Transforming teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning in a post graduate certificate in higher education and training course

The Professional Development of Academics

“…Academic practice in higher education is multifaceted and it is influenced by a multitude of contextual changes. Higher education institutions in South Africa have had to deal with changes in context, such as globalisation, massification of the education system that has led to a more diverse learner population, diminishing resources, demands for quality, responsiveness and accountability and greater competition among institutions of higher education (Boughey, in Gravett and Geyser 2004;Quinn and Vorster 2004). Land (2004) concurs that massification has changed the higher education landscape and influenced the growth in APD.…”

“…Formal APD seems to centre on the development of teaching as a scholarly endeavour, while the development of other scholarly roles seems to be self-initiated and informal. Quinn and Vorster (2004) explain that the emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning is necessary since the traditional lecture format does not seem suitable any longer. They also argue that lecturers need to cultivate a spirit of lifelong learning in their learners and therefore lecturers and their learners need to be actively engaged in the learning process.…”

“…The need for increased professionalisation within education calls for a clear articulation of qualifications that includes formal education and acknowledges prior experiences or learning (Shah 1998;Florez 1997). Quinn and Vorster (2004) recommend a strong and well-articulated theoretical foundation for APD programmes for lecturers. Quinn and Vorster (2004), Moyo et al (1997), Brew (1995) and Murray (1995) furthermore emphasise the importance of support if academic practices are to change in an ongoing and meaningful manner.…”

“…Quinn and Vorster (2004) recommend a strong and well-articulated theoretical foundation for APD programmes for lecturers. Quinn and Vorster (2004), Moyo et al (1997), Brew (1995) and Murray (1995) furthermore emphasise the importance of support if academic practices are to change in an ongoing and meaningful manner. Castle et al (1998) stress the importance of recognition of prior learning for those professionals who have already achieved a certain level of expertise and competency.…”

The "decolonial turn": what does it mean for academic staff development?

“…I belong here" (2015,5). In common with many academic developers globally we have worked hard to encourage academics to be critically reflexive practitioners (Quinn and Vorster 2004) and to question traditional pedagogies and ways of assessing. We have had a measure of success in terms of promoting ideas related to what we consider to be "good" teaching, such as getting to know who your students are, catering for the legitimate learning needs of the students in front of you and not the mythically well-prepared students you would like, engaging with knowledge students bring into the course, using pedagogies that give students opportunities to engage actively in learning and to link their existing knowledge to new knowledge, inducting them into the literacies and ways of "being" of disciplines, using reliable, valid and fair methods to assess their students, and so on.…”