ID247 Scholarship as Strategy: Driving Teaching Excellence at Keele

The Idea

Education is the university's core business, and there is a significant opportunity to recognise and coordinate the scholarship that underpins our teaching excellence. A significant number of staff hold education and scholarship (E&S) contracts and would benefit from greater identity, connection, and strategic direction. Smith & Walker (2024) found significant inconsistency across the UK sector in how scholarship is defined, recognised and rewarded, arguing that greater clarity and coherence are needed for education-focused career pathways. A coordinated Academy would place Keele at the forefront of sector practice. 

The proposal aims to embrace and develop scholarship as a defining institutional strength by establishing a Keele Scholarship Academy (KSA) that gives E&S staff visibility, significance, and a shared community of practice. While E&R staff are employed to generate new knowledge within a defined disciplinary expertise, many also engage in teaching and learning activities closely aligned with scholarship. This proposal does not exclude E&R colleagues but recognises that, unlike research which is directed by defined disciplinary expertise, E&S colleagues' scholarship is individually defined and unevenly developed across the institution.  The university will set coordinated strategic scholarship priorities, informed by staff input through the Academy, for example, the ethical use of AI to support teaching and student learning, enabling staff to collaborate rather than work in isolation, while recognising that scholarship and research skills flow between both contract types. Each school will appoint a Director of Scholarship, mirroring the established Director of Research framework, to lead, coordinate, and champion institutional and local activity. A reinvigorated scholarship group and a dedicated platform will allow staff to share, disseminate, and celebrate their work. The Academy will also build staff capability in pedagogic research, evaluation, and academic writing, strengthening how staff teach, assess their impact, and disseminate their findings. 

Together, these measures will position the university as a leader in educational scholarship, recognising and amplifying excellent work already underway, while creating opportunities for staff to develop and connect. This will drive pedagogic innovation, support progression through promotion and AdvanceHE fellowships, and strengthen the teaching quality and student experience that drive TEF, KEF, NSS, and league-table performance.

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

Universities increasingly compete on educational quality, yet scholarship which can enhance the evidence base for teaching excellence is often fragmented and lacks the visibility it deserves. E&S staff can feel undervalued compared with research colleagues due to the underdeveloped frameworks and opportunities. A coordinated approach will address the development of people, building the research, evaluation, and writing skills that underpin innovation, Advance HE fellowship and promotion. It also strengthens teaching quality and student experience, which carry the most weight in league tables that prioritise student experience and outcomes over research. By giving structure and significance to work already happening, the university makes a modest investment, which could include a WAM uplift for the Director roles and seed funding for projects, that leverages existing expertise to deliver substantial strategic and cultural returns. 

How We Would Implement This Idea

Implementation can build on existing structures.  

1. Re-establish the scholarship group with clear terms of reference and senior sponsorship/leadership. 
2. Establish the Keele Scholarship Academy and an online platform to curate thematic priorities, share outputs, provide signposting and support for funding applications, alongside Advance HE fellowship support. 
3. Define the Director of Scholarship role on the Director of Research. framework, recruiting a lead for each school. 
   • Directors of Scholarship would report into existing education committees: School, Faculty and University. The University Education Committee would set and/or coordinate the direction of the KSA, agree on strategic priorities and support needs, and ensure scholarship activity remains connected to the institutional priorities. 
4. Provide a structured scholarship development framework that includes workshops, mentoring, and writing support in pedagogic research, evaluation, and dissemination. This should support translation into practice, with opportunities to co-develop implementation plans for sustainable change. 
5. Agree institutional strategic  priorities on a rolling basis , guided by sector and institutional direction, beginning with AI in teaching and learning, with seed funds and cross-school/department working groups. 
6. Host an annual conference to showcase outcomes and embed shared practice.

What Success Would Look Like

Short term: an active Scholarship Academy, appointed Directors in every school, and agreed strategic  priorities. 

Medium term: growing staff capability in pedagogic research and evaluation, a rising number of scholarship projects funded, publications and conference presentations curated through the Academy; increasing cross-school/department collaborations and external funding secured for scholarly research, along with successful Advance HE fellowship and promotion cases. Crucially, scholarship translates into tangible changes to teaching practice, including but not restricted to curriculum, assessments and the wider student experience, such as transition, engagement, retention and employability. Skills and practice will be increasingly shared between E&R and E&S colleagues, providing early material to showcase our teaching innovation. 

Longer term: the university is recognised regionally and nationally for educational scholarship, with a self-sustaining community of practice, a well-attended annual conference drawing external recognition and engagement, and demonstrable impact on student experience, NSS scores, and outcomes, with the Academy’s work becoming a distinctive strength for student recruitment.  

Reference 

Smith, S. and Walker, D. (2024) ‘Scholarship and academic capitals: the boundaried nature of education-focused career tracks’, Teaching in Higher Education, 29(1), pp. 111–125. doi: 10.1080/13562517.2021.1965570.