The Associate Teacher Programme is designed to be appropriate for:

• Postgraduate students who are also undertaking a teaching role
• Research staff with a teaching role
• Staff whose main role involves supporting students' learning e.g. using information technology, in the laboratory, with flexible learning systems, in the studio
• Library, Careers and advisory staff
• Hourly paid lecturers or seminar leaders with prescribed duties
• Some part-time staff who teach.

The programme aims to support inexperienced HE teachers in the development of their teaching skills and ideas in the context of their current role, and to increase their understanding and appreciation of alternative approaches and wider viewpoints of teaching and learning issues. Much of the benefit of the course derives from the opportunity to work with peers in similar situations from across the university in a cross-curricular 'community of practice', sharing ideas and experiences of teaching. Participants review and critically evaluate their on-going experiences, reflecting on the HE learning experience as both a teacher and learner.

A variety of learning and teaching methods are used, including:

• workshops and seminars
• e-learning activities
• working with peers and colleagues within the subject department
• critically reflecting on one's own planning and teaching
• using educational and subject literature to draw upon research and theory
• engaging in a number of practical tasks and writing, including observation of teaching.

You may have had some prior teaching experience, but this is not a pre-requisite for enrolment. To enrol on the programme, you must have a minimum of 10 hours of teaching and/or supporting student learning activities in Higher Education during the academic term in which you are taking the programme. You may also be involved in other teaching related activities such as office-hours, preparation, marking etc. but this will clearly be dependent upon your teaching situation and is not defined as a pre-requisite for enrolment.

Yes – engaging in ATP you will be asked to find out and think about how the students engage with and make sense of what you have done, not simply the fact of creating asynchronous resources.

Individual supervision is teaching and so yes does count. In using this for ATP work, you will need to draw on some of the literature about supervision and the role of the supervisor and increasingly there is guidance/research for all levels of supervision from UG to PhD level.

The Associate Teacher Programme attendance requirement is to attend two core workshops and three collaborative workshops:

-Pre-requisite (core workshop) - Introduction to Teaching for Lancaster (ITL)

-Induction (core workshop) - Tools for Reflective Practice

-Collaborative Workshop 1 - Inclusive Practice

-Collaborative Workshop 2 - Marking Activity & Development Planning

-Collaborative Workshop 3 - Synthesis

Exact dates are given on the Programme Dates tab.

To gain recognition your submission comprises a number of teaching related outputs. The assessment is seen as part of the learning process, and not simply a measure of attainment. The tasks therefore are based around your current teaching practices and concerns, are informed by scholarship and draw upon feedback from colleagues and students.

Submission elements:

• Authentication of practice by either:

An observation of your professional practice

or

A departmental Supporting Statement

• Development Index Planner
• Context statement: to provide the context of your prior teaching experiences and current teaching situation
• Reflective Narrative against the PSF2023 Descriptor 1 (max 1400 words, excluding citations)
• A teaching philosophy statement in your choice of format

This is a difficult question to answer, as each person varies in their approach. Much of the learning and reflection on this programme occurs during the experience of playing the teaching role, and so this forms part of your everyday work. The assessment does require wider reading and reflection, and collection of feedback and evidence from your practice accumulated during the programme. The programme is normally completed within 4 months.

There are a number of support mechanisms:

• a subject mentor in your own department, who you can observe teaching and may observe you teach, meets to discuss your teaching with you, and helps you with the development of ideas and materials in your subject.
• departmental colleagues who have responsibility for the courses on which you teach
• the programme tutor team, who support your work through core and collaborative workshops
• your peers, with whom you can share ideas and discuss your practice and emerging issues
• The Moodle virtual learning environment where you can find documents, information, and a forum for discussion
• For online cohorts, an MSTeams site to support synchronous online sessions

Successful completion of the ATP leads to recognition by Advance HE, the national body for teaching in HE in the UK, as an Associate Fellow.

At the moment a teaching qualification is not necessary for postgraduates who teach. However many institutions are now making accredited status a requirement for probation or recruitment to lecturing posts. This programme is nationally accredited by Advance HE and is therefore recognised across the HE sector. In this way it can contribute towards such requirements when applying for an academic post or promotion.

If you would like to apply for a place on the ATP programme, you must first discuss this with your Head of Department, Line Manager or Supervisor to agree that you can apply for a place and to agree to a workload allocation. To request an online application form please email us at CEDA using your Lancaster University email.

The costs of the programme are met centrally - there is no charge for individuals or departments teaching on Lancaster programmes.

If you have attended an Introduction to Teaching for Lancaster workshop previously, please provide the date when you completed this workshop on your application form.

The CEDA Programmes Officer, can answer general enquiries.
Email: CEDA@lancaster.ac.uk

You can talk to the Programme Director, Caroline Briggs if you have further queries.
Email: c.briggs4@lancaster.ac.uk