Exploring the rules of engagement via exemplars: enhancing staff and student dialogue about assessment and learning practice

This is an ESCalate Developing Pedagogy and Practice grant awarded to Kay Sambell of Northumbria University in 2009. This project develops a bank of activities and resources to enable Education staff to use concrete exemplars of student work as a means of enabling their students to approach assessment effectively. There will be two inter-related phases, one targeted on staff, one focused on their students. Both phases seek to promote dialogue about the tacit rules of engagement surrounding assessmen

Teaching is a co-learning experience: academics reflecting on learning and teaching in an 'internationalized' faculty.

This paper reports on a study that took place in a faculty of humanities and social sciences at a UK university. The institution had recently undergone a radical restructure and the vision for the future presented by the new senior management team highlighted internationalization as one of four major areas for growth. The internationalization agenda was largely focused on increasing recruitment, but provided an opportunity to engage the academic community in a discourse about what internationalization meant for them and the challenges and opportunities it presented. Emerging themes relate to experiences and understandings of internationalization, with implications for learning and teaching, and student induction and support. The value of discourse about pedagogical development and practical innovations and the sharing of best practice are suggested as means to achieve conceptual change and a broader vision of internationalization

Competitive and cooperative impulses to internationalization: reflecting on the interplay between management intentions and the experience of academics in a British university.

This paper explores some of the practical tensions associated with higher education internationalization through the introduction of an institutional case study. The case highlights the interplay between policy-makers and academics around the emergence of an 'internationalization' agenda in a British university. It aims to illustrate aspects of the debate within the literature which discuss the gap between competitive and cooperative international motivations and to explore the impact of commercial internationalization upon the academic community. The key conclusions are that: cooperative and competitive impulses to internationalization respond to different ideological positions; linking a commercial revenue-generating approach with internationalist rhetoric may frustrate the development of an international orientation in an institution; and increasing academic disengagement with the commercial agenda possesses the potential to obstruct management intention

Note of Association of Research Managers and Administrators REF Audit Compliance Meeting

No abstract available

Support workers in community mental health teams for older people: exploring sources of satisfaction and stress

Context. Support workers play an essential role in multidisciplinary community mental health teams for older people (CMHTsOP) in England. However, little is known about how they perceive their role or the impact this has on their levels of stress, wellbeing and job satisfaction. Objectives: To compare CMHTsOP support workers’ perceptions of the psychosocial characteristics of their work with those of registered CMHTsOP practitioners. Methods: A postal survey of CMHTsOP staff in nine mental health trusts. Information was collected about job demands, controls and support using the Job Content Questionnaire. Additional data was collected on other psychosocial features of CMHTsOP working using job satisfaction and intention-to-quit measures and a set of bespoke statements which were supplemented by a subset from the Occupational Stress Indicator. Findings: Responses were received from 43 support workers and 166 registered practitioners. Support workers reported significantly lower job demands and better co-worker support than registered practitioners. They were also significantly more satisfied with their jobs and more likely to believe that their skills and strengths were used appropriately. The majority of both groups were positive about their team’s climate and their value and identity within it. Limitations: Although the study explored the psychosocial characteristics of work that contribute to wellbeing, it did not directly measure stress. Implications: Given the growing number of CMHTsOP support workers and their diverse roles, future research might usefully explore the specific tasks which contribute most to individual satisfaction and wellbeing

Note of Association of Research Managers and Administrators REF Audit Compliance Meeting

No abstract available