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A Timely Focus on Learning and Teaching
26 June 2004
With all of the discussion over recent months about new student
places, funding mechanisms, research reviews and major changes to
the reporting requirements for universities, people could be
forgiven for thinking that teaching and learning had taken a back
seat.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, at a
consultation meeting with government officials held in Brisbane a
few days ago, these matters were absolutely to the forefront. The
focus of the consultation was a new Learning and Teaching
Performance Fund to be introduced by the Australian Government from
2006. It is being established as a consequence of the review of
higher education conducted by Dr Brendan Nelson in 2002.
The review suggested that although teaching is recognised as a
core activity of all higher education institutions, it is research
performance that seems to get all the attention and much of the
funding reward.
So the new Learning and Teaching Performance Fund is intended to
provide the same sort of mechanisms for rewarding excellence in
teaching as currently exist for research. It is an attempt to
restore a balance between the teaching and research functions that
in some institutions has become out of kilter. This has never been
a problem at the University of the Sunshine Coast because our
academic staff individually have a balanced approach to their
teaching and their research. The University encourages this by, for
example, having as many teaching development grants available as
there are internal research grants. And we are proud of the
emphasis that everyone at the University places on students and on
helping them achieve the learning and understanding that they need
for successful study.
The new fund provides some powerful rewards for excellence in
learning and teaching. Over $54 million will be available
competitively in 2006, rising to more than $113 million in 2008.
Still not as much as is available for excellence in research where,
for example, the Australian Research Council allocates grants for
more than $275 million nationally each year. But a good start.
Much of the discussion at the consultation focussed on the
perennial problem - how do you recognise and measure excellence in
learning and teaching? It is considerably more difficult than for
research, where simple counting of research grant income, the
number of publications and the number of research degree students
who graduate each year can produce a performance index.
A measure such as the proportion of undergraduates who go on to
graduate each year might at first seem attractive. But not all
students are equally well prepared when first they enter
university, and those with a disadvantaged background can need much
more assistance to reach their full potential.
So perhaps it would be better to search for high levels of
'value-added' outcomes for students. But if that is the approach,
there will have to be testing of students as they enter the
university and then again as they leave. But what is to be tested?
It cannot be the discipline knowledge of the student, since that is
what is examined within the normal degree program anyway. And if it
is more specific skills, such as reasoning capacity or ability to
analyse a situation, a generic testing process is unlikely to
provide the level of differentiation required.
So there are many questions still to resolve before we get a
reliable and valid index on which to allocate these new Learning
and Teaching Funds.
The exciting thing is that these issues are now being discussed.
The spotlight is back on to the central function of universities,
and lots of different viewpoints are being aired.
Whatever final approach is taken, one thing is for sure.
Students will be the beneficiaries of this renewed focus on their
learning, and the teaching that guides it. And that suits our
university just fine.
Professor Paul Clark is Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University
of the Sunshine Coast