Osman, R;
Hornsby, DJ;
(2016)
Communities and scholarship in supporting early-career academics at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Studies in Higher Education
, 41
(10)
pp. 1835-1853.
10.1080/03075079.2016.1221659.
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Abstract
The present paper reports on early-career academics’ (ECAs) experiences of support for teaching in a research-intensive university in Africa. Through conducting a questionnaire and follow up in-depth interviews greater insight into how ECAs perceive and experience support for developing their teaching practice, is gained. Our analysis suggests that most academics interviewed began their first teaching position with no preparation for all that teaching involves. Many struggled to balance the demands associated with teaching and research, in addition to familiarizing oneself with institutional teaching norms and cultures. Almost all found support from within their discipline, although such support was incidental and spontaneous rather than planned. We offer the idea of communities of practice as an approach to institutionalize support for ECAs and draw on the scholarship of teaching and learning as the theoretical framing for this study and experience from a South African institution.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Communities and scholarship in supporting early-career academics at the University of the Witwatersrand |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1080/03075079.2016.1221659 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1221659 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | ECAs, higher education, Africa, South Africa, communities of practice, scholarship of teaching and learning |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > STEaPP |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10039198 |
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