Leibowitz, Bozalek, van Schalkwyk and Winberg presentation at ICED, Stockholm June 2014
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The document discusses a research project exploring the structural and cultural factors affecting quality teaching and academic development in South African higher education. It summarizes findings from multiple case studies, highlighting issues such as staff turnover, leadership processes, and the undervaluation of teaching. The research aims to understand the complexities of these factors within different university contexts and to analyze perceptions of university educators regarding their teaching roles.
![History, geography and resources
“High staff turnover both within the centre – it is
a struggle to get people to stay, although the
same could be said about the faculties, you work
with them in the department, come next year,
there are new people. At [our one rural campus]
we struggle to retain staff because the town is
not able to offer amenities, eg decent shopping,
decent school for the kids, the university is not
paying as much as other universities.” (HDI5).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/leibowitzbozalekvanschalkwykandwinberg-140703151746-phpapp01/85/Leibowitz-Bozalek-van-Schalkwyk-and-Winberg-presentation-at-ICED-Stockholm-June-2014-12-320.jpg)
![Leadership and administrative
processes
“Buy-in by senior management and HODs across certain
departments [is important] – new people arrive and
immediately there is a conversation they are slotted into,
encouraged to think about …” (HAI1).
“When we have a DVC academic who has a full
understanding, things go smoothly, but in instances
where we had a DVC academic who was not so sure,
things would not go as smoothly. Then the Director [of
the TLC] must explain and convince…” (HDI5).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/leibowitzbozalekvanschalkwykandwinberg-140703151746-phpapp01/85/Leibowitz-Bozalek-van-Schalkwyk-and-Winberg-presentation-at-ICED-Stockholm-June-2014-14-320.jpg)
![Beliefs about quality teaching and
professional development
They “lack [the] authority” (HAI1) to challenge
[having to attend training]. Across contexts,
reports identified teaching as undervalued by
many university teachers: there was a
“widespread belief that teaching does not
require support and complex sophisticated skills
to produce quality learning” (HAI1).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/leibowitzbozalekvanschalkwykandwinberg-140703151746-phpapp01/85/Leibowitz-Bozalek-van-Schalkwyk-and-Winberg-presentation-at-ICED-Stockholm-June-2014-15-320.jpg)
![The research-teaching relationship
“…under-qualified … still working on masters or
doctoral qualifications, so when they must do
the PGDHET [Post Graduate Diploma on Higher
Education and Training] or new course, they
can’t register [because they] are still busy with
masters or doctoral qualifications” (HDI5).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/leibowitzbozalekvanschalkwykandwinberg-140703151746-phpapp01/85/Leibowitz-Bozalek-van-Schalkwyk-and-Winberg-presentation-at-ICED-Stockholm-June-2014-16-320.jpg)
![Recognition and appraisal
“Institutional policies have enabled [the uptake of
professional development], e.g., the promotions policy
stipulates that nobody will be promoted if they don’t have the
assessor training course. Academics started taking that up …
Also the university insisted that every lecturer should have a
teaching or professional development portfolio, so
consultations around that have [occurred]” (HDI5).
