The nature of academic appointments in Australia has changed. Given the recent emergence and growth of teaching focused academics roles across countries and contexts, in this conceptual paper we begin by parsing the language and role descriptions used for these academic appointments. Then, we consider what we know about teaching focused academics…

Doctoral education and supervision have changed in recent decades. The increasing prevalence of co-supervision has been a notable aspect of this, but change also includes stricter accountability and quality assurance measures, such as the quantification of workload allocations in supervision as well as of academic work more broadly. This paper…

Researching the experiences of teaching focused academic (TFA) roles reveals challenges and alienation. Investigating their practices can enrich theorisations of their role. We conducted a focused ethnography capturing data from institutional materials, focus groups, and key informant interviews. We present two vignettes demonstrating the…

The experiences of academics caught up in the rise of teaching academic (TA) (teaching-only) roles in Australia, the UK, the USA, and Canada, are not well documented in the literature. This paper describes a recent university restructure that resulted in a significant increase in teaching-only positions being created. Despite the claims by the…

Within the contemporary higher education landscape, maintaining student engagement and retention has become of critical concern to universities. Universities have mostly responded to this concern by implementing institutional engagement and retention initiatives by professional university staff. Thus far, however, the role that teaching academics…

Four stories of social learning from one Australian university reflect on communities of practice (CoPs) focused on different aspects of quality in teaching and learning. Each convener writes about their CoP convening experience in the context of Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner's mapping of the "mindset of a systems convener" (2021,…

Globally, there is an increasing prevalence of higher education students with mental health issues. Educators are guaranteed contact points, and students often seek their support to manage their mental wellness. However, there is limited research describing educators' experiences of these interactions. This interpretive phenomenological study…

Teaching staff play a pivotal role in the prevention, detection and management of cheating in higher education. They enact curriculum and assessment design strategies, identify and substantiate suspected cases, and are positioned by many as being on the 'front line' of a battle that threatens to undermine the integrity of higher education. Against…

While university participation has widened, retention and success rates remain lower for some diverse Australian undergraduate cohorts, e.g. students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, Indigenous students and students with disability. Institutional characteristics and culture are more important factors in attrition than student…

Over the past decade, there has been unprecedented regulation of initial teacher education (ITE). The objective of this study was to generate an in-depth understanding of the structural challenges faced by tertiary educators as they responded to a federal policy and a related state government policy in teacher education. The policies imposed on…

The complex role of academic language and learning (ALL) professionals in higher education is poorly understood, even though it contributes to key outcomes such as improved study skills, academic language enhancement, curriculum development and student retention. In this paper, we explore the multiple professional identities of people working in…

Australian higher education has faced both global economic and environmental challenges, including most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. To deliver in this resource constrained environment, academic workforce and academic roles are being reshaped. Teaching and education focused academic roles are rapidly increasing but come with opportunities and…

Academics in Western universities, especially those in the United States, are frequently called on to serve as quality gatekeepers in other higher education systems. International opportunities for service to the profession can take many forms, ranging from program reviews to expert consultations, and they constitute a great opportunity to learn…

Generalised moves to online and more flexible delivery modes of teaching have challenged the perceptions and expectations of university educators worldwide. Congruence around educator role expectations, held by both the educator and their students, therefore is central to educator wellbeing, and by default, student success in a changing university…

To what extent do higher education regulators and quality agencies need to assess the level of scholarship in universities and other higher education providers? To answer this question, we need to address the following issues: What is scholarship and why does it need to be upheld? Does it feature in higher education quality standards and codes,…