How do professional service staff perceive and engage with professional development programmes within higher education institutions?

ABSTRACT

Professional development is vital for professional service staff but there is little research evidence on how this group engages with development programmes. A cross-sectional study of professional service staff was carried out in two universities who are engaged in the Association of University Administrators Mark of Excellence. The study examined the perceived barriers and motivations for staff to engage in development and the degree of support from line managers for staff development. A web-based questionnaire was sent to 90 staff in Uni A and 459 staff in Uni B. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the similarities and differences between the universities. Key findings indicated the barriers that prevented staff from engaging in professional development included the lack of a supportive line manager, time, opportunities and workload. Staff felt motivated to engage in professional development when opportunities were linked to future roles and career progression within a defined career pathway.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional development
• professional service staff
• career development
• professional development programmes
• higher education
• Association of University Administrators (AUA)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Ruth is a Division Manager at the Division of Population Medicine, School of Medicine in Cardiff University. Ruth has been a member of the AUA since 2013 and has recently completed an MSc in Higher Education Administration, Management and Leadership.

ORCID

Ruth Coomber http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4493-8637