A Faculty Perspective on Teaching Assistant Training

Abstract

The quality and type of instruction teaching assistants (TAs) receive provide basic preparation for a faculty career. We sampled 249 chairs of psychology departments offering doctoral programs. Questionnaire results show that faculty respondents (a) identify TA responsibilities in a variety of pedagoical areas, (b) describe a diverse set of TA training components, and (c) rate TA supervisors as experienced in both working with TAs and as undergraduate teachers. Faculty respondents describe a pedagogical base from which new faculty with TA experience may continue to develop as teachers.

Effects of Training and Supervision on the Self-Efficacy of Psychology Graduate Teaching Assistants

“…The current descriptive results disagree with reports that suggest psychology GTAs are adequately and consistently trained and supervised (cf. Mueller et al, 1997). Instead, with approximately 30% of our sample having received either no training or no supervision, our findings support investigations that suggest GTAs receive inconsistent training and supervision in departments of psychology (cf.…”

“…Fernald, 1995); however, only recently have investigators begun to conduct research in this area. The few existing studies offer conflicting findings regarding the adequacy of psychology GTA training and rely solely on the report of psychology department chairs (e.g., Mueller, Perlman, McCann, & McFadden, 1997). Furthermore, although major reviews of the literature suggest that training and supervising GTAs increases their acquisition and use of effective teaching behaviors (see Abbott, Wulff, & Szego, 1989;Nyquist & Wulff, 1996), virtually none of this research has been theory driven or focused primarily on psychology GTAs.…”

“…Last, studies concerning psychology department chairs' reports regarding the adequacy of psychology GTA training and supervision have generated conflicting findings. Studies that have reported findings based on data obtained from only those departments where GTA training and supervision actually occur (e.g., Mueller et al, 1997) have created a more positive impression of the current state of affairs than have the results of investigations that were based on larger sample sizes and also accounted for departments where GTA training and supervision did not exist (e.g., Meyers et al, 1997). Therefore, this study sought to clarify these issues by directly sampling psychology GTAs regarding their training and supervision experiences and also by examining whether formal training and supervision significantly increased psychology GTAs' sense of self-efficacy toward teaching.…”

Training and Support of Sessional Staff to Improve Quality of Teaching and Learning at Universities

“…23,[40][41][42]44,45 Lessons learned from the North American experience have been used as the basis for training programs in the United Kingdom (UK), New Zealand, and Australia. In the UK, GTA training programs were often based on well-established New Lecturer Courses, which were modified to address the particular needs of GTAs.…”

Ethical supervision in teaching, research, practice, and administration.

“…Supervision of teaching may also extend to supporting students who are learning to teach, such as offering a course on the teaching of psychology to graduate students (Buskist, Tears, Davis, & Rodrigue, 2002;Prentice-Dunn, 2006) or providing training sessions and/or supervision to teaching assistants (Mueller, Perlman, McCann, & McFadden, 1997;Meyers & Prieto, 2000;Prieto, 2001;Prieto & Meyers, 1999). The supervision of teaching activities can help novice instructors to overcome common pitfalls such as a lack of confidence in their teaching ability or relying too heavily on one's lecture notes (Buskist, 2000) and can take place in groups (e.g., meetings with all introductory psychology teaching assistants) or one-on-one.…”