Judyth Sachs

Teacher professionalism: why are we still talking about it?

Abstract It is now more than 10 years after the publication of the monograph, The Activist Teaching Profession, which, at the time, could be described as a call to action for the teaching profession. I reflect here on how far has the profession progressed in responding to that call to action. The idea of a ‘call to action’ could be seen to born out of industrial rather than professional discourses: 10 years ago different factors were shaping teachers’ professional practice and identity and a call to action was a metaphor and a strategy to mobilize teachers. In this paper, I identify the factors that are still influencing and shaping the teaching profession and argue that different times require different responses and that current thinking and debates around teacher professionalism circulate around professional learning. In this paper, I argue that the time for an industrial approach to the teaching profession has passed. I make the case for systems, schools and teachers to be more research active with teachers’ practices validated and supported through research.

Peer review of learning and teaching in higher education: international perspectives

1. Introduction: The Place of Peer Review in Learning and Teaching Judyth Sachs and Mitch Parsell.- PART 1: Theory.- 2. Collaborative Peer-Supported Review of Teaching David Gosling.- 3. A Practical Model for Conducting Helpful Peer Review of Teaching William Buskist, Emad A. Ismail, and James E. Groccia.- 4. Leadership: A Cultural Perspective on Review as Quality Assurance versus Quality Enhancement Jemina Napier, Mehdi Riazi and Christa Jacenyik-Trawoger.- 5. Climates of Communication: Collegiality, Affect, Spaces and Attitudes in Peer Review Trudy Ambler, Meena Chavan, Jennifer Clarke and Nicole Matthews.- 6. Six Questions Michael Hitchens.- PART 2: Practice.- 7. Peer Review as Quality Assurance Wendy Kilfoil.- 8. Peer Review for Distance Educators: Two Case Studies Andrelyn Applebee.- 9. Peer Review in a Foundations in Learning and Teaching Program Marina Harvey and Ian Solomonides.- 10. Peer Review of Teaching at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Amy Goodburn.- 11. Implementing Departmental Peer Observation of Teaching in Universities Maureen Bell and Paul Cooper.- PART 3: Conclusion.- 12. Was Moses peer reviewed? The Ten Commandments of Peer Observation of Teaching David Spencer.- 13. International Perspectives on Peer Review as Quality Enhancement Mick Healey, Malin Irhammar, Wendy R Kilfoil, Judith Lyons and Trudy Ambler.

Skilling or Emancipating? Metaphors for Continuing Teacher Professional Development

When learning is at the centre of the teaching enterprise, we would assume that the continuing professional development of teachers would be a priority of both education systems and teachers alike. Teachers like other professionals need to update their skill and knowledge base—in the case of teachers their pedagogical skills and content knowledge. In this chapter, I use three metaphors to describe current approaches to the continuing professional development of teachers: retooling, remodelling and revitalising. I add a fourth one—reimagining—to indicate the need for teachers themselves to have some agency in identifying priorities and needs for their own professional learning. My argument is that continuing professional development needs to incorporate all four of the elements of retooling, remodelling, revitalising and reimagining to have two interrelated effects: first to ensure that the goal of improving student learning is achieved and second that a strong and autonomous teaching profession is supported.

Imagining a Curriculum for an Engaged University

In this chapter we elaborate on how, as a research intensive Australian metropolitan university, Macquarie University responded to global and local pressures and the wicked problems these present to develop an undergraduate curriculum that aspires to be distinctive, intellectually challenging, and community-engaged: one that meets the needs – personal and professional – of students as they transition into a world of complex social and technological change. We trace the path by which the Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) program, a central plank of the re-imagined curriculum, was conceived. We describe PACE’s conceptual antecedents in an interconnected array of pedagogical approaches and philosophical conceptions of the purpose of higher education united by a common belief in the efficacy of engaged, experiential learning. We chart the initial phases of the program’s implementation and argue that PACE is proving to be a significant contributor to and differentiator of Macquarie University in terms of student experience and capability, and applied, community-engaged learning.

