A balancing act: facilitating a University Education Induction Programme for (early career) academics

Abstract

This article examines the University Education Induction Programme (UEIP), an academic development programme, delivered at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The authors, who developed and now facilitate the UEIP, deliver the programme to early career academics and senior academics as per a senate-mandated requirement. Drawing on Kolb’s experiential model of learning and Knowles’ ideas of andragogy, the article interrogates how individual values, and teaching knowledge and beliefs influence teaching praxis. It highlights some of the tensions within institutional practices.

Keywords:

• andragogy
• early career academics
• experiential model
• university induction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://www.ukzn.ac.za/about-ukzn/vision-and-mission; accessed on 20 November 2015.

2. http://www.ukzn.ac.za/aboutus/strategicplan.pdf; accessed 20 November 2015.