Teaching philosophies revalued: beyond personal development to academic and institutional capacity building

ABSTRACT This research investigates the value of teaching philosophies (TP) for today’s academics and their institutions. It offers a new framework to enhance academic development, personal resilience, and institutional capacity building. Since the 1990s, TPs have been formalised as personally constructed and reflectively written statements of educational values, beliefs, and practices. Whereas within universities, TPs have been institutionalised for academic performance reviews, awards, and promotions. In-depth personal interviews on TPs and their value on personal journeys and institutional experiences were conducted with academics from Australia and Canada. The findings highlight the value and future potential of TPs beyond a formulaic role.


Introduction and context
In today's changing higher education context, the impacts of a teaching philosophy (TP) and teaching philosophy statements (TPS), beyond individual personal professional development, have received little attention (Arroyo et al., 2015;Schönwetter et al., 2002). Yet, as observed by Fitzmaurice and Coughlan (2007), TPs are likely to be 'increasingly important' when academic work 'is being defined in terms of a set of competencies' (p. 40) including demonstrated learning outcomes and teaching qualities. This may present an opportunity for higher education institutions to connect through TP and enhance their day-to-day core business. For more than a decade, the importance of the effectiveness of good teaching and learning at universities has been recognised, as have the potential risks for the tertiary sector going forward at the current rate of change (Fitzmaurice & Coughlan, 2007;Harvey, 2017;Schönwetter et al., 2002;Yeom et al., 2018).
For institutions managing an international and mobile cohort of expert employees, questions of underlying teaching and learning beliefs and values, as represented in TPs are emerging as critical factors to ensure continuity and sustainability (Myatt et al., 2018). The two areas of personal and institutional engagement with TP in supporting quality of learning and teaching are in flux. TP development can span from individually encouraged and structured academic or collaborative development to institutionally prescribed and embedded TP statement for employment, performance review, or promotion.
At the heart of the transformation for the academic environment, and the academic profession, are questions regarding the status and recognition of disciplinary or 'discovery' research in relation to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This impacts teaching and learning outcomes for the individual, the institution, and the broader communities involved (Bolander Laksov, 2019;Cashmore et al., 2013;Chalmers, 2011). The research to date has identified a possible connection between reflective and scholarly educational practice and institutional culture supportive of teaching and learning (Brew & Cahir, 2014;Myatt et al., 2018;Ruge & Mackintosh, 2020). This investigation seeks to provide new insights into how individual academics and their institutions, in Australia and Canada, engage with and through their teaching and learning beliefs, values, and practices. The research aimed to find out what a TP means for today's academics and how they develop in their institutional and academic practice settings and teaching and learning contexts. The research focus was on the question: What is the value of TPs for today's academics and their institutions?

Current frameworks for development of a teaching philosophy
The initial formalising strategies and frameworks for TP were developed in the 1990s. The seminal works by Van Note Chism (1998), Goodyear and Allchin (1998) as well as Schönwetter et al. (2002), are still relevant and utilised by educators today. Prior to these frameworks and guidelines on how to develop a TPS, the literature lacked 'conceptual models that provid[ed] clear operational dimensions and comprehensive frameworks for the process of generating and evaluating TPS' (Schönwetter et al., 2002, p. 83). While documents on teaching portfolios or dossiers became available to researchers and academics, both Goodyear and Allchin (1998) and Schönwetter et al. (2002) noticed that there remained comparatively little commentary on statements of TP included within such documents. A review of the literature identified accepted structures for the development of individual TP utilised in Australia, Canada, UK, and the US. Each of these frameworks guide, support and encourage the academic to reflect and then express their personal beliefs, underlying convictions and experiences in teaching and learning practice. Importantly, the TP structures, as shown in Table 1, include questions on personal goals and personal development, which aim to strengthen the identity and connections of the teaching professional to their work, students, institution and beyond.
The framework developed by Schönwetter et al. (2002) illustrates the importance of reflecting on the cross-connections between the educator's own values, day-to-day educational practice and longer term personal and professional development. This model, as seen in Figure 1, advances other frameworks, which are predominantly set out as a sequence of key questions or linear components of constructing the TPS. This matrix allows the individual to visualise, align and connect the individual TPS components to specific teaching and learning dimensions, possibly identify discrepancies and reflect on clarifications to enhance the coherence of the document.
TP research to date emphasises the importance and value of the TP undertaken by the individual and for the individual's personal development, awards or requirement for promotion and long-term tenure in the higher education academy (Fitzmaurice & Coughlan, 2007;Montell, 2003;Yeom et al., 2018). This emphasis exposes a gap between the 'theory and practice of creating philosophies and research regarding their real-world integration' (Arroyo et al., 2015, p. 343). The current knowledge gap starts where and how the TP 'plays out' in the longer-term academic development, as well as connections  to students, colleagues, the discipline, and the institution overall (Arroyo et al., 2015;Schönwetter et al., 2002).

