Annual Rewarding Excellence Awards

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Annual Rewarding Excellence Awards
Learning Teaching do we need scholarship and
research?
Professor Caroline Gipps Vice-Chancellor Universit
y of Wolverhampton 19th January 2007
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Various review studies found no direct link
Ramsden and Moses saw little or no foundation
for a belief in the existence of a positive
causal relationship between effective
undergraduate teaching and high levels of
research activity (1992). Hattie and Marsh
(1996) concluded that the common belief that
research and teaching are inextricably entwined
is an enduring myth. At best, research and
teaching are very loosely coupled.
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It is the RAE that has done much to drive the
separation between teaching and research, it has
devalued curriculum development and writing of
text books, and relegated scholarship to an
also ran activity.
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The claim to be a university, the authority of an
HE institution, rests on the intellectual capital
and activity of its staff all academic staff in
a university must be actively engaged in
research, scholarly reflection and knowledge
production.
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The Research Forum concluded that research and
teaching are essential and intertwined
characteristics of a university which can be
advanced from two perspectives

• that of the students acquiring a higher
  education, and
• that of the work of academic staff employed in
  higher education

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It is becoming clearer that those students who
are not learning in an HE environment that is
informed by research, and in which it is not
possible to access research-related resources,
are at a disadvantage compared to those who are
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research and teaching are essential and
intertwined characteristics of a university
(Higher Education Research Forum, 2004) less
research-intensive institutions should be
supported in developing a research-informed
teaching environment (DfES, 2004 HEFCE Grant
Letter)
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• For Example
• undertaking research, scholarship and/or
  consultancy type activities, either on their own
  or in groups
• being involved in research related activities,
  such as running student research conferences and
  publishing student research journals

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• working with staff on research and consultancy
  projects
• collaborating with students in other institutions
  on inquiry-based learning projects
• (Jenkins Healey 2005)

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• My own list would include
• teaching about ones research topic (specialist
  Masters level courses, electives)
• being up-to-date in the field, which drives the
  content of courses
• taking a research approach to teaching (finding
  out what students know, evaluating approaches and
  content)

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• using your teaching as a research area
• using research processes as part of the
  teaching/learning activity (I.e. getting students
  to do a piece of research)
• learning in a lively intellectual climate

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The current HE Academy definition of the
scholarship of teaching (Prosser, 2005) is

• evidence-based critical reflection on practice
  aimed at improving practice

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• Teaching can be research-led
• in the sense that the curriculum is structured
  around subject content, and the content selected
  is directly based on the specialist research
  interests of teaching staff

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• Teaching can be research-oriented
• in the sense that the curriculum places as much
  emphasis on understanding the processes by which
  knowledge is produced as on learning the codified
  knowledge that has been achieved careful
  attention is given to the teaching of inquiry
  skills and on acquiring a research ethos

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• Teaching can be research-based
• in the sense that the curriculum is largely
  designed around inquiry-based activities, rather
  than on the acquisition of subject content the
  experiences of staff in processes of inquiry are
  highly integrated into the student learning
  activities

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• Teaching can be research-informed in the sense
  that it draws consciously on systematic inquiry
  into the teaching and learning process itself.
• (Source Griffiths 2004 Jenkins Healey 2005,
  p.20)