This miniproject helped the University of Warwick investigate the growing need for formalised in-service training for mathematics academic staff to support them in their teaching duties, complementing the other generic university Centre for Academic Practice (CAP) and external events/workshops.
Experience with the Warwick Teaching Certificate (WTC), the generic training provided by the CAP, had shown that it was unable to deal with a number of subject-specific issues, which needed be addressed by departmentally-based training. Moreover, its assessment methods, which were the same for all subject areas, were largely foreign to mathematicians. As a result of this experience, the Mathematics Department at Warwick University designed a variant of the training that would be appropriate for mathematics teaching, the MWTC.
The project aimed to further research and develop the provision and then disseminate the outcomes; further investigate the issues, reflecting back on the first year of operation, improve the design and evaluate the programme. Previous experience had shown that:
1. prospective mentors need training and support in their supporting role;
2. new staff need to find it easier to learn from exemplars and their colleagues (for example, course materials, exam papers archived in the library, or mounted on the web);
3. there are cost implications of developing and implementing new teaching practice; and,
4. training embedded within teaching can lead to practical improvements within a department.
2004-2005 was the first academic year to run the subject-specific training. The MWTC aimed to provide a more satisfactory training by:
1. building the training around an in-service apprenticeship;
2. replacing generic taught modules by mentoring, by experienced members of staff, supplemented with talks and workshops delivered by recognised specialists on topics of obvious relevance;
3. building a programme which seeks the consent of existing members of staff, and responds to the needs and interests of the new staff undergoing the training; and,
4. Encouraging new staff to engage critically with the teaching programmes they find in Warwick, in the light of their previous experience.
The MWTC was generally well received by its participants, and was found to be more popular than the generic certificate.
There has continued to be a subject-specific teaching certificate: the WTC has now been replaced by the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic and Professional Practice (PCAPP), the variant of the generic certificate for mathematics and statistics teaching is now the M/S PCAPP.
Once a demarcation between subject-specific training and generic training is understood and appreciated, departments in other HEIs will be able to bring in appropriate generic training where needed.