What do graduate teaching assistants’ perceptions of pedagogy suggest about current approaches to their vocational development?

Abstract

This paper explores the current assumptions behind vocational training for graduate teaching assistants at a large, urban, research‐led UK university. Through qualitative evaluation it reflects on the perceptions of participants on a graduate teaching assistant ‘learning and teaching module’ in terms of an interpretation of their views on pedagogic practice. These reflections suggest that three of the assumptions upon which GTA training has been, and still is, predicated view the process in a relatively simplistic manner. The paper suggests that the pedagogic socialization process has been inaccurately homogenized as a postgraduate issue, ignoring the possibility that relatively sophisticated perceptions of good teaching practice are already firmly in place when a graduate enters a doctoral programme.

Notes

1. This module was subsequently accredited by the Institute for Learning and Teaching, now the Higher Education Academy, as offering Associate Practitioner status on completion.

2. In actuality, the numbers registered in the first three years of the programme were between 11 and 13, so peer groups had no more than four members.