Can Academics Benefit from Training? Some Preliminary Evidence

A number of recent articles in this journal, and two responses in the form of 'Points for Debate', have considered whether academics need training to support their teaching roles. This debate has been undertaken largely in the absence of evidence of the impact of training. This paper reports findings from the first stage of a study of the impact of initial training of university teachers in universities in the UK. Data from 72 teachers showed significant improvements in scores on three of the six scales of the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) questionnaire after one semester of two- and three-semester long training programmes. Interpretation of this positive finding is complicated by problems with the self-selection of teachers, poor response rates and the difficulty of distinguishing the effects of training from the effects of experience of teaching. Improvements in the research design, implemented in a subsequent study, are outlined.