An Agreement on Training University Teachers
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
14 Statement by the Minister for Education. The Han. 21. Report for 1982-84 Triennium, op. cit., Vol. 2, Part 2. AN AGREEMENT ON DAVID MACK Wal Fife, Statement on Commonwealth Education p 23-4. Loughborough University Policy and Financial Guidelines to the Common TRAINING UNIVERSITY wealth Education Commissions, 4 June 1981 22. Report for 1982-84 Triennium. op. cit., Vol. 2, Part 1, P 22. TEACHERS: 15 ibid. 23. Statement on Commonwealth Education Policy and THE UK EXPERIENCE 16. Report for 1982-84 Triennium, op. cit.. Vol. 2, Part 1, Financial Guidelines to the Commonwealth Educa p 28 tion Commissions, op. cit. 17 ibid., P 33. 24. In the light of the 1975 budgetary sit~atio~.,the Gover,n The Origins of Academic Staff Training in the to review the pattern of full-time higher educa ment set aside the reports of the Universities Commis United Kingdom tion in Great Britain and in the light of national 18. ibid., P 4. sion, the Commission on Advanced Education. and Universities have for centuries rejected the idea that needs and resources to advise Her Majesty's the Australian Committee on Technical and Further academic staff require any formal training for their Government on what principles its long term 19. Review of Commonwealth Functions, op. cit., p 24. Education which recommended financial assistance development should be based .. for their respective sectors for (what was to have been) jobs other than that which is SUbject-matter based, 20. Statement on Commonwealth Education Policy and the 1976-78 triennium. Instead, the Government and it has long been the tradition that staff need Financial Guidelines to the Commonwealth Educa decided that. for funding purposes, 1976 would be receive no formal training whatsoever in teaching The Committee's report was published in October tion Commissions, op. cit. treated as Ha year outside the triennial progression". administration - or indeed in research. 1963 and contained a total of 178 wide-ranging recommendations. " Only in the last forty years has this tradition been openly challenged in any real measure. Truscott, for example, argued that the only effective remedy for Only one of these related directly to academic staff 'appalling' teaching is for lectures to be made better training - namely, that "af! newly appointed junior teachers should have organized opportunities to by "subjecting af! would~be university lecturers to a acquire the techniques of lecturing and of conduct specific course of training," 1 and this theme was ing discussion groups." I n arriving at this recom pursued by a growing number of individuals over mendation, the Committee noted 'excessive com the next decade. 2 Despite such concern however, plaints' from both university teachers and student the ranks of academe remained largely unmoved. Radcliffe noted that the idea of training new recruits organizations concerning methods of instruction. to university teaching was largely "shrugged off In its consideration of teaching, the Robbins Com with a quantity of humorous or supercilious com mittee confined itself to general questions con ment." J Nevertheless, this period marked the begin nected with the use made of teaching resources. nings of a recognition in the United Kingdom of the This was because in March 1961, only one month need for professional training of university teachers after the apPOintment of the Robbins Committee, and a growing questioning of the tenability of the the University Grants Committee (the funding traditional view of university teaching as either a authority for all UK universities) apPOinted a Com self-taught art or a craft passed on informally from mittee on University Teaching Methods, under the master to apprentice. Chairmanship of Sir Edward Hale. The terms of This post-war period also marked a beginning inter reference of the Hale Committee were est by the AUT (The Association of University to make a comparative study of undergradu Teachers) in the improvement of university teach ate teaching methods and practices current in Ing, and twice during this time (in 1945 and 1954) the the universities and colleges of Great Britain union approached the Committee of Vice-Chance 1- in the fields of arts and pure and applied lors and Principals (CVCP) on the question of train sCience. ing for academic staff. The Committee's report was published in Novem National Initiatives ber 1964.' As did the Robbins Report, the Hale The period from 1961-1974 (when the Agreement Report referred to criticism of the universities on the on Probationary Procedures and Criteria came into grounds that university teachers are insufficiently being) was remarkable for a number of national trained for their work. The Committee inquired into initiatives in the university sector which were subse the extent to which university teachers should quently to colour the whole area of academic staff receive training or instruction in how to teach. As a training in the U.K.'I Of all these initiatives perhaps result of discussions with university delegations, it that which has had the most far-reaching conse became clear to the Committee that any proposal to quences for the UK university system was the make full-time course of training a mandatory pre Report of the Robbins Committee on Higher Educa requisite for university apPOintment would receive tion in 1963. no support at all. Nevertheless the Committee expressed the view that the haphazard nature of The Committee on Higher Education, under the existing arrangements for training resulted in much Chairmanship of Lord Robbins, was appOinted in university teaching being less effective than it February 1961 by the Prime Minister should be. 30 31 suitability and competence before a decision for confirmation, and review procedure. The sec The Committee suggested that training in lecturing NUS Initiatives is taken to confirm them in appointment. The tions of the agreement which dealt specifically with and tutorial teaching should be given as a matter of In a memorandum to the Hale Committee on Uni Committee attaches importance to the devel training for probationary lectures were as follows: course, The Committee also pOinted to a need for versity Teaching Methods published in June 1961, opment by each university of appropriate operational research in university teaching to be the National Union of Students (NUS) referred to ar~angements (where these do not already 'Selection, Training and Development conducted on an inter-university basis, advancing the necessity of ensuring that the university teacher eXist) for systematic training in the early 4. The Working Party isofthe opinion that Universi period of appointment, the view that such research might result in the exist is suitably qualified to lecture and to supervise tutor ties must maintain high standards of selection ence of advisers in lecturing techniques who could ial work. procedures when they are considering making appomtments to their academic staff. Where visit universities by invitation to advise and assist It was clear that something had to be done - but ~ppointments have a probationary period it is individual members of staff. Reporting in April 1969 the Commission recom mended that all lecturers should be trained either what? The need for training had been clearly estab Incumbent. on universities to provide training for before taking up their posts or, where that was not lished and the will for itto happen had been demon the probationer of a helpful and comprehensive AUT Initiatives strated by the relevant national bodies, but would nature. Advice and guidance by a senior col Following yet another approach early in 1961 to possible, during the first three years of their appoint the individual university instititions accept the need league nominated for this task, and encourage CVCP about academic staff training and the need to ments. In addition, the number and range of short and implement actions? A solution was found (orso ment to attend forma! COurses of instruction examine teaching methods, the AUT established a training courses for lecturers already in service should be included. Attention should be paid to it seemed at the time) in what might loosely be Panel on Teaching Techniques in January 1963. should be expanded and lecturers should be more developments in the training of University Lec described as a "pay and productivity" agreement This panel, in an interim report, made a number of actively encouraged by their institutions to make turers at a national level as well as to internal between the employers and the union and suggestions for improving university teaching. 1 use of these courses. courses of instruction. The probationer should govern ment. These included a strong recommendation for the receive a co-ordinated development programme A Groundswell of Opinion which lasts throughout his probationary period establishment of inservice training courses for both The 1974 Agreement on Probation and permits appropriate reports to be made, and new and experienced staff. In short, the movement for an improvement in the standards of university teaching gathered momen Following a withdrawal of the standing reference on remedial action to be taken where necessary, at the pay of univerSity teachers from the National regular stages. Universities should also ensure In March 1966, in its quinquennial submission tothe tum over the thirty year period from 1940-1970 such that the day-to-day duties and workload allo UGC, the AUT proposed the establishment of a that the