ABSTRACT
University lecturers are increasingly required to demonstrate that they are reflective practitioners (HEA, 2011). How can they do this in ways that make sense to them? In this chapter, I advocate active engagement with selected literary and non-literary texts as a way of bringing about disorienting dilemmas, prompting deep thinking about teaching practice and teacher identities. I challenge university lecturers and academic developers to:
reject narrowly instrumental approaches to professional development
bring the teacher into view in contrast with misguided interpretations of student-centredness that tend to erase her or him from the picture
claim back literature as a source of wisdom and insight
trust our responses to poems, novels and drama
respond to the literary qualities of non-literary texts
reintroduce beauty and joy into university teaching that has come to be perceived as bleak and unfulfilling.
In this chapter I aim to provide both inspiration and practical advice for university lecturers who want to develop their teaching in ways that go beyond the merely technical, and for the academic developers who help them to achieve this desire. I introduce the notion of ‘teaching texts’ by which I mean any writings that repay close reading and that can tell us something about teaching practice and teacher identities, including not only poems and pieces of literary prose but also excerpts from academic papers and policy documents that can be appreciated aesthetically.
