Scholarship in Teaching
By the end of 2017 universities in Australia will have created more than 800 positions for a new type of academic, the ‘Scholarly Teaching Fellow’ (STF). This project investigates the impact on teaching and learning of this ground-breaking development in the nature of academic work, and aims to build a consensus on how they may develop.
The Future of Academic Work: a Deliberative Conference
Wednesday 5 December, UTS
Twenty years ago, one-in-ten Australians had a university degree; today, it’s one-in-four. Over that time, graduations have more than doubled, and universities have become sites of mass higher education. In the changed university, what is the role of academics? This one-day conference seeks to initiate a debate about the changing nature of academic work in universities and beyond. It debates a landmark report on the emergence of education-focused academics in universities, conducted under the (former) Office for Teaching and Learning.
New ‘Scholarly Teaching Fellows’
The experience so far
With casualisation in the sector continuing to grow, the STF roles offer the potential for a full reassessment of the insecurity-quality nexus in Australian university teaching. The OLT project will critically assess STFs and make recommendations on how they may develop. It will investigate how best to meet required standards on scholarship, job security and quality in university teaching, while addressing university and sector priorities. We are gathering perspectives from appointed STFs, from casual and continuing academics, and from university managers and various other stakeholders.
Background
Ensuring scholarship in teaching?
The introduction of Scholarly Teaching Fellows (STFs) is one response to dramatic changes in teaching delivery. How far can they strengthen scholarship in university teaching?
Student numbers
Student numbers have more than tripled 1990-2013, from 441,000 to 1.4 million in 2013
Dramatic workforce change
The number of casually employed teachers has risen 221% 1990-2013, while continuing teaching-research positions rose 43%
Student : Academic ratio
The number of students for each academic (full-time equivalent, including casual academics) has risen from 14 students per FTE academic in 1990 to 23 in 2013
Breaking the nexus
Casual academics are not paid to engage in research or scholarship. The link between teaching and disciplinary knowledge is undermined.
Scholarly Teaching Fellows
Universities have more than 800 new teaching-intensive positions, mostly continuing and some fixed-term, to replace casual positions and deepen engagement with scholarship.
Scholarship & Quality
The Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency requires all academic staff to be ‘active in scholarship that informs their teaching’. To what extent do the STFs achieve this?
Project latest
Scholarly Teaching Fellows: Drivers and (Early) Outcomes
ABSTRACT In Australian universities, the majority of teaching is now delivered by casual academics, engaged on short-term, hourly-paid contracts. Casual and continuing academic staff have worked actively through the national tertiary education union to...
How much is this number worth? Representations of academic casualisation in Australian universities
ABSTRACT Casualisation of the academic workforce in Australia has increasingly become a pointed issue of contestation between university managements and the union, the National Tertiary Education Union, during enterprise bargaining negotiations over the...
Scholarly Teaching: The Changing Composition of Work and Identity in Higher Education
ABSTRACT By February 2018, more than 700 positions for a new type of academic — the ‘Scholarly Teaching Fellow’ (STF) — have been created. The creation of STFs reflects a shift in priorities, both for universities and for staff as represented through the...
From ‘Inclusion’ to ‘Solidarity’: Organised Labour and Academic Casualisation in Australia
ABSTRACT In many parts of the world, academic casualisation has accompanied the emergence of mass higher education. Universities have become a key site for struggles against precarity, and the stance adopted by unions in tertiary education has become...
Counting the uncounted: challenging distorted casualisation data in the Australian university sector
ABSTRACT In the last two decades, insecure work in universities in many countries has grown exponentially, alongside the rapid marketization of higher education. Reflecting the neoliberal ideal of a flexible workforce, research and teaching at...
Connect: Scholarly Teaching Fellows – The experience so far
Publication in NTEU Connect: 10(1), March 2017.
Contact
Get in touch
Project Research Associate
Dr Nour Dados
Nour.Dados@uts.edu.au
Project Lead Investigator
A/Prof James Goodman
James.goodman@uts.edu.au