Research focus
This investigation sought to provide new insights into how individual academics and their institutions, in Australia and Canada, engage with and through their teaching and learning beliefs, values, and practices. The research aimed to find out what a TP means for today's academics and how they develop in their institutional and academic practice settings and teaching and learning contexts. The research focus was on the question: What is the value of TPs for today's academics and their institutions? To address this question, a detailed qualitative research methodology was developed with a qualitative process of analysis designed to assure its dependability, confirmability, and authenticity of findings (Buchanan & Bryman, 2007;Seale, 1999;Sinkovics & Alfoldi, 2012). This included research parameters for an international case study bounded by purposive sampling from nine Australian Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) fellows (four males and five females) and seven Canadian 3 M National Teaching Fellows (four males and three females). These participants had received their fellowship award between 2014 and 2016. The interviewees were able to reflect on their development and connection to academic, career, and institutional experiences. This offered depth and breadth of valuable insights for this research. The research was conducted within an ethical research framework, reviewed and approved by the University of Canberra (HREC 17-252).

Purposive sampling
A purposive sampling technique established the process and detailed sampling parameters for the identification of individual interviewees with knowledge and insights relevant for this study (Etikan et al., 2016;Fusch & Ness, 2015;Tongco, 2007). The purposive sampling technique 'is the deliberate choice of a participant due to the qualities the participant possesses. It is a non-random technique that does not need underlying theories or a set number of participants' (Etikan et al., 2016, p. 3).
The volunteer participants here offered representative views on TP across higher education experiences in Australia and Canada. On this basis, the following sampling criteria were developed and applied for the selection of all participants. Each participant had prepared a TP as part of their HERDSA or 3 M Teaching fellowship award received between 2014 and 2016. The 16 participants consisted of 8 males and 8 females. All participants were active in higher education with experience ranging from less than 10 years to over 35 years in academia, with the majority of 15-25 years of employment in the education sectors. The participants' disciplinary background included: Academic Development, Business and Law, Chemistry, History, International Relations, Languages and Linguistic, Mathematics, Music and Speech Pathology, Psychology and Organisational Behaviour. Prior to participation each interviewee confirmed their voluntary involvement and no conflict of interest with this project.

Data collection
Data collection was undertaken through in-depth personal interviews based on a narrative design, which focused on participants' lived experiences in the education context of their own lives and within the broader institutional environment (Clandinin et al., 2007;McCormack et al., 2016). These narratives provided stories with events and lessons learnt and shared. Narrative inquiry is particularly valuable for this research because teaching and writing about teaching, for example, a TP tells the story of the author's learning journey. Consistent with the research framework, the researchers adopted the definition of an in-depth interview advocated by Minichiello et al. (2018): 'a conversation between researcher and informant focusing on the informant's perception of self, life and experience, and expressed in his or her own words' (p .87). Interview conversations were conducted between January and March 2018 either face-to-face or via video call as a one-on-one conversation. Central interview questions focused on three areas. Firstly, the participants' motivation for and value of TP to their career, as well as teaching and learning experiences. Secondly, the detail experiences of writing a TP and the institutional context. Thirdly, the TP applications, impacts and outcomes and any recommendations from the participant on the value and future of TP.

