Career progression in higher education
Resource 1
The role that one’s teaching efficacy plays in advancing or retarding one’s career progress in higher education is neither uniform nor obvious. Different universities speak in very different ways about the extent to which they value teaching compared to research. Even institutions that profess to take teaching very seriously in evaluating candidates for hiring and promotion may differ greatly in terms of what they deem to be “acceptable” or “excellent” achievement in this area. Without a clear understanding of what their universities expect of them, teachers who would like to advance their careers may feel frustrated or disincentivized to become the kind of reflective practitioners that we have been encouraging you to become.
While promotion may not be crucial for all teachers, it is vital for those who prioritize it to understand whether their achievements are appropriate for their respective career stages. The Career Framework for University Teaching is a website that provides teachers with a framework that they can use to evaluate their teaching (whether in the context of appointment, promotion, or professional development) and advance their academic careers. Work through the website’s promotion criteria for further information and guidance on the criteria you need to become an effective teacher, a skilled and collegial teacher, a scholarly teacher, an institutional leader, or a national or global leader.
Resource 2
As anyone who has served on an academic hiring or promotion committee can attest, academic employers usually are less impressed by the quantity of a candidate’s teaching experience than by the quality of their self-presentation. It is entirely possible to teach a course many times without developing your abilities as a teacher; conversely, it is possible to teach a smaller number of times but to advance significantly in your ability to articulate what you do and why you do it. It is important for you to not only be effective in your teaching, but to also be able to adequately explain your teaching approach through your teaching philosophy.
In Module 7, you created two drafts of your teaching philosophy, which you submitted for peer review. You will refine and submit the final version of this teaching philosophy statement at the end of this unit. Explore additional examples of teaching philosophies from various disciplines (located under the heading “Examples”, which is located near the bottom of the page) to support your completion of this unit’s teaching portfolio component submission.
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