Exploring the academic staff development programme for newly appointed academic staff members in Universities of Technology : a systems approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT Academic staff development programmes are meant to assist newly appointed academic staff members in executing their duties effectively as university teachers. Newly appointed academic staff members join the university system with only their discipline knowledge (mode one of knowledge production). However, they are expected to teach and impart knowledge to students such that they become equipped for the marketplace. With rapid globalisation in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world economy, newly-appointed academic staff members have continued to apply conventional methods of teaching as they were instructed to do, thus affecting teaching practice and the quality of graduates they release. A need has thus arisen to reconsider academic staff development in terms of a dynamic approach which recognizes that academia is not divorced from the socio-economy and rapidly changing environment. A University of Technology functions as a system where all stakeholders work towards producing graduates who are equipped to function in the marketplace. When a systems approach is used, the appreciation of academic staff development is from a broader perspective. This includes understanding interactions between all facets of the institution, its staff members, students, curriculum and the broader society. The interaction and interconnectedness of components is complex and the output, which is the graduate student, is a product of these complex relationships. Two Universities of Technology were conveniently sampled, from each of which participants were purposively selected to participate in the study. A qualitative case study design was employed from a social constructivism lens in order to explore academic staff development programmes for newly appointed academic staff members in Universities of Technology. Interviews and focus group discussions guided by a Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) were used to elicit data from participants. Participants’ experiences were critical in outlining their perceived ways of viewing the world. Hence, soft issues were unearthed as critical in fostering the academic development of newly appointed academic staff members. The process of facilitation and initiation of academic staff development, the role of academic leadership in academic staff development and current practices of academic staff development have a significant bearing on individual development.