“Work has been done to make a valuing of quality teaching
explicit within the descriptors around promotion and the
merit awards … Having made the criteria explicit, has enabled
people to have the conversation about promotion and future
career which encourages them to take up the opportunities’
(HAI1).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/leibowitzbozalekvanschalkwykandwinberg-140703151746-phpapp01/85/Leibowitz-Bozalek-van-Schalkwyk-and-Winberg-presentation-at-ICED-Stockholm-June-2014-17-320.jpg)
![Role of workgroup and conducive
climate
“there’s a lot of backstabbing and real nasty
stuff going on but I have learned to cope with it
and I’ve learned how to distance myself from it,
so that whereas before it used to affect me
personally and I used to get very upset - not
because of the students but because of the
colleagues - I’ve moved into a position where I
am able to switch off. I don’t get involved in any
[academic development initiatives]. I don’t
associate, so it’s quite lonely” (UOT7)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/leibowitzbozalekvanschalkwykandwinberg-140703151746-phpapp01/85/Leibowitz-Bozalek-van-Schalkwyk-and-Winberg-presentation-at-ICED-Stockholm-June-2014-22-320.jpg)
Leibowitz, Bozalek, van Schalkwyk and Winberg presentation at ICED, Stockholm June 2014
- 1. ICED Conference Stockholm 16 – 18 June 2014
- 2. Authors • Brenda Leibowitz (University of Johannesburg) • Vivienne Bozalek (University of the Western Cape) • Chris Winberg (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) • Susan van Schalkwyk (University of Stellenbosch) The National Research Foundation provided funding for the project titled “Context, structure and agency” (reference ESA20100729000013945)
- 3. Full team (2011-2013) Rhodes University Chrissie Boughey, Lynn Quin, Jo Voster University of the Western Cape Vivienne Bozalek, Wendy McMillan Stellenbosch University Nicoline Herman, Jean Farmer, Susan van Schalkwyk, Julia Blitz Cape University of Technology Chris Winberg, James Garraway University of Cape Town Jeff Jawitz Durban University of Technology Gita Mistry, Julian Vooght University of Venda Clever Ndebele University of Fort Hare Vuyisile Nkonki
- 4. Key Assumptions for Operations Contextual investigations Multisite studies Collaborative research Reflection on practice as AD Practitioners Continuum of and interrelationship between being and becoming a good lecturer
- 5. Conceptual Framework • Interplay of structure, culture and agency (Archer) • Multiple determination (Elder-Vass/Bhaskar) • The influence of the arrangement of social contexts on participation and inclusion (Dreier)
- 7. Research Design • National Policy Environment • Analysis of intelligibilia per institution (p.i.) • Reflective reports by AD Directors p. i. • Questionnaire p.i. (736 cleaned replies) • Interviews: – 4 senior management p.i. – 10 – 16 academics p.i. • Reflections on research process (x 2)
- 8. Outputs 8 case studies for institutional use✔ Papers for publication ✔ Blog ✔ Summary report with appendices ✗ National policy implications ✗ http://interplayofstructure.blogspot.com
- 9. Mode of analysis • Writing retreats • Combined coding • Whole team and sub-groups • Use of Structure, culture and agency • Also: activity theory, and other
- 10. Paper 1: AD Directors’ Reports Q: What structural and cultural factors appear to constrain or enable quality teaching and the professional development of academics in their teaching roles? Q: Are these factors linked to specific types of university contexts?
- 11. Findings: Constraints and Enablements • history, geography and resources; • leadership and administrative processes; • beliefs about quality teaching and professional development; • the research-teaching relationship; • recognition and appraisal; • and the capacity, image and status of the TLC staff
- 12. History, geography and resources “High staff turnover both within the centre – it is a struggle to get people to stay, although the same could be said about the faculties, you work with them in the department, come next year, there are new people. At [our one rural campus] we struggle to retain staff because the town is not able to offer amenities, eg decent shopping, decent school for the kids, the university is not paying as much as other universities.” (HDI5).
- 13. Corroboration from questionnaire “The chart shows that 70% (21) of respondents at HDI5 had five or less years of experience teaching at HDI5 although 7 of these respondents reported that they had worked at other HEIs. HDI6 also had more than the average respondents with less than five years service 54.6% (24) at this institution, … At the other end of the scale respondents from HAI1 had the longest record of service with 94.5% (16) having worked in the sector for over 30 years”.
- 14. Leadership and administrative processes “Buy-in by senior management and HODs across certain departments [is important] – new people arrive and immediately there is a conversation they are slotted into, encouraged to think about …” (HAI1). “When we have a DVC academic who has a full understanding, things go smoothly, but in instances where we had a DVC academic who was not so sure, things would not go as smoothly. Then the Director [of the TLC] must explain and convince…” (HDI5).
- 15. Beliefs about quality teaching and professional development They “lack [the] authority” (HAI1) to challenge [having to attend training]. Across contexts, reports identified teaching as undervalued by many university teachers: there was a “widespread belief that teaching does not require support and complex sophisticated skills to produce quality learning” (HAI1).
- 16. The research-teaching relationship “…under-qualified … still working on masters or doctoral qualifications, so when they must do the PGDHET [Post Graduate Diploma on Higher Education and Training] or new course, they can’t register [because they] are still busy with masters or doctoral qualifications” (HDI5).
- 17. Recognition and appraisal “Institutional policies have enabled [the uptake of professional development], e.g., the promotions policy stipulates that nobody will be promoted if they don’t have the assessor training course. Academics started taking that up … Also the university insisted that every lecturer should have a teaching or professional development portfolio, so consultations around that have [occurred]” (HDI5). “Work has been done to make a valuing of quality teaching explicit within the descriptors around promotion and the merit awards … Having made the criteria explicit, has enabled people to have the conversation about promotion and future career which encourages them to take up the opportunities’ (HAI1).
