Supporting learning development: the role of teaching and learning co‐ordinators
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889710174486 |
| Pages | 150-158 |
| Published date | 01 September 1997 |
| Date | 01 September 1997 |
| Author | Sue Thompson |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Introduction
John Moores University (JMU) is a large
metropolitan university with a broad course
portfolio. It has 16 academic schools, each
offering a range of subject programmes. The
university has recently established a network
of school-based teaching and learning co-
ordinators (TLCs) as part of a teaching and
learning strategy which has as its primary
objective the enhancement of teaching and
learning quality.
The rationale for the introduction of teach-
ing and learning co-ordinators locates the role
of the TLC in the context of a particular
stance the university has taken to supporting
school-based development work. Although
this article is primarily concerned with the
implementation stage of a particular university
policy, and the change management issues
which it raises, it also provides some details of
how the strategy is beginning to work in prac-
tice and identifies possible ways forward for
further development.
Context: the need for change
One of the main external pressures on higher
education institutions in recent years has been
the growing demands for quality assurance,
often expressed in terms of the need for
greater cost-effectiveness and public account-
ability, and a national drive for teaching quali-
ty through the quality assurance requirements
of the HE Funding Councils and the Higher
Education Quality Council. The Final Report
of the Joint Planning Group for Quality Assur-
ance in Higher Education states that the prime
responsibility of an external quality agency
should be:
to support higher education institutions in
discharging their responsibility for the mainte-
nance and enhancement of the quality and
standards of educational provision. Students,
both within and beyond the UK, need to know
about the quality and standards of educational
provision in an increasingly diverse higher
education sector. So do employers, who recruit
the graduates of higher education institutions,
the taxpayer and Parliament, which has placed
on the funding bodies a statutory responsibility
to ensure proper accountability for the use of
public funds (Joint Planning Group, 1996, para.
5, p. 7).
Against this background the report summa-
rizes the purposes of quality in higher educa-
tion as being:
150
Supporting learning
development: the role
of teaching and learning
co-ordinators
Sue Thompson
The author
Sue Thompson is Manager of the Learning Methods Unit,
Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
Abstract
A case study of one university’s strategic approach to the
promotion, support and resourcing of teaching and
learning developments within the institution. This is set in
the context of external requirements for quality assurance
and the changing nature of higher education. Strategy is
described in terms of policy development and implementa-
tion of new frameworks and support structures. A particu-
lar feature of the strategy is support for school-based
development and the appointment of school-based
teaching and learning co-ordinates (TLCs). Explains the
rationale for TLCs and the means by which they were
introduced. Gives examples of how the TLC role works in
practice. Identifies successes and pitfalls, as well as issues
for further development.
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 5 · Number 3 · 1997 · pp. 150–158
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0968-4883
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