Preparing future academics

Jasmina Brankovich Postgraduate student and tutor Department of History

I am privileged to be in a group of 12 postgraduate students to receive assistance through the Teaching Internship Scheme to participate in the Foundations of University Teaching and Learning programme.

The Foundations programme covers a range of topics on teaching and learning, including sessions on conducting smaller classes and teaching strategies available to tutors which are relevant to my small group teaching. Workshops and regular meetings of the group encompass a range of activities from sharing insights into broad theoretical issues related to teaching to offering constructive advice in specific situations.

The highlight of the programme was to give a 4-minute lecture to the group while being videotaped! We received both written and verbal feedback from our peers. We were encouraged to focus on specific issues of interest and relevance to our teaching. I presented a session on cultural awareness, as one of my particular concerns is the ways in which students from non-English-speaking backgrounds communicate knowledge and adjust to university culture. Professional development is invaluable in providing accessible and inclusive space in which to ground teaching into critically reflective practice and to develop my own teaching philosophy and a competent approach to teaching.

Teaching Australian history gives me the space to apply the skills honed in the programme in a home environment. Teaching experience sharpens my understanding of teaching as the development of a sense of agency in students which allows them to construct their own sense and meaning of their place in the world and to acquire communication and analytical skills demanded in their future employment. The students I have a pleasure to learn from this year consistently give me invaluable feedback, which I have learnt to use to reflect on my abilities.

The Foundations programme is an important means through which the University assists potential and new academics in developing as teachers. The teaching skills at tertiary level evolve when “hands-on” teaching experience is balanced with an opportunity to reflect on the wealth and complexity of such experience.