Data analysis stages
A four-stage data analysis of the transcribed interviews utilised an interpretive and iterative reflective process to identify and distil key themes, sub-themes and personal narratives. The process was undertaken with a rigour of clearly defined stages and recorded processes which all research team members engaged individually and collectively (Bowen, 2009;Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006;Vaismoradi et al., 2013).

Preparation of interview data for initial 'open reading'
Each researcher conducted the allocated number of personal interviews with Australian and Canadian participants. The individual researcher reviewed the interview transcript and clarified technical wording, content and comprehension errors and removed any potential identifying details. All transcribed and formatted interviews texts were then reviewed by all researchers in a first 'open-minded' and immersive read to 'get a feel for the data', with a conscious positioning as reflective reader and listener to the interviewee's narrative.

Data analysis for identification of initial key themes
Each interview transcript at this second stage was reviewed and colour coded for key themes by two researchers separately. Researcher pairs were mixed across the reviewing set and each sought to identify and capture diversity and depth of data across the interviews. After the individual review, the two researchers shared, compared, reflected, and reviewed their comments, then refined and agreed on coding wording through an iterative reflective conversation.

Team review and reflection on key themes and sub-themes
The research assistant collated the first thematic coding of all interviews into an Excel matrix. Subsequently, all five researchers reviewed and reflected individually on all interviews and contributed on earlier paired data reviewed in regular group meetings. Following discussion, reflection, and collaborative review, the key themes and subthemes were identified and collated as shown in the first two columns of Table 2.

Returning to individual narratives to refine research themes
In order to review, refine, and further reflect on the identified themes and sub-themes, the researchers undertook a further review through the lens of the individual narrative of the interviewee and how this contributes to the collective stories. This process offered additional insights that complemented and expanded the key themes and sub-themes.
These included the differentiation of TP value for personal, professional, and institutional development as well as sub-themes, such as motivation and resilience, collegial connections, and the institutional context. The detailed themes, sub-themes, and narrative are presented in Table 2 below as outcome of the iterative reflective process and analysis of the in-depth conversations with the participants.

Discussion of findings
Interview analysis and key thematic areas outlined in Table 2 above, identified personal, professional, and institutional value of TP over time. The findings discussed below are grouped around these three key areas: (1) supporting personal and educational motivation and resilience; (2) academic confidence, career development, and collegial connections; and (3) professional contributions and institutional capacity building.

TP supporting personal and educational motivation and resilience
Defining teacher identity is one of the main challenges in engaging with a TP and how its development influences teachers' learning and their work (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009;Gallego et al., 2017). Educators participating in this study, who developed and applied their TP, identified a direct connection to improved reflective practice, student learning outcomes, as well as opportunities for increased personal resilience and career satisfaction. Research on resilience and teachers and university academics identified a number of key elements related to the value and benefits of teaching philosophy identified in this research. These linking traits include: confidence and motivation to adjust, manage and maintain performance in complex and adverse conditions, maintain effectiveness and promote positive outcomes (Beltman et al., 2011;Cooperrider, 2018;Drew & Sonsnowski, 2019;McDermid et al., 2016;Ruge et al., 2019). The connection to resilience-specific research confirmed findings of this study on the importance of supportive • Desire for career progression prompts most TP development.
• Initial TPs are likely to be descriptive; reflective practice comes later.
• Reading and engaging with other's TP has a direct learning impact.
• Individual personal and professional learning emerges from a supported TP writing process. Professional career impact Professional development Capacity and resilience Collegial connections Career reflections • Reflective questioning clarifies values and beliefs that underpin a teacher's sense of self.
• Capacity building increases professional knowledge, skills, confidence and competence.
• TPs build critical capacity for career advancement.
• Individuals vary in their need and/or preference for writing support and collegial conversations.
• Positive and negative feelings accompany TP writing and feedback processes. Institutional development of teaching and learning

Practice in institutional context Reaching beyond institution (Research & Mentoring) Engagement with students and institution
• TP awareness increases confidence and purpose for teaching and learning (T&L).
• T&L reflections through TP values shape 'classroom actions' for student learning.
• TP and T&L values extend to faculty goals and aspirations for students' development.
• Making TP explicit to staff and students strengthens engagement and trust in T&L practice.

