Directions in Staff Development

This collection of readings is intended to provide a source book on best practices in staff development in higher education within a British context. The 13 papers are grouped into three parts: part 1 presents the educational development tradition which has focused on development of staff as teachers; part 2 considers development of staff in managerial, administrative, clerical, technical, and manual tasks; and part 3 addresses issues in the organization and practice of staff development. After an introductory paper on issues and trends by the editor, the papers are: (1) “Changing Lecturers’ Conceptions of Teaching and Learning Through Action Research” (Graham Gibbs); (2) “Accredited Courses in Teaching and Learning” (Lee Andresen); (3) “Encouraging Reflective Practice Through Distance Education” (Bob Ross and Jennifer Pittman); (4) “Releasing Staff on Projects” (Joyce Barlow); (5) “Getting and Using Student Feedback” (James Wisdom); (6) “Top Training: Development for Institutional Managers” (Robin Middlehurst); (7) “The Training of Academic Heads of Departments” (John L. Davies); (8) “Provision for Allied Staff” (John Doidge); (9) “Working Across the Hierarchy” (Liz Beaty); (10) “The Implications of Quality Assurance, Audit and Assessment” (George Gordon); (11) “An Institutional Framework” (Lewis Elton); (12) “A Strategy for Evaluation” (David Baume and Carole Baume); and (13) “Meeting the Challenges” (David Boud). (Contains 240 references.) (DB)