Position statement on Research and Practice Led Teaching

P0809-877
<strong>Position</strong> <strong>statement</strong> on Research and Practice Led Teaching
1. Background
As a research led institution with a rapidly developing research profile as evidenced
by the recent Research Assessment Exercise we are committed to ensuring that the
links between both research and practice, and teaching are strengthened.
Research-teaching linkages formed an explicit part of the University’s Learning and
Teaching Strategy in 2002. However, this was in the absence of any specific
objectives linking teaching and research/practice. In 2008 HEFCW remarked upon
the lack of any specific reference to research-teaching linkages in our Learning and
Teaching Strategy. In response, the then Pro-Vice-Chancellor Academic Affairs
committed to responding explicitly to what was felt to be an implicit and widely
understood matter. Our Self Evaluation Document for Institutional Review in 2008 put
in writing for the first time the links between teaching and research/practice.
Professor Alan Jenkins from the Higher Education Academy recently visited
Swansea to deliver a seminar on research-teaching linkages. Both the seminar and
the HEA publications by Professor Jenkins are an ideal starting point for debate on
research teaching linkages across the University.
Currently we consider (through the SED) that students benefit from the interaction
between research/practice and learning and teaching through:
1. Curricula being directly informed by staff research and practice
2. Promoting deep learning and enquiry
3. Student involvement in learning activities that are informed by or contribute
to research and practice
4. Student participation in learning activities that help develop research and
professional skills, e.g. research projects or dissertations, often in the final
year of study.
5. A high quality learning environment whereby students access modern
research equipment and facilities
In addition staff teach on their areas of current research or practice within their
modules. There is no formal policy on this, but inevitably staff tend to gravitate
towards including their own research/practice in their modules, often at Level 3 or
M, but again within the confines of their subject benchmark.
Furthermore, the increasing range of professionally-linked programmes within the
institution has led to substantial development to practice-led and practice-based
teaching. This evidence-based approach is equally important in ensuring that
student learning and knowledge and skills acquisition is at the forefront of their
discipline.
However, we recognise that recent research demonstrates “the linkage (between
research and teaching) is not automatic, and has to be built systematically into the
curriculum, department, institutional and national planning.” 1 To this end we are
exploring research – teaching and practice-led teaching linkages across the
1 Alan Jenkins and Mick Healey, Institutional strategies to link teaching and research, HEA, 2005

campus to see how we can build on existing good practice as well as develop
institutional and discipline based strategies to embed these linkages.
2. What is research/practice-led teaching at Swansea 2 ?
There is a considerable literature on what constitutes research led teaching. 3 These
definitions have been broadly categorised into 4 strands;
1. Research-led curriculum content based around the research interests of staff
2. Research-orientated learning where the curriculum places emphasis on the
process of knowledge acquisition
3. Research-based teaching and learning with the curriculum structured around
inquiry/research based projects
4. Research-informed teaching and learning where the process of learning and
teaching is informed by developments in pedagogic research 4
Student learning will benefit from a combination of these approaches and rather than
prescribing a particular approach across all disciplines it would be preferable to allow
Schools and disciplines to decide upon the best combination of these strands for
their students, staff and research priorities and the appropriate ‘model’ for practicedriven
disciplines.
Across the institution we already have considerable strengths in basing curriculum
content around the research and practice strengths of staff and students benefit from
being in a research-led institution through access to facilities. Therefore it may be
more effective to focus on enabling disciplines to develop research-orientated and
research-based initiatives. Some examples of these are given in Section 5.
As acknowledged earlier, there are exemplars of practice-driven teaching at
Swansea which reflect the increasingly vocational nature of the subject provision.
With the external pressures on HEIs to respond to the government’s skills agenda,
such practice-driven exemplars are highly relevant to promote the employability of
our graduates.
3. Raising awareness and staff buy-in in research/practice-led teaching
If research/practice-led teaching is to be a/the distinguishing feature of our approach
to Learning and Teaching and form a major part of the Learning, Teaching and
Assessment Strategy there needs to be significant buy-in and commitment from staff
across the institution. In order to achieve this buy-in we should enable staff to
contribute to setting the agenda. Debate and discussion on research/practice-led
teaching across the University should be initiated through a series of events across
the Institution discussing our approach to research/practice-led teaching.
This process has already commenced with a visit from Professor Jenkins from the
HEA. Following this awareness of the subject should be raised through University,
Faculty and School level committees.
After this it is suggested that a flagship half-day event on research/practice-led
teaching be held. The purpose of this would be to further raise the profile of the
2
The term also includes practice-driven teaching but for the purposes of brevity, only research-led teaching will be
used in this document
3 For more information see the HEA website or the publications by Jenkins and Healey in the further reading section
4 Jenkins and Healey, Institutional strategies, p21
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subject, promote discussion and showcase good practice internally and externally.
