This testimonio, inspired by Anzaldúa's (2002) seven stages of conocimiento, is written in second person to highlight a series of counterstories aimed at guiding readers through the challenges of facilitating teaching conversations in higher education where deficit assumptions about students' potential are prevalent. Readers will gain insight into…

Context: Competency-based education (CBE) has been in existence in the landscape of educating health professionals since the 1970s. Despite this, there is significant variability in how CBE is defined in publication, practice, and conversation. This variability has likely contributed to common misconceptions about what it means for an educational…

This paper is positioned at the junction between the requirements of the manufacturing industry for a significantly increased number of professionally registered engineers in the UK employment pool and the excellent work which is ongoing in and around the education sector to encourage more young people to follow a career in this field. Higher…

Ask any tenure-stream or tenured faculty member about how well prepared he or she was for entering the academy, and you will get a clear sense of a lack of preparation. One estimate is that only about 50 percent received any training for university teaching. To compound the problem, universities prepare most doctoral students to become…

During the half century of the AUA's existence UK universities have experienced the fastest rate of growth and most far-reaching changes in their history. Funding arrangements in particular have changed radically. Since 1961 the finance office has been transformed from a small group of bean counters into a key management group at the heart of all…

The young people who are coming into school are not lacking in intelligence, are not lacking in intellectual capability, but are lacking in the capability of paying attention, and the capability of reading. And to a large degree, they are inadequately taught because in many instances they are taught by teachers who themselves leave much to be…

Educational foundations scholars promote often the value of pre-service teachers' learning about school and society, yet how often do they consider likely comparable value in pre-service professors' learning about university and society? Could neglect of such graduate education for the professoriate have contributed to this educational…

Higher education is at a crossroads, not only in the U.S. but also globally. This challenge is prompting an immigrant union to once again take up the labor movement's historic role of speaking for the common good and the broad interests of working people. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 615 represents 18,000 property service…

Up ahead, a foreboding wooden door showing wear from passage of earlier travelers is spotted. As the old porch light emits a pale yellow glow, a key ring emerges from deep inside the coat pocket. Searching for just the right key, the voyager settles on one that also shows age. As the key enters its receptacle and begins to turn, a clicking noise…

In this paper the authors suggest that teacher educators in higher education institutions (HEIs) in England are not fully convinced that teaching should be a Masters profession. The original engagement with Masters-level provision for student-teachers in England seems to have been founded on a technicality rather than a committed philosophical…

This essay examines the dangers of attempts by educators to clothe the teaching profession in a veneer of scientific certainty. The author argues that teaching is an art, not a science, and should be proudly proclaimed as such.

Considerable resources and intellectual attention have focused on seeking to raise the status of teaching in higher education over the last two decades. Initiatives at an institutional level have included the funding of pedagogic research, teaching awards and the creation of teaching professorships. In a broader context, the scholarship of…

In this article, the author discusses what rubric really is. A rubric is not a technical specification nor is it a checklist for ailing student performances in need of therapy. It is the finest description of what teachers think is important for their students right now, in the service of their learning. Most important, it is a statement of their…

U.S. universities have had century-long success in absorbing existing professions into their curricula--by making academe their gatekeeper. These professions often started with apprenticeships and short training courses leading to a certification examination--and were then elevated and "academized" into a comprehensive body of knowledge,…

A number of colleges and universities are aggressively recruiting professionals from outside academe for various administrative roles. Many of these professionals come to campuses from substantial corporate careers, with excellent aptitude for the job at hand, and are generally wonderful additions to the staffs. The test often faced as managers is…