A QUT program designed to improve job prospects for PhD students and another enhancing the quality of teaching in some of Australia's lowest socio-economic schools have been recognised with major higher education national awards.
With most doctoral students receiving no training on tertiary teaching, QUT researchers created the Teaching Advantage (TA) program to improve the job prospects of doctoral candidates seeking a career in academia.
QUT's highly-acclaimed National Exceptional teachers for Disadvantaged Schools Program was developed by the Faculty of Education to address the significant social issue of educational disadvantage through a teacher education program that explicitly focused on the preparation of high-quality teacher graduates.
Both programs have won a national OLT Program Award at the 2015 Australian Awards for University Teaching.
The Teaching Advantage program was established in 2011 and has improved the teaching techniques of 216 doctoral candidates to date, with 69 per cent securing academic positions, compared to the national average of 28 per cent.
Dr Dominique Greer, Associate Professor Abby Cathcart and Professor Larry Neale, from QUT Business School, designed the program to support doctoral students in developing early career teaching skills.
Research states only 16 per cent of Australian higher degree research students with academic career intentions report having participated in any teaching development during their candidature.
“Most academic job descriptions require candidates to do three things: conduct research, teach effectively, and engage with the university and wider community,” Professor Neale said.
“The broader research in Australia suggests that even though many PhD students teach during their studies, they often have no access to teaching development and that means they struggle and have low teaching self-efficacy.
“It also means when they go for job interviews and are asked for their teaching philosophy or how to align curriculum, for example, they are underprepared. And the reality is many PhDs are badly unprepared for teaching.
“We wanted to help the PhD students who want academic jobs to change the way they think about teaching and to improve their skills and belief in their abilities before they graduate.”
The program, which includes workshops focusing on practical and scholarly approaches to teaching, unit coordination and academic career progression, had also helped international students with the cultural challenges of teaching in Australia, Professor Neale said.
“Students from 27 different countries have completed the program, and TA has been taught in several other countries in the last few years,” he said.
“The program is also the first in Australia to offer PhD students the chance to gain international recognition for their teaching through the UK Higher Education Academy. QUT now has 50 PhD students who are Associate Fellows of the HEA.”
The TA program was also recently received an International Education Association of Australia award.
The National Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools Program has led to six other Faculties of Education adopting the program in Australia.
Media contact:
Rob Kidd, QUT Media, 07 3138 1841, rj.kidd@qut.edu.au
After hours, Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901