The Rise of Teaching Focused Academics in Universities

This paper describes developments in the rise and implementation of teaching focused positions in universities. We note that such development is not without challenge given the research priority of many universities, and we note that teaching focused academics need to be across developments in the disciplinary knowledge of their field and able to integrate these into their teaching practice. We argue that teaching scholars must be different but equal to those engaged in research and/or research and teaching, we note the Importance of Ernest Boyer and we highlight the role of scholarship in teaching focussed positions. We provide examples of universities that have implemented teaching focused positions and identify implications for Chinese universities.

Introduction: The Place of Peer Review in Learning and Teaching

At a time where accountability and transparency are dominant rallying calls from governments and students alike to improve the quality of teaching in universities globally, the language and processes of quality assurance, audit and quality enhancement are now a central element of the lexicon of both university managers and teachers. The common aspiration is to improve the quality of student learning outcomes through a systematic approach of data collection, analysis and decision-making. The challenge for universities is how to do this. This volume presents one approach that is gaining acceptance across the world, namely peer review of teaching. This monograph draws on contemporary theory and practice to provide guidance for the development and implementation of peer review of teaching.

Rethinking Educational Practice Through Reflexive Inquiry: An Introduction

A festschrift recognises the contribution of a scholar’s work at an important point in their life. When Susan Groundwater-Smith’s 70th birthday was approaching and she was momentarily threatening to ‘retire’ (a threat that has since been revoked), we thought it timely to reflect on and celebrate her overall contribution to the field of education. We both have worked with Susan and acknowledge her commitment to understanding practice through theoretical, scholarly and practitioner interventions, as well as her contribution to our own lives and those of many others as scholars and educators. Given our respect for Susan and our delight in her, we wanted to find a way to publicly acknowledge Susan the Scholar and hence, the seed for an edited work in her honour was planted. After gaining agreement from prospective contributors and publisher, we divulged our collusion and shared our plans with Susan. She was both humbled and delighted and amazingly, for those of us who know her, temporarily lost for words.

The Practice of PACE: Lessons Learned and Imagined Futures

PACE has been the work of many people – students, university staff, industry and community partners foremost amongst them. The challenge for the future development of PACE is, given what we have learned from our past and current activity, how do we use the learnings, insights and unintended outcomes to shape and optimize imagined futures for the program? There will be many challenges to confront in the years ahead as the program continues to ‘engage and serve the community’ and ‘improve and refine a curriculum that has personal transformation at its very core’ (Sachs, J, Preface. In: Sachs J, Clark L (eds) Learning through community engagement: vision and practice in higher education. Springer, Dordrect, 2016). How best can we meet these challenges, key amongst them being to ensure that PACE continues to deliver quality experiences and impact for its key constituencies as the number and diversity of students, partners and activities grows? Befitting the centrality of reflective practice to PACE (Harvey M, Baker M, Semple AL, Lloyd K, McLachlan K, Walkerden G, Fredericks V, Reflection for learning: a holistic approach to disrupting the text. In: Sachs J, Clark L (eds) Learning through community engagement: vision and practice in higher education. Springer, Dordrecht, 2016, Chap. 11), this chapter looks both back and forward to offer reflections on this and related questions.

Accountability, Standards and Activism: A Challenge or Opportunity for Teacher Education

Issues of accountability and transparency are at the core of an active and responsible teaching profession. In contemporary society, teachers have a primary responsibility to contribute to public debates about the quality of teaching and the quality of student learning outcomes. With this in mind, teachers need to participate in shaping the form and content of teaching standards and be actively involved in ensuring that their own classroom practices are accountable and transparent. Such activity leads to a robust and intellectually challenging approach to teachers’ professional growth and learning and a confident and competent teaching profession.

Managing the Challenges of Technology to Support Learning: Some Lessons from Experience

In this paper I identify challenges I have faced as an academic leader working to improve and sustain quality learning and teaching in an information-rich environment. If the possibilities provided through ICT are overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term, then considerable expenditure may well be spent on resources that have surface appeal of being innovative but do not add much value to the quality of student learning.