Case study: Review of Academic Promotions Criteria
One of the original ‘Learning Circles’ established at the outset of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) was to look at issues regarding the recognition and reward of teaching at Warwick. Whilst this brief is considerably wider, one of the first points of focus of the group considered how the promotion criteria for staff primarily engaged on the teaching pathway could be clarified and established as a distinct route for career advancement alongside that for academic research.
Department(s) / colleagues involved
WIHEA Fellows from departments and services across campus.
Our aim was to …
Establish a ‘parity of esteem’ between academic staff following a teaching-only, research-only or combination of research and teaching pathway in their career. The WIHEA Learning Circle’s interest in this coincided with an institutional initiative to review the academic promotional criteria as part of the Education Strategy (specifically, section 1.2.1).
What we did …
The Teaching Recognition & Reward (TR&R) Learning Circle included 15 colleagues from various departments and services across campus, all volunteering Fellows of WIHEA and the Circle’s meetings were supported by the Academy.
The group undertook to investigate the current understanding of the key issues pertaining to the subject across the UK and International HE sector with a view to producing material that could inform discussion and initiatives for development and change within Warwick University. This included a review of the subject literature, engagement with seminars and workshops organised by bodies such as the HEA and an analysis of the relative merits of the approaches adopted by a range of selected other institutions.
The outcome has been …
Ultimately this work was summarised in a briefing paper which was submitted to the Provost’s Review Committee and was the basis of a symposium on the topic held in December 2017 at Warwick’s Teaching Grid at which three nationally-recognised experts in the field spoke and views were shared with WIHEA Fellows and an invited audience from the Review Group and across campus. An Executive Summary of the event can be viewed here.
The benefit/impact has been …
The work of the TR&R Learning Circle was able to inform the work of the Promotions Criteria Review Committee by providing the justification and rationale for much of the sector experience of these issues, which was acknowledged by the Committee as having been of great value in their deliberations. In early 2018 the Review Committee was able to propose a revised set of promotions criteria which acknowledged the various pathways along which academic staff may develop their careers, including clear guidelines of the expectations of each grade and providing examples of how achievement at each level may be demonstrated.
This supports the Education Strategy by …
One of the key elements of the Education Strategy (section 1.2.1) is to establish ‘parity of esteem’ for teaching, specifically by “… reviewing the probationary, promotions and reward criteria relating to teaching, to include an expectation of strong teaching evidenced for all promotions (bar research only).” This work has been able to facilitate a significant change in this regard at Warwick.
The response of students / staff has been …
The initial proposal of the intended changes to the promotions criteria was circulated around the WIHEA Fellowship at an early stage for comments, prior to a campus-wide consultation. The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive and supportive of the review; some minor changes were made as a result but the revised criteria were presented to all academic staff over the summer of 2018, for wide-scale adoption in the academic year starting 2019.
Our next steps will be …
The original ‘Teaching Recognition and Reward’ initiative still has much work that it needs to be addressed and the WIHEA Learning Circle is now moving on with the support and approval of the institutional Review Committee and the PVC (Education). A major topic to investigate will be how the culture at Warwick may be influenced to accept a parity of esteem for the teaching pathway – as well as a number of more specific changes to aspects of recognition and reward. Some of the original Fellows involved have now finished their tenure with WIHEA but the TR&R Learning Circle is continuing this work with the current Fellowship.
To find out more, you can contact …
The WIHEA TR&R Learning Circle is now led by Jess Humphreys (Organisational Development - Jessica.Humphreys@warwick.ac.uk) and Dr Lydia Plath (History - L dot J dot Plath at warwick dot ac dot uk).
Further details about the work of the TR&R Learning Circle and this particular Case Study may be sought from Dr Ian Tuersley (WMG – ian dot tuersley at warwick dot ac dot uk) or Dr Sarah Richardson (Sarah dot Richardson at warwick dot ac dot uk).