Case Study 4
Centre for Teacher Education - Professional support, workplace culture case study
I have worked at the Centre for Teacher Education since 2014 and feel that the conditions of employment there have helped me to pursue an academic career in many ways.
Initially I was appointed as a part time (0.18FTE) Senior Academic Technologist and am now an Associate Professor.
As an Academic Technologist I worked alongside my role in teaching at a local secondary school. This enabled me to use my expertise in two educational sectors concurrently. It also provided me with the opportunity to work with colleagues in the Teacher Education department (then, the Centre for Professional Education) and to familiarise myself with the work of teacher educators.
After 6 months in this role I made the transition to the teaching team as a Senior Teaching Fellow. Since then, I have had the opportunity to lead a variety of different Modules and areas including Assessment, Mentoring and Partnership and to develop our new provision of the Assessment Only route into teaching.
Being able to access periods of Study Leave to support my ongoing Master’s study in Education allowed me to complete a dissertation that resulted in the award of Distinction and which I was invited to the Houses of Parliament to present to the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Teaching Profession in 2016.
Since then, I have researched further and now I have co-authored a book on this subject with colleagues from across the UK. Dedicating 150 hours a year to study has enabled this collaboration, which contributes to the national agenda on policy relating to teacher recruitment, retention and wellbeing. I now represent Initial Teacher Educators nationwide at the Department for Education’s Expert Advisory Group on Teacher Wellbeing.
I have also been able to develop my leadership skills in the workplace through line management of colleagues. This has been ably facilitated by the Centre Head of Department who provides a visible role model to women in leadership and enabled my attendance at the Warwick Leadership Programme. Two years ago I was able to work alongside a senior academic as part of the Workplace Shadowing scheme and this developed my understanding of how, at the highest level, multiple stakeholders are involved in developing new strategy and policy. Now sitting on the Vice Chancellor’s Schools Strategy Group, I understand the ways in which the University’s wider partnership work is undertaken. I enhance this through my own widening participation work, such as facilitating days in Parliament for children from our partner schools.
I find that the Workload Model applied at Centre for Teacher Education allows for the development of new areas of work alongside existing ones and provides colleagues with a sense of security that their workload has been carefully assessed for its manageability. In leading other members of staff, I am provided with the certainty that the hours needed to undertake their duties have been considered and planned into their contract. Any new activities are also subjected to this policy.