In this paper I present my view of effective academic work as creating the conditions for effective teaching and learning and I explore the barriers to this faced by one university lecturer when he adopted a student-focused approach to his teaching. I compare the lecturer's perception of the teaching situation to the Teaching Environment Inventory factors, and discuss how institutional policies and practices designed to improve standards and efficiency within the case study institution inhibited those designed to improve student learning. In this respect academic leaders were often perceived to create rather than remove barriers to effective academic work. Finally I consider what can be done to improve standards and efficiency as well as student learning.