Tim Savage
University for the Creative Arts
Is this it? have I found answers to the questions I have been having… Where am I?, do I belong? , Am I on the right journey?
Tim Savage has really opened my mind about technical pedagogy from reading this article and our email exchange, I have been questioning ideas around a technical pedagogy that has been thrilling to my research response, but to have been given a route to explore from the ELIA technical summit. I personally wasn’t at the summit myself, but my Line manager, alerted me to the work of Savage, from a text message. I took a risk, I emailed and I wanted to see if my journey in technical pedagogy was similar to that of someone with more experience. Savage is the Technical Director of Learning at the University of Creative Arts (UCA).
What is phenomenography?
“Phenomenography is the empirical study of the different ways in which people think of the world. In other words, its aim is to discover the qualitatively different ways in which people experience, conceptualize, realize and understand various aspects of phenomena in the world around them (Martin et al., 1992). In phenomenography research, the researcher chooses to study how people experience a given phenomenon, not to study a given phenomenon. Marton (1986) and Booth (1997) described phenomenography as:
“Phenomenography is focused on the ways of experiencing different phenomena, ways of seeing them, knowing about them and having skills related to them. The aim is, however, not to find the singular essence, but the variation and the architecture of this variation by different aspects that define the phenomena” (Walker, 1998).”
An overview of a theoretical framework of phenomenography in qualitative education research: An example from physics education research
Savage uses the work of Whitechurch and the graph showing a new third space and where the roles of “service” and academic are blending into a newfound position within HE, to cite from the article;
“Whitchurch refers to ‘service’ rather than ‘non-academic’. I am choosing to locate technicians within this theoretical space. I use the term ‘technician’ within this article to describe specialist staff working on non-academic contracts with primary responsibilities for maintenance, health and safety, and supporting academic activities, while also providing demonstrations, teaching and support for students with practice-based learning.”
This was what woke me up, I knew reading this article, that I had found a voice that connected with my concerns and how I could navigate them in this research journey of finding my own technical hybrid academic role that consists of everything quoted above. The other side of this is considering the pay gap between technical roles and academic roles, and how the academics are more than double that of technicians, yet teaching has consistently been led by technicians.
“For higher education institutions (HEIs) hybrid technician/teacher roles represent
excellent value, providing high-quality practice-based teaching at a comparatively low cost. For the technicians themselves, choosing a blended role can provide career advancement and opportunities to develop pedagogic skills through practice and study.”
Savage has also described the roles of the technicians and academics and how they are played out in creative higher education;
“I find a more useful working distinction is that technicians teach practice and process whereas academics are more likely to deliver lectures, theory and concepts, while also contextualizing the work and guiding the trajectory of learning”.
Is there an opportunity at UAL to provide a third space role in Creative HE that is a hybrid position and what would that entail?
1. Technical leads grade 5 –
2. Research and knowledge exchange.
3. Module leads in technical outcomes (eg. Knitted garment projects).
4. Assessment and feedback input in recognising technical response to learning.
5. Workshop leads, in running and performing a successful workshop and team.
How would I continue this research and conversation around the above? Is there someone at UAL doing the same level of research as Savage, could I compare their insights with his?
Methodology and my taking from it.
- Low-level appreciation or ‘down there’ in terms of technicians’ position.
- Technology proficiency led to specialised jobs with no hierarchy.
- Technicians’ awareness around third space teaching and working with particular ‘allowing’ academics.
- Institutional team working opportunities empowered technicians and their input.
- Technical jobs allowed time for upskilling and personal/academic development.
- Receiving no training or development opportunities in their academic role.
- Academic roles are succumbed by admin work.
- Undervalued terms of technical teaching first being in 1st year of academic teaching.
- Technicians tend to be self-motivated and explorative on progressing their skill sets.
- The ability to self-develop, allows the technical roles to develop.
- Critical awareness has led to a technical crossover in contextualising the purpose of the product/object.
- Technical roles are more like apprenticeships for academic roles.
- Technical roles allow time/space to be a practising artist/designer.
- Technicians are overseers and can see if similar teaching is being taught.
- Technicians can be seen as having a holistic job with student engagement/interaction.
- All participants would reconsider technical roles – better pay of course, or if they wanted to start a family the job had better perks.
- Technical teaching is a lot more enjoyable than academic teaching.
- Teaching all day can be exhausting and tiresome for other activities or social endeavours.
- Unprepared for assessment in the terms of summative formats and the responsibility of student engagement with assessments.
- The salary of academics was the motivating position to move from technical to academic.
- Technical roles have importance around practising their own discipline.
- Technicians provide dialogue around industry/practice that is relatable and active.
- Technicians are more excited to test and play with new technology that could benefit the student’s learning experience.
- Academics value research, and technicians don’t get opportunities to partake in research.
- Diversification and participation in HE, Student entry has lessened and students intake are less likely to know basic skills, which then becomes a teaching job for technicians.
There are more in-depth points, but I tried to summarise the methodology approach and how it can be expressed in a shorter format or more accessible reading. I agree with 99% of this research evidence, as a technician in this journey these are questions I am asking myself daily.
“One of the clearest messages emerging from the interview data is that the technician role provides a developmental framework through which all participants found themselves able to develop their disciplinary and pedagogic skills while also being supported to maintain their practice. From the technicians’ perspective, the university appraisal system an enabling
the process that aligned their own development needs with that of the institution and provided the time and autonomy to upskill.”
Why would I want to change? I do benefit from the system, I have the time and opportunity to explore and partake in anything I want, be it self-development or professional, or working with other teams and exploring other departments. How can we bring this level of ‘freedom’ to academic roles?
“As academics, all participants felt that they were working harder, longer and with greater responsibility and accountability. All were working in small academic course teams and described feeling relatively disempowered and disconnected in relation to the university. All perceived that their professional development was less important to the university as academics than when they were technicians.”
Is this promising? I know I can take this for granted, but do I need to investigate my own research into transitional technicians that moved into academic roles?
“At a sector level, new practice-based academics (from technical, industry or practitioner
backgrounds) should be integrated rather than assimilated with traditional academics through improved induction and appraisal experiences that identify skills gaps to support their transition.”
I think this is the material I need to bring to the table at UAL, to fight for these roles that are hybrid-based practitioners that also reflect academic qualities. It will be interesting to see where this takes me, in my search for technical pedagogy and where it sits in UAL and within myself. I will need to really digest and follow Savage’s work to see how his understanding of these routes is progressing and how I can learn from his evidence and findings to build my own, I will finish up with a part of his conclusion that secures me on the right path.
“For technicians with aspirations to transition their own careers to academia the message of this study appears to be: excel as a technician; engage with professional development activities; earn the academic credentials on offer; collaborate with academic colleagues; and continue with your own practice and gain research insights”