The teaching researcher: faculty attitudes towards the teaching and research roles

Abstract

Results from a survey on faculty attitudes towards the teaching and research roles are presented. Attention is given to: (i) the perceived value of teaching (and teaching achievements) relative to research, (ii) approaches for research and teaching integration, (iii) the satisfaction gained from typical work tasks, and (iv) the importance of various work-life factors. Factors such as academic freedom, an intellectual work environment, flexible work hours, inspirational colleagues, and work diversity are found to be highly valued. Support from peers and colleagues is also seen as a key in learning to manage the different academic roles. A relatively low value is attributed to teaching achievements. Likewise, there is often little utilisation of teaching opportunities to support research work (other than senior-year research projects). Female faculty were found to give marginally a higher importance to teaching recognition and collaborative teaching opportunities. Based on the findings, general recommendations for supporting the teaching researcher are presented.

Keywords:

• teaching and research integration
• faculty roles
• gender differences

Funding

This work was supported by the National HE STEM programme.

Additional information

About the authors

Esat Alpay is Director of Teaching Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Process and Engineering at the University of Surrey, UK. He received his BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Surrey and his PhD from the University of Cambridge. He also holds an MA degree in the Psychology of Education from the Institute of Education (London). He has wide interests in the support and development of engineering students. He has received several national teaching awards, including the Times Higher Award for the course Research Skills Development and the HEA Teaching Award for his work on Engineering Ethics.

Rianne Verschoor is a Training officer at Meyn Food Processing Technology, Amsterdam. She is currently responsible for a wide range of training and coaching activities. She holds a BA degree in Business Adminstration from Hogeschool Diedenoort Wageningen, and an MA degree in the Psychology of Education from the Institute of Education (London). She was formerly a research officer at Imperial College London working on a UK Higher Education funded project titled Practices and Approaches for the Integration of Teaching and Research.