Recent initiatives (Nuffield; ESRC; HEFCE; British Academy) have sought to prioritise development of quantitative methods (QM) in the social science curriculum. The PSA has been very supportive of such initiatives, including supporting the development of a quality ‘kite mark’ for QM Teaching. To this end, the PSA invites applications to develop and lead a PSA Teaching Quantitative Methods Network (TQMN). The aim of this network is to support academic staff teaching quantitative methods and to share and disseminate expertise and best practice in this area.
The network will be expected to:
- Develop innovative, accessible and engaging politics-focused teaching resources to support politics QM lecturers – available either via the PSA website or through networking events;
- Share and spread best practice in quantitative methods teaching – with a focus on engaging students with QM teaching;
- Develop and maintain a Network website accessible to network members (hosted by PSA);
- Provide links to politics datasets that may be used for politics teaching and learning;
- Hold regular teaching and learning workshops or conferences focused on various aspects of quantitative methods teaching practice;
- Work in co-operation with PSA’s Education and Skills sub-committee and its Teaching and Learning Committee to promote the development and reach of QM skills in the politics curriculum.
Applications to lead and run the network are open to PSA members, or groups of PSA members, either in the same institution, or across a number of institutions. Applications from groups of early career scholars are particularly welcome. Applications should be no more than four sides of A4 and accompanied by a one page CV for each member of the group leadership detailing their QM teaching and research experience (CVs are not included in the four page application). The PSA is particularly interested to hear from applicants who have developed innovative approaches to the design or delivery of quantitative methods in their teaching. The application should consider proposals for:
- How the TQM network will be organised;
- The type of politics-focused teaching resources to be developed;
- How students might best be engaged with and enthused about QM teaching and made more aware of the skills that it develops;
- Communicating the network’s activities, to include, but not limited to, development of a website and regular workshops and events to support politics QM teaching – including events aimed at improving staff knowledge and expertise in this area;
The deadline for applications is: Friday 15 July 2016. These should be submitted to the PSA Office by email at: [email protected]. Applications will be assessed by members of the PSA Executive. Particularly sought are applications that demonstrate both innovation in secondary analysis teaching in computer labs, and that, importantly, also demonstrate ideas for utilising innovative and accessible ways of engaging often reluctant politics students with the practicalities of QM data analysis and collection in the first place. PSA would expect the Network to be active in the first instance until 2018, after which time it will be evaluated. Informal enquiries can be directed to Dr. Alistair Clark at [email protected].
