Enhancing College-based Higher Education through Scholarly Activity: A Comprehensive Guide

1. John Widdowson Principal New College Durham Chair, Mixed Economy Group www.mixedeconomygroup.co.uk

2. Exploring Scholarship and Scholarly Activity in College-based HE • Part 1 “Context and Issues” • Part 2 “Survey – The rolerole of research, scholarship, scholarly activity and CPD in supporting the delivery of college based Higher Education” • Part 3 “A Practice Guide to scholarly activity in college-based HE: what works?” Small case studies

3. Context and Issues • Review of earlier work • Policy perspectives e.g. QAA, HEFCE, HEA • Requirements of professional bodies • Other agencies e.g. LSIS (now ETF). IfL • Alternative providers • International perspectives

4. Staff Survey – Perspectives from Colleges • Contributions from 60 colleges from around 257 • Follow up interviews with 25 colleges • Discussion with 6 professional bodies

5. The Nature and Size of Provision (FT)

6. Defining Scholarly Activity • Of 60 colleges 35 have a definition • Of which 7 use a definition provided by a partner HEI • Examples/lists rather than definitions (?)

7. Forms of Scholarly Activity • Scholarly Activity as undertaken by HE and FE teachers

8. External Support/Drivers • Forms of support for Scholarly Activity

9. Barriers to Engagement with SA

10. Other Issues • Staff teaching hours • The nature of scholarly activity • Evidence and impact

11. Emerging Themes • Changes in the way colleges define scholarly activity • Strategic engagement with scholarly activity • Drivers, enablers and barriers • Key questions for teachers including balancing teaching, academic and “professional” roles, managing “isolation”, developing a workable, useful definition of SA • Key questions for colleges including critical mass, measuring impact, collaboration, funding, administrative support

12. A Practice Guide: What Works? • What is the purpose of SA? • Does “pure” or “blue skies” research have a place in HE in FE? • How does scholarly activity articulate with continuous professional development (in a “parent” profession) and college staff development? • What is the role of “live briefs” and teaching by practitioners?

13. A Practice Guide: What Works? • Should those teaching Higher Education have different conditions of service from their colleagues teaching Further Education? • How can colleges create and sustain an HE ethos amongst teachers? • How is Scholarly Activity defined and recorded? • How is the impact of scholarly activity measured? • How do colleges manage teaching loads in HE in FE?

14. Overall Conclusions • Whole college approaches • Managing scale (large or small) • Inter college collaboration • Clear and shared understanding of the role of SA • Engaging students • Critical review and positive impact on teaching and learning