Institutional context and capacity
Institutional values and strategies Institutional barriers to TP Current practice and attitudes Pressures impacting institutional cultural change: • Institutional processes and systems value research above teaching; • Juggling academic life is becoming more complex; and • Devaluing education and educators.
TP reduced to a 'mechanical tool' for tenure and promotion purposes: • Loss of opportunity for deeper conversation and contribution to institutional culture; and • Institutional processes do not connect to TP for personal and career development. • Champions in senior positions facilitate dialogues about teaching across the institution; • Future alignment and opportunities to extend the value of a TP; • Rethink institutional policies and practices to prioritise academic development; and • Diversity of TP perspectives supports innovation, resilience and adaptation. and expanding conversations in teacher development. As seen in Table 3, interview quotes from the thematic analysis captured aspects of TP value related to identity, the evolutionary nature of a TP, reflection, motivation and resilience building.

Academic confidence, career development, and collegial connections
The second area of findings on the value of TP is grouped around the longer-term career impact and development of teaching and learning practice. In particular, through continued reflective practice, and deepening of the TP's personal values, interviewees identified their improved ability to determine and convey their pedagogy to students and colleagues. This process is taking place within often conflicting day-to-day responsibilities and pressures when research is more valued than teaching quality (Gallego et al., 2017;Gu & Day, 2007 The findings are illustrated by a selection of interview quotes in Table 4, on the value of TP to enhance academic career development and building confidence and connections in teaching and learning. This points to the potential and power of TP conversations within and across faculty, of senior academics and teachers mentoring their junior colleagues in their TP journey and supporting positive dialogues on teaching across the institution. This leads to the recognition that TP, as described by  . . . It becomes almost 'live' at that point when you mentor other people. So, I think that in terms of mentorship and guidance maybe there is a role. That is the potential future (of TP). (3 M-01) . . . application for teaching positions where I could see it (TP) becoming very important . . ., part of the application process is to include that in your cover letter or within your CV or you discuss it in the interview . . . . (H-08) interviewees, is dynamic and can have a continuing and sustaining impact for career, collegial connections, and professional development over time.

Professional contribution and institutional capacity building
This third area of findings offers deeper insights on TP value and impact, expanding current research and knowledge from the personal and professional to the institutional and organisational context in higher education. The current literature highlights the institutional pressures impacting on academics and teachers in their development and ability to make a contribution (Gillespie et al., 2001;McCormack & Kennelly, 2011;Watts & Robertson, 2011). The academics participating in this research study were able to identify how TP if integrated into institutional context could improve professional contribution and institutional capacity building.
I really haven't seen, . . . where that gets integrated into the annual review process, for an academic. And then it (TP) keeps getting revisited . . . refined on a more active basis rather than something that's done retrospectively. (H-01) The areas of capacity building potential noted in the interview quotes of Table 5 include operational, managerial as well as strategic suggestions reaching from integration of TP as critical element for academic portfolios, performance discussions as well as pedagogical reforms across the institution to recognise the value of excellence in teaching. ' . . . not just through words and through mission statements that all our universities have, but really in their action and changing the system and changing the recognition of the value of excellence of teaching' (3 M-04).
Collectively, the findings from this research confirm a continuing and increased importance of TP over time for the individual, with impacts on professional confidence and resilience in teaching and learning practice, supporting professional development and collegial engagement. As an important new finding this research identified that the value of TP progresses to institutional capacity building through increased engagement with institutional process and practice. The research findings are combined in Figure 2 below, which provides a new framework for the value of teaching philosophy.

Conclusion and new contributions
This research confirmed that educators who develop and apply their TP identified an association to improved reflective practice, student learning and collegial engagement, as well as opportunities for increased personal resilience and career satisfaction. In addition, new findings highlight the value of TP beyond an individualistic or formulaic role and its potential for enhancing academic development and institutional capacity building. This 'value-add' of TP development beyond the personal and collegial spheres points towards the mostly untapped potential of activating TP in academic development with a linkage to institutional capacity building. These insights offer new opportunities for institutional policy and implications for practice.

