This questionnaire is directed to Heads of Departments. Others are welcome
to respond, but please make clear that you are not a head of department.
LEARNING AND TEACHING SUBJECT CENTRE/NETWORK
As you are no doubt aware, the funding councils propose to establish
Subject Centres (which may in fact take the form of Networks) to support
learning and teaching. They are likely to be set up in Summer 1999.
Provisionally, Sociology has been combined with Politics, Social
Anthropology and Human Geography. Social Policy and Administration has
been combined with Social Work. The wisdom of these combinations has been
queried by the representative bodies in their responses to the consultation
exercise - we should know the decision on subject groupings by February.
Meanwhile SSP2000 is carrying out this consultation to ensure that the
priorities of Heads of Departments of Sociology and Social Policy are
reflected in the relevant bids. We should be grateful if you would take 5
minutes to respond - replies received by Wednesday 6 January will inform
the discussion at the Heads of Sociology Annual Conference in York; replies
received by Friday 15 January will be made available to the SPA Executive
meeting. Replies received after those dates will still be valuable in
preparing the bid(s) from our subjects.
.........................................................................
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
I represent:
A Department of SOCIAL POLICY
A Department of SOCIOLOGY
A Department of SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY COMBINED
(delete or modify as appropriate)
I represent:
An 'old' (pre-1992) university
A new university
Other
(delete as appropriate)
We are interested in your priorities. There are 16 questions categorised
under five headings for convenience - though inevitably with considerable
overlaps. Please reply to each question using the following scale:
VERY USEFUL FOR THE SUBJECT AREA 3
FAIRLY USEFUL FOR THE SUBJECT AREA 2
ONLY MODERATELY USEFUL FOR THE SUBJECT AREA 1
NOT AT ALL USEFUL/INAPPROPRIATE ACTIVITY FOR THIS KIND OF BODY 0
All questions apply to Learning and Teaching of Sociology/Social Policy in
the UK unless stated otherwise. ICT will be an integral to all activities.
Category 1: DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF GOOD PRACTICE
1. Disseminating examples of good practice through publications and workshops.
Usefulness:
2. Disseminating good practice from other subjects and generic initiatives
Usefulness:
3. Reviewing and promoting new resources
Usefulness:
4. Identifying the need for, and supporting the development of, new resources
Usefulness:
Category 2: NETWORKING AND COLLABORATION
5. Creating and maintaining subject networks in specialist areas
Usefulness:
6. Publicising activities and projects
Usefulness:
7. Keeping subject practitioners informed of policy developments
Usefulness:
8. Encouraging international perspectives through collaboration and
dissemination
Usefulness:
9. Liaising with employers & career advisers about employment prospects
and skills requirements of graduates and postgraduates.
Usefulness:
Category 3: STAFF AND DEPARTMENTAL DEVELOPMENT
10. Specialist advice and consultancy for Departments on T&L practice and
curriculum development.
Usefulness:
11. Support for teachers seeking ILT accreditation
Usefulness:
12. Contributing to the briefing & training of external examiners/academic
reviewers.
Usefulness:
Category 4: PEDAGOGIC RESEARCH
13. Conducting/supporting subject-specific pedagogic research and
evaluation
Usefulness:
14. Disseminating findings of generic pedagogic research to subject
practitioners
Usefulness:
Category 4: QUALITY AND ACCREDITATION
15. Ensuring nationally coordinated response to quality issues through
liaison with professional associations and heads of departments
Usefulness:
16. Facilitating the development of a shared definition of standards at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels (benchmarking).
Usefulness:
Are there any other activities or functions which you think should be taken
on by the subject centres/networks? How important would you rate thse?
Answer:
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Chris Middleton
Project Director, SSP2000
Department of Sociological Studies
University of Sheffield, Elmfield, Northumberland Road
Sheffield S10 2TU. UK.
Tel. 0114 222 6446
Fax. 0114 276 8125 (fao Chris Middleton)
SSP2000 Home Page:
http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/ssp2000/
Department of Sociological Studies Home Page:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/R-Z/socst/
If you are sending me an attachment please note that I use a Mac and that
UUEncoded attachments are difficult to decode. If you use a PC it would
help me if you tick the box 'Use Mime Encoding' in the 'Special' options,
in 'Sending Mail'.Thank you.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
