It was a classic imposter syndrome moment: sitting with a bunch of talented colleagues at an ‘Introduction to Fellowship’ meeting in 2018, wondering why I was there, and how I would persuade anyone I should be awarded ‘Fellowship’ of anything. But a funny thing happened that day, and in the months of reflection, writing, and more reflection that followed; I realised I had Done Important Things in Higher Education.
I didn’t have a PhD (stop asking, I’m still not ready), and hadn’t been in the kinds of roles that get formal awards and accolades, but I had worked hard and made a difference across some areas that had become professional passions: building educational communities; empowering teachers, and supporting the use of tech as a catalyst for change and innovation. It’s easy to forget the connecting themes as you move from one project and role to the next, but applying for Advance HE Fellowship forced me to pause, review, and ‘self-summarise’ for the first time in years.
Over the last few months, we’ve seen some great examples from the UTS Educational Fellowship Program describing what it’s like applying for Fellowship, and being a mentor/ reviewer for Fellowship applicants. As the program kicks into gear, here are some of my personal takeaways from those who have taken the time to share their experiences.
It’s okay to admit you’re pretty good at this
Highlighting individual achievements doesn’t sit well with everyone, but Fellowship applications ask you to take that bull by the horns and own it. Don’t say ‘we’ all the time, and don’t be shy about your personal contribution – this is your chance to be straight and say how darn great you were in that piece of work!
Something that both my mentees and I share is the “ick” factor around talking about achievements. In a university, we all do a lot of collaborative work, whether teaching in teams or co-designing with students, academics, and professional staff – so it can be difficult to talk about personal contributions to achievements that wouldn’t be possible without our amazing collaborators.
Guien Miao, School of Professional Practice and Leadership
I found that I often had to write a sentence, and then restructure it to foreground my contribution. A good tip that I learnt early on was every time I wrote ‘co-ordinate’ (e.g. ‘I co-ordinated a professional learning session’), I usually needed to replace it with ‘led’ to make my role clear in that activity.
Keith Heggart, FASS/ CREDS
That framework looks good on you
Applying for Fellowship is a great opportunity to zoom out and situate your practice in the broader structures and scholarship of education literature. If you haven’t done a lot of this before, don’t worry – that’s exactly what a supportive process like this is for. You could also take a look at free options like the Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching MOOC and Enhancing Teaching@UTS to explore different approaches to teaching and learning.
I have quite a structured approach to learning design, and I found Biggs’s outline of Constructive Alignment a useful framework to describe the process of building a curriculum out from overall intended learning outcomes to specific classroom activities and assessment tasks. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle was also useful in justifying the authentic and WIL aspects of my teaching practice.
Helena Robinson, TD School
My approach to teaching and learning is strongly influenced by Transition Pedagogy (Sally Kift, 2009) in design and practice, as well as work by Biggs and Tang (e.g. Teaching for Quality Learning at University). I also drew on evidence-based practice for STEM written by science academics, leadership in academia (Ramsden, 1998; Jones, 2012) and recent policy and strategy documents which identified the priority areas for the initiatives I worked on.
Yvonne Davila, Science
Yes, it takes a bit of time
For some of us, even when writing is a big part of our job, it’s still a painful process that requires chunky pockets of allocated time. Hands up who has spare time? Yep, me neither – but somewhere in this process can be found a zen-like opportunity to finally spend time with yourself… and have something to show for it afterwards.
If I’m being honest, I found the process to be quite involved and time-consuming! It took me a while to wrap my head around the specific terminology used in the Professional Standards Framework (PSF) that underpins the Advance HE process, how the different dimensions of educational practice interact, and how to link examples of my educational practice to the PSF.
Helena Robinson, TD School
I always tell my mentees that the application process will take more time than they expect. They can choose how they want to approach it, whether that’s starting with the case studies or the reflective narrative but either way, it’s not something that can be rushed or left to the last minute. It ties back to one of the biggest challenges: shifting the focus from simply listing what they’ve done to thinking about how they’ve influenced or impacted teaching practice. Mentees need quiet time to think, reflect, and gradually build that depth into their application.
Daniela Spanjaard, UTS Business School
It’s called ‘Fellowship’ for a reason
This is one of those things that’s as much about the process as it is about the result. It’s about the people you meet in initiatives like the UTS Educational Fellowship program, and the time you spend sharing practice, discussing past projects or just sitting silently in parallel writing pain. Once you’re through to the other side, you’re part of both a local and international community that moves with you, wherever your next project goes.
Take up opportunities to work with a mentor and/or be part of a writing group as part of the support provided by UTS. I managed to write much of my application, or at least make a good start, in our Friday writing sessions.
Amanda Lizier, Education Portfolio
I remember finding the application process quite daunting at first, as it’s such a distinctive way of presenting your teaching and learning experiences. Having a mentor made a huge difference; they helped me understand what assessors would be looking for and how to shift my focus accordingly. So when the opportunity to become a mentor came up, I didn’t hesitate. It felt like a great way to give back and support others through what can be a challenging but ultimately rewarding journey
Daniela Spanjaard, UTS Business School
Pull up a chair and join in!
The UTS Educational Fellowship Program is now accredited with AdvanceHE to offer UTS staff a supported pathway towards international recognition of professional, effective and inclusive teaching aligned to the internationally benchmarked Professional Standards Framework (PSF2023).
This program is available to all UTS academic and professional staff involved in the teaching and support of high-quality learning. The Educational Fellowship Program Sharepoint site has updated information, applicant handbooks, and key dates for applications. If you have questions about Fellowship, you can contact the team via uts-efp@uts.edu.au.