’ leadership roles at two UK universities. The research explored perceptions of the leadership provided by a specific group of staff who held roles for enhancing learning and teaching. Based on ethnographic design principles, the study was based at one UK higher education institution with another as a comparator. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with ‘local’ leadership role-holders and their colleagues. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with academic managers. Analysis of the data was based on grounded theory and thematic analysis. The discussion and conclusion suggests that, to maximize the impact of these roles, the leadership aspects of them should be made explicit, recognized by colleagues at all levels and supported by leadership development. Further investigation into local leaders’ career progression may provide valuable insights for the relatively limited body of knowledge and practice of leadership within professional teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper autobiographically considers the role of teaching-only staff as a contingent labour force in the contemporary higher education system in the UK. The aims are twofold. First, whilst much attention has been paid to the role of the research fellow, there has been less consideration, in the UK context, of the teaching fellow as an alternate form of postdoctoral experience. Accordingly, this paper gives voice to the teaching fellow--a member of academic staff who is not allocated writing and research time as part of their contract--whose views are often marginalised in ongoing debates concerning the plays of power in the neoliberalised academy. Second, the paper raises these voices to bring into consciousness the impacts of the teaching fellow experience for the fellows themselves and the faculties they work in. It is argued that teaching fellows face challenging circumstances with regard to their career trajectories in the academy. Accordingly, this paper considers the ways in which fellows, through tactics of place-making, presence and visibility, and collaboration, negotiate the challenging structural and institutional conditions that underscore their contracts. It is contended that exploring the teaching-only workforce is vital for critically assessing the workings of the contemporary academy and questioning the unequal power relations that shape work places in a culture where contingent labour is expanding; becoming less of a fixed-term and temporary feature of the university system but, rather, a stable and enduring one [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, within the higher education system in the United Kingdom, there has been close examination of the way institutions teach and assess students. This scrutiny has been intensified by central government with the proposed introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The anticipated TEF demands that higher education institutions evaluate their teaching and learning practices and think of new ways to develop excellent student experience. Self-determined learning has resurfaced as a popular approach in the higher education sector. At the centre of self-determined learning is the concept of heutagogy. This approach enables the student to apply what they have learned in an education setting and relate it to the workplace. The aim of this paper is to critically explore the theoretical framework behind the self-determined learning approach. The authors of this paper argue that, from a social science perspective, a determined learning approach is in the best place to provide a contemporary, exciting teaching and learning experience in a competitive higher education market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research and teaching have often been regarded as complementary in enhancing the quality of student learning, little previous research has explored the conflicts associated with linking the two activities. This paper aims to examine specific issues arising within the environmental building disciplines at a UK university, and to explore strategies for achieving optimal research-teaching links. The results reveal that research-teaching linkages within these disciplines were interrelated and dynamic, but could be controversial, evidenced in coexisting multifaceted conflicts and complementarities. The research pointed towards a number of potential strategies for achieving optimal research-teaching linkages. In particular, it is critical to link research and teaching systematically right across an entire educational programme to address the progressive nature of learning and to maximise the potential of the research-teaching dynamic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the experiences of academics who take on temporary, middle management roles within a university faculty. Individuals with titles such as Associate or Sub Dean, Head of Department or Programme Director were interviewed but, for the purposes of this paper, we will refer to all of these as Associate Deans. We are aware that these titles may mean different things in different higher education institutions and even in different departments, faculties or countries. We purposely focus on individuals working below the level of Dean and look at both their motivations for, and experiences of, taking on a management role whilst at the same time retaining some level of research and teaching responsibility as an academic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Internationalisation is a key element in the evolving role and function of the UK higher education (HE) sector. Its perceived benefits are promoted widely and sought assiduously. It has come to be believed by many practitioners that internationalisation and the quest for quality and status in HE are synonymous. In the current phase of internationalisation considerable emphasis is being placed on the student experience, and a dominant factor in that experience is the quality of the teaching provision. This paper is intended, through a historical analysis of both the HE sector in the UK and the evolution of internationalisation as interpreted in the western developed world, to contextualise the current perspective of universities on this topic and consequently the requirements placed on those responsible for teaching and learning. This analysis has been undertaken through primary and secondary texts with more contemporary references made to the media debate. Evidence suggests that it has always been apparent that the UK university sector and its responses to change are frequently reliant on, or influenced by, the decisions made by government. The issue of internationalisation, for obvious reasons, is more dependent on government policy than is any other. Teaching and learning in the university sector are therefore more closely aligned to national policy at present than may have been the case in recent times, and this is the policy context in which the article is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper contributes to current debates about the contradictory character of approaches to learning and teaching in UK higher education by suggesting an ideal-typical distinction between an academic orientation and an instrumental orientation. The paper suggests that these two distinctive orientations are associated with different kinds of student expectations on entry to UK higher education. Furthermore, the instrumental orientation is associated with an increasing preference within institutions for modes of programme delivery that are compatible with the instrumental tendencies of audit and surveillance. Institutions are likely to give priority to instrumental approaches not for pedagogic reasons but because they are convenient for the administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about changing concepts of equity in UK higher education. In particular, it charts the moves from concepts about gender equality as about women's education as a key issue in twentieth century higher education to questions of men's education in the twenty-first century. These changing concepts of equity are linked to wider social and economic transformations, the expansion of higher education and the growth in the knowledge economy, or what has been called 'academic capitalism'. Feminist theorists and activists, often called second wave feminists, developed concepts of gender equality in education, including higher education in the twentieth century, and these have been incorporated into higher education and policies with the expansions of higher education, especially around notions of widening participation. Notions of widening participation in policy and practice arenas focus on equity as about social class, socio-economic disadvantage, ethnicity and race, rather than specifically on gender questions. Equity is now twinned with diversity and where gender is now invoked it is largely about young and working class men's disadvantage in relation to higher education. In this paper, I will also provide research evidence from the UK's Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) which has been the UK's biggest ever initiative in education research about equity and diversity as currently conceived in UK higher education. I will show how gender has been incorporated with diversity questions and has lost its critical and feminist edge. I conclude with addressing questions about the future of higher education policies and practices to address questions of equity and diversity, attempting to counter the systemic inequalities in current forms of UK higher education. There are opportunities for developing new, critical and feminist pedagogies. More inclusive or 'connectionist' approaches, rather than 'teaching to the test', would engage socially diverse men and women students in a range of higher education subjects and settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study which investigates the mechanisms for managing the transition from several schools, college and work to university for disabled students. It states that it is important for the students with a disability who admits in the university must identify themselves earlier so that appropriate adjustments can be made for them including teaching, assessment and pastoral care. It also mentions that it has been found that the number of students with a disability entering Great Britain higher education is likely to increase and higher education institutions need to be aware of the adjustments that may potentially be required, as well as the timeliness of such adjustments.