Writing Development for Lecturers Moving from Further to Higher Education: A case study

The move from further education (FE) to higher education (HE) presents FE lecturers with challenges and opportunities. One of the most testing is the expectation that, while carrying a heavy teaching load, perhaps participating in a course on teaching and learning in HE and possibly studying for a higher degree, FE lecturers will begin to do research and write for scholarly journals. It seems logical and sensible that they should receive development and support for this key professional role, particularly in writing for publication, since, for some, this is a new task. Development and support in scholarly writing are offered in some institutions. One example combined formal and informal development for FE lecturers over the short and long term. An Academic Writing course provided practical and theoretical development, while a writers' group gave support over the long term. Tracking one FE lecturer who participated in both the course and the group revealed 'highlights and lowlights' of the FE-HE transition. Analysis of 40 e-mails, written during one year, reveals the impact of this support and development on the lecturer: understanding of the HE sector, resolutions of teaching/research tensions and development as a writer. This paper describes the forms of development and support for scholarly writing, and represents a lecturer's experience of them. The lecturer's reflections on his documented experience are included: the e-mails understate the difficulties faced. Analysis of the e-mails reveals a development process: a framework is derived for enabling FE staff to become HE writers.