Implications for faculty development
Given the impact of TP on motivating teachers, building the confidence of academics, and increasing collegial connections, it is imperative that educational developers provide academics with opportunities to reflect on their TP as well as to develop and share their TPs with colleagues. Workshops, and communities of practice, for example, in the form of TATALs (Talking about Teaching and Learning) established in Australia, provide the structure to support these opportunities for new, midcareer and senior academics to reflect, write, and share their TPs (McCormack & Kennelly, 2011;Schonell et al., 2016). This would also include the mentoring of newer academics by more experienced academics to coach and guide their TP development processes (Perry et al., 1997;Schönwetter & Nazarko, 2009). Also significant is the TP development of graduate students considering academia as their potential career aspiration (Schönwetter & Taylor, 2003). The authors have tested the application of Figure 2 in a number of TP development workshops held in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand during 2019. Both individual academics as well as institutional education staff and senior managers  provided positive feedback towards the identified professional and institutional application potential.

Implications for administrators
With the current findings pointing to the potential value of TPs for institutional capacity, it is imperative that academic leaders support initiatives amongst academics to create, reflect upon and share their TPs with each other. The challenges of economic pressures on institutions of higher education often result in diminishing support and increased responsibilities for academics. Investments in academic development and resilience building for academics would be an important initiative in maintaining academic morale and resistance to burnout that can erode the academic working environment. The thematic analysis of findings (Table 2) and proposed value of teaching philosophy framework ( Figure 2) identified potential areas of application. These include opportunity for the institution in terms of capacity building through professional development, confidence and teacher resilience building. Several interview participants referred to the positive impact of senior TP champions facilitating teaching and learning dialogues across the institution. This can provide the impetus for strategic alignment of institutional policies and practices by inclusion of TP in academic, collegial, and institutional development.

Implications for future research
The findings from the current study have extended the research of TP in terms of its impact on the individual, on the profession of the academic, and on the organisation. Future research is needed to further expand upon the current findings to include deeper investigation in the areas of how TP is building resilience in individual academics. Of further interest is the evolution of the TP in terms of how it evolves from the beginning academic to the senior academic and what types of milestones or developmental stages occur during the TP journey in an academic's life. This could include cohort comparison studies looking at the differences and similarities of new, mid-career and seasoned academics or a longitudinal study that follows a cohort of academics from their early stages in academia. What would also be of interest is the extent to which the TP is transformed in academics who choose to enter administrative positions and what it takes to maintain the importance of TP at the level of academic leadership.

Funding
This research was supported by the Educational Developers Caucus (EDC), Canada. Initial findings were presented at the 2019 Conferences held by STLHE (Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Canada) and HERDSA (Higher Education Research and Development Society Australasia). The feedback from educational developers at subsequent workshops has also contributed to this paper.

Notes on contributors
Gesa Ruge is a practice focused researcher and academic with expertise in the application of teaching and learning pedagogies and philosophies in higher education. Her research focus includes alignment of institutional strategy with professional development and quality of learning and teaching for graduate skills and employability. She is the chief investigator of this international research project, a fellow of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia and member of STLHE/EDC Canada, and ISSOTL.
Dieter J. Schӧnwetter enjoys learning with his students, playing with innovative teaching technology, developing new teaching strategies with his colleagues, and sharing teaching ideas with peers from around the world. In his day job, he is the Director of Student Affairs and Academic Services in the dental college at the University of Manitoba. He is a member of STLHE/EDC.

Coralie
McCormack retired after 23 years as an academic developer to pursue her learning and teaching passions: narrative approaches to teaching and learning, evaluation, and research. She believes learners and teachers construct and re-construct knowledge through stories and that collaborative reflective practice conversations based on storytelling can enhance teaching quality. She is a co-founder of the TATAL CofP (Talking about teaching and learning), a life member of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA), and a member of STLHE Canada Robert Kennelly passion is to provide places and spaces where university teachers can come and reflect collaboratively about their teaching and their students' learning. He is a pioneer HERDSA Fellow, life member, teacher of management, researcher in reflective practice, and the co-founder of a COP called TATAL (Talking about teaching and learning). He is an Adjunct at the University of Canberra.