Importance of Theme “Building Support into Teaching”
The theme “Building support into teaching” is important for a number of reasons. Not only does it help to ensure that students understand a topic and encourage the students’ educational development, it also saves the educator time as topics in the course will not need to be repeated.
Sian Rees, Senior Lecturer in the College of Arts & Humanities, on ‘Building Support into Teaching’
Dr Phil Race, Addressing Student Satisfaction – adopted from material published in Making Teaching Work by Phil Race and Ruth Pickford, London: Sage, 2007).
How to build support and advice into teaching ?
- Concentrate on what your students are intended to learn.
- Offer advice regarding how best you advise them to go about their learning. For example, don’t just suggest “read Chapter 4 of the textbook”. Instead suggest “Use Chapter 4 of the textbook to find out answers to the 25 short questions on the blue handout sheet”.
- Enquire in whole-group sessions which parts of your syllabus are causing your students most difficulty. For example, give your students a post-it exercise, asking them to complete the starter “The piece of advice I most need at the moment is …”.
The theme is also significant in relation to the National Student Survey and the Higher Education Academy Fellowship.
National Student Survey
The theme has been taken from the National Student Survey question “I have received sufficient advice and support with my studies” under the category Academic support.
In the recent 2014 NSS results 81% of students at Swansea University agreed that “I have received sufficient advice and support with my studies”
Higher Education Academy
The theme is also important in regards to the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) as “building support into teaching” contributes to Areas of Activity A2, teach/and or support learning, Core Knowledge K3, how students learn, both generally and within their subject / disciplinary area, and Professional Values V1, respect individual learners and diverse learning communities.
For more information on the UKPSF follow the link https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/professional-recognition/uk-professional-standards-framework-ukpsf
