Like many UK universities, Brunel University London provides a taught programme for new academic staff to support them in developing their teaching practices. It is called the Academic Professional Programme (APP). Compassion and community are key themes running throughout the APP. The use of coaching skills, as well as the use of contemplative activities, support this. Starting in October, the programme lasts 18 months. It is aligned to the Level 7 Academic Professional Apprenticeship and awards Advance HE Fellowship. It consists of ten full-day sessions comprising guest lectures, sole and group activities, meditations, and Action Learning Sets. Participants have monthly mentor meetings and take part in shadowing activities, tripartite meetings, reading, reflection, and teaching observations. It culminates in an End Point Assessment with a portfolio including a 3000 word written piece, an annex of ten pieces of evidence, and recorded observations. Finally, candidates take part in a viva-style Professional Conversation.
Each session starts with an introduction to Rules of Respectful Enquiry (Van Quaquebeke, & Felps, 2018) as a way of framing the programme. Participants are introduced to how government priorities and regulations affect their own practice. They are encouraged to compare this with their own teaching philosophies. They consider what universities and education are for and identify their values and purpose. To support them with this, participants create collages from magazine to reflect their values and teaching identity. Throughout the programme, key liberationist thinkers are introduced – bell hooks, Henry Giroux, Nel Noddings and Paulo Freire, amongst others, and they are encouraged to find personal role models. They experience individual coaching in progress meetings (mentors and advisers are trained in using coaching conversations) and group coaching through action learning sets. Occasionally, Action Learning Sets take place in the outdoors so staff gain the benefits of learning in nature (Zeivots, 2019). The UK university sector has been described as an anxiety machine (Morrish, 2019). Academic roles are scrutinised, pressurised, and challenged with sector-wide systemic issues (Shorter, 2022). The programme leader believed it important to take this into account when designing and teaching the programme. They sought to ensure that the participants were not only taught the knowledge, skills and behaviours to teach others and to do research but to also maintain their wellbeing during and after the process. Staff who are not burnt out are more likely to be empathic towards students and their colleagues (Gus, et al., 2015).
From its 2020 inception, the programme has awarded 127 participants. In their portfolios and tripartite meetings, they shared how they have found joy in teaching. They tell us how they now realise there is more to teaching than turning up and reading notes, and how they have learned to care for their students. They are excited to share new ideas they have tried out; for example, they have become interested in liberationist pedagogy and how it can be used for social justice, starting with locally being more inclusive, and widely, supporting the closure of the attainment gap. In addition, past participants regularly present to those on the latest cohort.
While the tripartite meetings are beneficial to the candidate, they are resource intensive. Working within the parameters of the APA standard is restrictive and not always in line with appropriate assessment practice. With that said, framing around wellbeing, the Action Learning Sets, the contemplative and creative activities can all be included in any programme. Recommendations include: starting small with one element, such as Action Learning Sets, and building from there. Conversely, consider stripping it all back and asking yourselves what type of future do you want to create. How can you use the programme to create it?
Gus, L., Rose, J., & Gilbert, L. (2015). Emotion coaching: A universal strategy for supporting and promoting sustainable emotional and behavioural well-being. Educational & Child Psychology, 32(1), 31-41.
Morrish, L. & Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) (United Kingdom) (2019). Pressure Vessels: The Epidemic of Poor Mental Health among Higher Education Staff. Occasional Paper 20, Higher Education Policy Institute.
Shorter, J. (2022) UK higher education - A workforce in crisis. London: University and College Union. Available at: https://policycommons.net/artifacts/2674016/uk-higher-education/3697084/
Zeivots, S. (2019) Escaping to nature to learn: emotional highs of adult learners. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education 22, 199–216). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42322-019-00041-7
Van Quaquebeke, N., & Felps, W. (2018). Respectful inquiry: A motivational account of leading through asking questions and listening. Academy of Management Review, 43(1), 5-27.