We have a number of subject areas that have been highlighted for their work in this
area by external examiners and audits who could be asked to present. In addition an
external specialist from a Russell (or 1994) group institution could be invited. These
could be followed by break out groups considering different approaches to
research/practice-led teaching we could adopt. 5
Following this event a finalized strategy or policy could be introduced. This strategy
could then be launched to maximise awareness and take-up through an institution
wide Research/Practice Week. This would demonstrate to students of all years the
institutions commitment to high-level research and practice and integrating that
research with their studies.
Developing RLT - Timetable of Events
Date
October 2008
Feb 2009
April 2009
June 2009
October/
November
2010
Event
Professor Alan Jenkins, HEA seminar on Research-Led Teaching
Research/practice-led Teaching discussed at;
University Learning and Teaching Committee
Chairs of School Learning and Teaching Committees
Taught and Research Faculty Committees
University Research Committee
School Research Committees
PVC (Student Experience) and PVCs (Research) to hold a
showcase Research/Practice-led Teaching Event. Suggested
programme;
Intro PVC SE on setting out the RPLT agenda for Swansea
External Speaker from Russell group University on RPLT
Examples of RPLT from across the Campus (Examples
highlighted to date are, Geography, Physical Sciences,
Medieval Studies, Medicine, Sports Science, Classical
Civilisation)
Break out session to discuss RPLT – poss focused on Alan
Jenkins’ Linking t and r in disciplines and departments
Finalise RPLT strategy/policy/<strong>statement</strong>
University wide Research/Practice Week(s)
Each School/Department to hold their own research week (to
coincide with Open Days?) events could include
Open lectures for staff and students on staff research and
practice
Undergraduate and postgraduate research/practice poster
shows
Discussions by academics on current research topics
4. Institutional and Discipline Based strategies for promoting the
research/practice-teaching nexus
There are a number of strategies that could be adopted across the institution to
promote closer links between research/practice and teaching. Each School (or
subject area) would be invited to set up their own research/practice-led teaching
5 Cardiff University held a similar event to develop their RLT agenda – see here for details -
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/learning/themes/resteach/workshop/index.html
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projects or approach however it would be beneficial to give them a range of
suggested options to choose from. It is envisaged that these are introduced at the
RPLT event.
School/discipline based research/practice-teaching initiatives 6
1. Research Week – projects based around showcasing staff and student
research/practice to other students over a week within each School
2. Develop student understanding of the role of academics as researchers
through enquiry based learning, research projects, giving students
opportunities to work with research centres, practitioners or on research
projects.
Institutional initiatives
3. Make an extended period of personal research usually in the form of a
dissertation or project mandatory in each undergraduate degree programme. 7
This is the current policy in the School of Humanities where all students
(including Joint Honours) are required to do a dissertation. However, within
other parts of the University it is possible for students to opt out of a
dissertation usually if they are studying two subjects.
4. Include a research/practice-led teaching linkage criteria in the Distinguished
Teaching Award nomination and selection criteria.
5. Include research/practice-teaching criteria in promotion, probation and
performance review, peer review of teaching and peer mentoring
6. Include research/practice-led teaching in the Learning, Teaching and
Assessment Strategy and ensure targets (those indicated above in the first
year) are included
7. Include research/practice-led teaching in the University’s Research Strategy
and Strategic Plan
8. Include research/practice-led teaching in staff training events such as the
Teaching in Higher Education Certificate.
Quality Assurance and Enhancement
9. Include research/practice-led teaching in Internal Audit, Periodic Review and
AMMP
10. Include research/practice-led teaching in module feedback questionnaires
and in institutional questionnaires e.g. Omnibus
11. Ensure consideration is given to research/practice-led teaching in the creation
of new modules and programmes
Action of the Learning and Teaching Committee
The Committee is asked to endorse the position <strong>statement</strong>, and in particular the
timetable for development of an institutional policy <strong>statement</strong>.
Phil Brophy
Quality Office
January 2009
6 There are a considerable number of examples of linkages in subject areas in Jenkins, Healey and Zetter, Linking
teaching and research in disciplines and departments, HEA, April 2007 available to download or order from the HEA -
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/LinkingTeachingAndResearch_April07.pdf
7 This is compatible with most subject benchmark <strong>statement</strong>s although most do not require it.
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Further Reading
Alan Jenkins and Mick Healey, Institutional strategies to link teaching and research,
HEA, 2005
Alan Jenkins, Mick Healey and Roger Zetter, Linking teaching and research in
disciplines and departments, HEA, 2007
Mick Healey and Alan Jenkins, Case Studies of linking discipline-based research and
teaching in disciplines, departments, institutions and national systems, May 2008
The University of Sydney policy on research-enhanced learning and teaching,
University of Sydney, 2006, http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/RLT/usydproject/policy.htm
Acknowledgements
I am grateful for the input of my colleagues to an initial draft of this document.
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