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Encouraging report on recognition and reward for the growing numbers of staff on the teaching-focused career track

Professor Rose Gann, PSA Chair and Professor of Politics Education, Nottingham Trent University 2 April 2025

 

The British Academy report on Politics and International Relations (PIR) in higher education notes a striking growth in numbers of academic staff on ‘teaching-only’ contracts within the discipline (British Academy, 2025). Numbers have more than doubled in recent years and now represent 21% of all academic staff in PIR. 

 

Historically, ‘teaching-only’ contracts have been considered by some as somehow less prestigious than research or teaching- and-research contracts. This is now changing.  It is becoming clear that not only are staff numbers growing, but these staff are also playing and increasingly important role in developing the student experience and embedding effective teaching and learning practices within universities (Hulme 2022; Loch et Al., 2024). Furthermore, greater consideration is being given to the nature of the work undertaken by those on ‘teaching-only’ contracts and on the ways staff on such contracts might be better supported and enabled in terms of career progression.  One such example of this is the recent report from Advance HE on ‘Embedding reward, recognition and promotion in teaching and learning’ (Foster, et, al., 2025).  

 

The Advance HE Report is ambitious. Examining the issue of recognition and reward for teaching/education-focused staff at the institutional and national level – comparing how higher education providers in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have sought to develop and implement promotions policy and structures to recognise and reward teaching excellence. Drawing on data captured through interviews and roundtables with senior academic leaders from a range of institutions in each of these national contexts, the report notes a (welcome) shift in culture away from prioritising research towards a more equitable re-balancing of how research and teaching are valued.  

 

This report finds that the top three factors that hinder progression for teaching-focused staff are:

  • Inconsistencies in the criteria for promotion for teaching-focused academics 

  • A lack of value attributed to scholarship, and 

  • Inadequate opportunities for staff on teaching-focused contracts to undertake training and development to enhance their teaching practice.    

 

What works well, and is recommended practice in the report, is:

  • Having teaching and practice staff in senior leadership roles 

  • Developing SOTL (scholarship of teaching and learning) literacy and valuing staff expertise 

  • Ensuring professional development and HEA fellowship, and  

  • Supporting academic citizenship and mentoring.  

 

To put these recommendations into context, Advance HE have produced a set of ‘windows into practice’ to explore how specific institutions have addressed this issue. The first two of these are now out and include an example of how at my own institution (NTU) we have developed new promotion criteria for staff on the teaching and scholarship pathway (Hulme, et, al., 2025), as well as an example from the University of Queensland in which an inclusive annual appraisal process has been developed - enabling teaching-focused academics to gain recognition for teaching excellence at all levels across the institution.  

 

There is still some way to go. This new Advance HE Report offers an important contribution and is timely given the growth in numbers of teaching-focused staff within the discipline.  

 

The PSA supports a Teaching and Learning Network and you can find out more about it here.

 

References: 

 

 

Hulme, J.A. (2022). Supporting and developing teaching-focused individuals to 

professorial level – career progression across boundaries. In: E. McIntosh & D. Nutt  

(eds). The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education: Studies in Third  

Space Professionalism. Routledge.