- 18. Capacity, image and status of the CTL staff “us and them” discourse (HAI3) “We are viewed as a support centre with an academic function. We are not given full academic status. It is constraining because some academics don’t take us seriously. They say we are not academics, we are looked at as a para- professional” (HDI5)
- 19. Findings: Q 2, are the factors linked to specific types of university contexts? • Some factors straddle contexts • Some appear more starkly in specific contexts • There is multiple determination
- 20. Paper 2 on academics’ perceptions • Based on data in institutional reports on lecturers’ perceptions • Original data coded accorded to group session and recoded by me according to only enablements and constraints
- 21. Individual properties: agency “I often buy things out of my own pocket because it’s quicker, it’s easier and it enables me to teach in the way that I want to teach. I don’t begrudge that money because it’s part of me developing the students and I’m tired of asking for things” (UOT7) “Look, it’s hard to say the environment is conducive, but I think we have the attitude to make it conducive, we look beyond the potholes” (UOT8)
- 22. Role of workgroup and conducive climate “there’s a lot of backstabbing and real nasty stuff going on but I have learned to cope with it and I’ve learned how to distance myself from it, so that whereas before it used to affect me personally and I used to get very upset - not because of the students but because of the colleagues - I’ve moved into a position where I am able to switch off. I don’t get involved in any [academic development initiatives]. I don’t associate, so it’s quite lonely” (UOT7)
- 23. Value of multi-site study Value of varied perspectives Need to look more carefully at issue of context/yet multiple determination Challenge of looking across contexts – how to avoid one dimensionality/positivist approach? Only begun to scratch surface of meaning of the data Need to bring varied theoretical perspectives to bear In sum…
- 24. Papers associated with the project Leibowitz, B. and Bozalek, V. 2014. Access to higher education in South Africa: A social realist account. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning. 16 (1), pp 91 - 109. http://wpll-journal.metapress.com/link.asp?id=X7243U561274 Leibowitz, B., Ndebele, C. and Winberg, C. 2013. The role of academic identity in collaborative research. Studies in Higher Education. DOI:10.1080/03075079.2013.801424 (3 June 2013) Leibowitz, B., van Schalkwyk, S., Ruiters, J., Farmer, J. and Adendorff, H. (2012) “It’s been a wonderful life”: Accounts of the interplay between structure and agency by “good” university teachers. Higher Education 63 353 – 365. Jawitz, J., Williams, K., Pym, J. and Cox, G. 2013. Why we do what we do: Interrogating our academic staff development practice 76. In: T. Tisani and M. Madiba (Eds) Proceedings of the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) 2012 Conference.ISBN: 978-0-620-55540-1 Publication date: April 2013. MacMillan, W. (on-line, HERD) ‘They have different information about what is going on’: Emotion in the transition to university. CHER-2012-1069.R2 Ndebele, C., (2014). Deconstructing the Narratives of Educational Developers on the Enabling and Constraining Conditions in Their Growth; Development and Roles as Educational Staff Development Facilitators at a South African University. International Journal of Education Science, 6(1), pp.103–115. Quinn, L. and Vorster, J. (2014). Isn’t it time to start thinking about ‘developing’ academic developers in a more systematic way? International Journal for Academic Development. DOI: 10.1080/1360144X.2013.879719 Ndebele, C. (2014). Approach towards the professional development of academics as espoused in institutional policy documents at a South African university. J Soc Sci, 38(3): 255-269 Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Winberg, C. and van Schalkwyk, S. (2014) Institutional Context Matters: the professional development of academics as teachers in South African Higher Education. Higher Education, DOI: 10.1007/s10734-014- 9777-2 Leibowitz, B. (In Press) Conducive Environments for the Promotion of Quality Teaching in Higher Education in South Africa. CRISTAL.
Editor's Notes
- #5: We also look at our own practice
- #6: According to Elder-Vass (2010, p. 8) with reference to Bhaskar, multiple properties of an entity interfere with or reinforce each other, leading to “multiple determination” or many possible outcomes. Elder-Vass writes, “Causal efficacy is a product of the parts and the relations combined” (2010, p. 23).
- #15: This was linked to the issue of stability