Recognition of good university teaching: Policies from an Australian study

Pressures to improve the quality of university education have led to more attention being paid to ways of recognising and rewarding good teaching. Exploration of academic staff opinions about the value accorded to teaching and research by their institutions invariably shows that they think research is appropriately valued, while teaching is undervalued. This article describes results from a national investigation of universities' processes for rewarding good teaching and staff opinions about methods for giving more recognition to teaching. The information is used to derive policy recommendations for UK, US, and cognate systems of higher education which would lead to greater valuing of the teaching component of academic work. Successful schemes will require visionary leadership. They will build on existing academic values and expectations, combining changes to organisational climates with changes to reward systems and employment practices.