The influence of sociocultural and structural contexts in academic change and development in higher education

Abstract

Teaching quality improvements frequently focus upon the 'development' of individual academics in higher education. However, research also shows that the academics' context has considerable influence upon their practices. This study examines the working environments of teachers on an online pharmacy programme, investigating contextual conditions that facilitate or impede academic change and development. Interview data and institutional policy documents are examined within a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory framework. Distinct differences in the teachers' sociocultural context were identified as influencing change and development. Departmental teaching cultures and patterns of communication influenced practice both positively, by offering collegial support, and negatively by impeding change. The findings have significance for academic development strategies. They suggest that departmental-level support should include communicative pathways that promote reflection upon and development of conceptions of teaching and learning.

Making a case for Cultural Historical Activity Theory: Examples of CHAT in practice

“…Yet CHAT remains a popular theory. In addition to the three projects presented here in recent years CHAT has underpinned research into mathematical modelling and science education (Chao et al, 2017;Erduran, 2018;Galleguillos & de Carvalho Borba, 2018;Hernandez-Martinez & Vos, 2018), and higher education (Englund, Olofsson, & Price, 2018;Kaatrakoski, Littlejohn, & Hood, 2017). It has been used to investigate mobile tool use (Paskevicius & Knaack, 2018) as well as English language teaching and learning (Montoro, 2016;Rind, 2016).…”

Examining International Education Research and Practice through a Queer Theory Lens

“…An initial step, as suggested by Jubas (2015) and Jubas and White (2017), is the critical examination of an institution's own internationalization texts, initiatives, and efforts with respect to queer inclusion. Again, I recommend that practitioners engage with the LGBTQI+ community to examine all of their policies and practices to account for unconscious bias that may exist and be difficult to readily identify (Dasgupta, 2013). By engaging in this meso-level scrutinization of one's own institution and change of policies and practices to being queer friendly and less hetero-and non-binary-normative, I believe engagement with international education experiences will increase, which supports the overarching goal of international education.…”

Integrating research, teaching and practice in the context of new institutional policies: a social practice approach

“…There is some research into the role of disciplines and departments in shaping academics' approaches to implementing research-informed teaching; however, this research focuses mainly on the significance of different disciplinary epistemologies (Durning and Jenkins 2005). Since these studies, developments in social practice theory have shed light on the role of disciplinary workgroups in mediating academic practices (Trowler 2008;Mathieson 2012;Englund et al 2018). However, the significance of this research for the implementation of research-informed teaching has not been explored.…”

“…While accounts of social practice have become increasingly sophisticated, their focus is still primarily on practices, rather than individual agency (Reich and Hager 2014). This has also been the tendency when social practice theory has been applied to academic teaching practices (Boud and Brew 2013;Englund et al 2018). Archer (2000) focuses on how agency is articulated through the 'inner conversation' as a creative and agentic space through which individuals shape their relationship to the structural contexts in which they find themselves.…”