‘Frankly, as far as I can see, it has very little to do with teaching’. Exploring academics’ perceptions of the HEA Fellowships

ABSTRACT

The United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) is a national framework that aims to enhance and raise the status of teaching and supporting learning in Higher Education (HE). This paper provides an overview of the adoption and an indication of the impact of Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellowships through a document review and a qualitative study. The document review suggests that the adoption of HEA Fellowships has grown substantially, to half of the academics and related staff in the UK but shows no positive or negative relationship with the perceived quality of teaching in the National Student Survey (NSS) over the same period (2011-12 to 2017-18). The relationship between HEA Fellowships and the enhancement of teaching practice is the focus of the qualitative study. The analysis of in-depth interviews (n=11) conducted with senior academics who have obtained Senior Fellowship, at a post-1992 and a research-intensive university, reveals a complex relationship between the recognition schemes and the enhancement of practice. This needs to be understood against the managerial realities underpinning engagement, the limitations of the recognition schemes, and standards for the enhancement of teaching practices. The discussion explores the implications for academic developers, leaders, and policymakers involved in HEA Fellowships. The paper was accepted without further amendments. 

KEYWORDS:

• Managerialism
• educational development
• professional learning
• professionalisation
• UKPSF
• HEA Fellowships

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received to undertake this research.