Early career academia is a challenging time, particularly as academics are facing increasing pressures to excel across a range of areas. Boyer argued for the "true scholar" versed in the overlapping areas of scholarship in research, teaching, integration and engagement. Academic developers have an important role to play in assisting the…

This article reports on a study of academics who observed their colleagues' teaching at a large research-intensive university in Australia. These academics had completed peer observation as part of a foundations programme designed for those new to teaching or new to the university. Survey responses and interview transcripts form the basis of…

It is challenging for ex-practitioners beginning to teach in higher education settings due to their long experience in other fields. In this paper, as an example of a nexus of practitioners and academics, the focus is the issues of novice teacher educators at the beginning of their careers and support programmes for them. Three factors were…

This paper traces the history and impact of communities of practice (CoPs) in supporting early-career academics, although the primary focus here in the United States is on the faculty learning community (FLC) model, a special type of CoP in higher education. The initial development of this model, beginning in 1979, takes place over two decades at…

There is limited research into the effectiveness of non-accredited foundational courses for new academic staff. An ongoing issue is that of attention and anxiety overload in the critical first period of employment when the challenges of establishing oneself in a new collegial environment are most acute. Approaches to addressing this issue may be…

For 40 years, the "staff teaching seminar" has aimed to prepare academics to meet the complex demands of university teaching. In Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ), as elsewhere, the seminar emerged in the late 1960s-early 1970s, and preceded centrally funded academic development (AD) centres. Targeting new academics, the programme typically…

This article explores the impact of a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PG Cert.) on new lecturers, appointed for their professional expertise. It focuses on staff perceptions of acculturation into the discourses of university learning and teaching. Drawing on a literature review which reveals (at best) ambivalent evidence…

Communities of practice are generally known as places of engagement, learning and development. The current research aims to develop understanding of Estonian early-career university teachers' learning and developing possibilities as teachers in the community of practice (in the university). This paper is based on narrative interviews of 25…

This paper is based on research into academic identities amongst early-career academics in a UK post-1992, teaching-orientated university. Literature around academic identity suggests five major academic roles: teaching, research, management, writing and networking. However, this appears to be a picture of an established mid-career academic in a…

This paper discusses early-career academics' development at a university in Hong Kong. Reflecting the impact of local context, the paper explores cultural and structural influences that can impinge on teaching and learning strategies for new academics. Barriers such as student learning behaviour and publication pressure may discourage new…

Although there are programs to prepare doctoral students for "how" to teach in post-secondary education, the neophyte academic must still adjust to the specific context of a new position. This transition is often characterized by multiple adjustments and corresponding anxiety of moving from the familiar role of graduate student to a new one as…

This paper reports an investigation of "transformation narratives" emerging from early career academics' reflective writing. The pieces of writing analysed describe self-initiated teaching development activities embedded in the early career academics' practice. Using a transformative learning framework, the analysis reveals the following changes…

Interviews and a survey were conducted to assess both the structure and content of mentoring and advising provided to early-career faculty in geography. Results indicated three broad conditions for structuring effective mentoring: (1) regular, proactive meetings; (2) engaging diverse groups of individuals within and outside of a department; and…

Long-term influences of educational development initiatives for novice faculty members are seldom studied in a systematic way. In this exploratory study the long-term individual and institutional impact of a novice faculty training programme at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) was evaluated, using a written survey with open questions. The…

This paper examines the pedagogic learning of a group of new lecturers at an international research intensive university who were participants on a formal teaching development programme. The lens of situated learning theory is utilised to gain new insights into the learning arising from the development programme but also to reveal certain…