A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

Teaching and learning credentials
❘
479
engagement with practice more effective and appropriate aims which assessment can get
in the way of? How far do institutional and departmental norms and hierarchies prevent
the inexperienced academic from exploring and developing their teaching in innovative
ways? Stephen Rowland (2000) raises a number of such critical questions about teaching
and its development.
Case studies 3 and 4 consist largely of self-report by early career academics on their
responses to programmes and assessments in teaching and learning. The academics come
from two UK universities with profiles that are very different from each other in terms of
student bodies, research ratings and staff time spent on teaching. The two accredited
programmes use some common but also some differing assessment formats.
Case study 3: Perceptions of assessment and the
Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in
Higher Education (PGCLTHE) at the University of Leeds
This short case study has two strands. First, there is a description of the course
and the assessment process. Second, there are quotes (in italics) from recent
completers in response to the question ‘What did the assessment for the
PGCLTHE do for, and to, you?’
The PGCLTHE, a 60-credit, M-level qualification for staff at Leeds, may be gained
by two different routes. The learning outcomes are the same for both routes but
the assessment method varies: four case studies of teaching practice plus a
professional development plan for one route, and a portfolio for the other. Both
routes address the requirements of the UK Professional Standards Framework at
standard descriptor 2 (Table 28.1A).
What participants say about the outcomes
There are five core attributes that the PGCLTHE programme aims to ingrain in
those who successfully complete it. They should:
1 Develop the habit of continually reviewing their teaching practice in a critical
way (reflection).
On completion of each assignment, I became more and more aware of the need to
take time out of my busy teaching schedule and reflect upon what it is that I am
trying to achieve in each module, and whether I am doing that in the best possible
way.
Far from a hoop-jumping exercise, I believe it [the assessment process] has made
me think more carefully about why I am doing what I am doing at every stage of the
teaching process.