Ruth Graham, an independent consultant for higher education, has developed a teaching excellence framework for the Royal Academy of Engineering. This was published in April 2018 and it shows the steps a teacher can take to become a top player in his field.

"This opens the door to a career in the field of education and educational innovation," says Birgit Pepin. She is the leader of the 4TU.Centre for Engineering Education (4TU.CEE). "Therefore, I am pleased that, as a follow-up to this framework, a number of universities worldwide together with Ruth Graham took the initiative to set up a longitudinal study to see if the culture in the field of teaching is changing." The four technical universities all participate in this Teaching Cultures Survey.

1884 teachers

"In concrete terms, this means that on the 11th of February a questionnaire will be sent to all the teaching staff at our university," says Chantal Brans, coordinator of the 4TU.CEE. It concerns almost two thousand people, including 931 PhDs and 185 professors. The research is longitudinal; a questionnaire can be expected every year until 2023. In total fifteen universities participate.

"By participating, the four TUs say that they think educational culture is important," says Pepin and Brans. "We also want to know how teachers experience the culture at their university. How do they professionalize in their field? The comparison of the four universities of technology is also interesting. Can we work together and what can we learn from each other?"

Questions

The questionnaire contains questions on three levels. About yourself as a teacher, for example: to what extent do you think you need didactic training if you are a content expert? About your role in the team of teachers: are your skills discussed during the annual result and development interview? And about the culture at the university: to what extent does your employer support you in your development?

The results from the questionnaire that will be sent on the 11th of February will be the baseline measurement. At the beginning of April, an interim report will be issued for each participating institute based on this measurement. Based on that report, a team led by the director of DPO (Service for Personnel and Organization) will issue an advice to the Executive Board about the next steps to be taken.