Academic staff development and
communities of teaching practice

Over many years researchers have studied how students learn; how teachers conceptualise and facilitate learning and teaching; the work of educational development units; recognising and rewarding excellent teaching; education for the professions; the development of expertise; and workplace learning. Yet despite all this literature that could inform the professional education and development of tertiary teachers, and a need to respond to increasing student numbers and diversity by improving the quality of teaching, little seems to have changed in NZ tertiary institutions' provision of academic staff development.

This paper reports on three case studies that investigated how people become tertiary teachers in a university, a polytechnic and a wananga in New Zealand. The research showed that they gained most of their teaching knowledge and skills on-the-job, informally and experientially, and much less through formal provision such as seminars, workshops or courses. Such knowledge was mainly tacit and procedural, rather than propositional. Analytic generalisation suggests that similar findings would be likely in other institutions in New Zealand and in countries with similar tertiary systems. Academics belong to communities of practice, such as their institution, department, or programme team, as well as their discipline or profession, and it is in those communities that their working knowledge and identities as teachers develop. A framework for strengthening initial and on-going professional education for tertiary teachers is proposed, supported by concepts from the literature of community of practice (Wenger, 1998, 2000). The role of institutions' educational development units within such a framework is also considered.