The pedagogic impact of law school sabbaticals

UKCLE PDF project

Project latest: Maureen and Penny presented interim findings from the project at LILAC10 - see below. Their slides are embedded at the foot of this page, and you can also listen to a recording of the session - see the LILAC10 slidecasts page for details.

University sabbaticals are widely acknowledged as necessary to advance research and scholarship, however there has been little empirical study of how they operate and how far they may privilege research over teaching. This study aims to address that question, providing empirical evidence of one aspect of how academics do - or do not - connect their teaching and research. It forms part of a wider Middlesex University study of the role of sabbaticals in law and business schools conducted in collaboration with Philip James of Oxford Brookes University Business School.

The project builds on earlier research by the presenters ('Perpetuating difference? Law school sabbaticals in the era of performativity' Legal Studies 2007:27(4)) which revealed the extent to which sabbaticals play a key part in the constant pressure to publish, while any impact sabbaticals could have on teaching was not clearly articulated. Criteria for awarding sabbaticals did not appear to include a specific enhancement of pedagogy as an objective. Instead, the preoccupation with published research arguably entrenched divisions between these different aspects of academic practice.

Project aims

A number of studies have examined the relationship between various elements of academic work, namely research, teaching, administration and service – see for example R Barnett (ed) Reshaping the university: new relationships between research, scholarship and teaching (SRHE 2005). This research will contribute to the body of theory on how the working practices of academics impact on their teaching - see for example F Cownie Legal academics (Hart 2004) and R Collier 'The changing university and the (legal) academic career: rethinking the relationship between women, men and the ‘private life’ of the law school' (Legal Studies 2002:22(1)).

The project will provide empirical evidence on how academics’ work patterns enable them to fulfil their institutional and professional obligations, in particular by balancing teaching and research, and will produce materials aimed at maximising the pedagogical benefits from sabbaticals. The objective is not necessarily to propose the extension of the awarding of sabbaticals for teaching purposes, but rather to consider rethinking the approach to staff time to enable a connection between areas of academic practice to be built in from the outset.

Methodology

The project is exploring the examining the potential pedagogical impact of sabbaticals and the proposal that the award of a sabbatical could include a requirement to specify the potential impact on teaching and pedagogy (see Put scholarship into teaching in the Times Higher). The hypothesis to be tested is that research sabbaticals currently give minimal attention to pedagogic impact and are therefore deficient in taking a practical opportunity to strengthen the association of teaching and research.

The team examined the sabbatical policies of universities offering qualifying law degrees in England, Wales and Scotland to gauge the extent to which, if at all, sabbatical leave is expected to contribute to teaching. An online survey was issued to ten law schools (one third pre 1992 and two thirds post 1992), investigating the relationship between the award of sabbaticals and teaching practice and content. Staff not granted sabbaticals were also invited to complete the questionnaire, allowing the views of those who may not be considered ‘research active’ in the conventional sense to be heard.

The next stage of the research is to interview heads of department and legal academics, including those who have received sabbaticals awarded primarily or exclusively for teaching purposes, for example through teaching fellowship schemes.

Interim findings:

• just under half of respondents to the questionnaire had undertaken a sabbatical
• virtually all the respondents who had been awarded a sabbatical gave the reason for the sabbatical as "conducting scholarly research"
• 50% agreed that their sabbatical had an impact on teaching and learning or the curriculum, but they clearly did not see this as a primary reason for the sabbatical - the important factor was the scholarly research
• over 50% of respondents indicated that sabbaticals should be given to enhance teaching and learning, with a comment stating the view that it was "impossible to achieve alongside teaching and research commitments"
• a larger proportion agreed that it should not be necessary to demonstrate impact in teaching and learning practice - this would be difficult to measure, and might lead to prescriptive conditions being placed on the sabbatical and hence less freedom to develop ideas
• a tension between the desirable nature of an impact on pedagogy and the reduction of academic freedom is emerging from the research