ABSTRACT
It used to be the case that a Master’s or Ph.D. was all that was required to lecture in a Higher Education Institution (HEI) and it was not necessary to have a teaching qualification as is the case in the compulsory education sector. However, in recent years the government, through organisations such as the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILTHE), has encouraged the professionalisation of lecturing through the funding and accrediting of postgraduate certificate programmes. Since the Dearing Report (1997) and the formation of the ILTHE (see ILTHE 2002), many institutions have made it a requirement that lecturers new to higher education undertake a qualification such as a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching or a Postgraduate Programme in Academic Practice. Occasionally, more experienced members of academic staff undertake these types of programmes as well.
