Higher Education – Its Context and Linkages

Professional Development for University Teachers: A Lifelong Journey

Last updated on:

December 1, 2025

Teaching at a university is far more than standing in front of a classroom and delivering lectures. The role demands constant adaptation – to new research, emerging technologies, shifting student needs, and evolving institutional expectations. Yet, unlike medicine or law, where continuing education is often mandatory, professional development in higher education has long been treated as optional, even supplementary. That is changing. Across the world, universities are beginning to recognize that ongoing professional development for academic staff is not a luxury – it is essential to ensuring high-quality teaching and learning for every student who walks through the door.

Why professional development matters for university teachers
Key areas of professional growth for university teachers
Developing as a teacher
Engaging with research on teaching and learning
Community involvement and collaborative professional cultures
Challenges in building a culture of professional development
Opportunities: what effective professional development looks like
Professional development as a lifelong commitment

Why professional development matters for university teachers

Higher education systems are globally challenged by a fast-changing society, globalization, and rapid technological development. What a university teacher knew five years ago may already be partially outdated – whether in terms of subject knowledge, pedagogical approaches, or the digital tools students now expect in learning environments. Staying professionally current is not simply about keeping up; it is about remaining effective.

The concept of professional development itself has evolved. It is no longer limited to attending a one-off workshop or completing an administrative training module. Professional development is increasingly understood as a systematic, longer-term process that guides teachers to fulfil their role holistically – spanning their identity as educators, scholars, and members of an academic community. It covers everything from how teachers design a course to how they reflect on what is and isn’t working in the classroom.

The stakes are real. For most college instructors, regular participation in teaching development is neither a workplace expectation nor a professional obligation – and yet research consistently shows that faculty who do engage with it improve their students’ chances of success. The gap between what professional development could offer and what most institutions actually require is significant, and worth closing.

Key areas of professional growth for university teachers

Professional development for university teachers spans three broad areas: teaching practice, research engagement, and community involvement. Each reinforces the others, and together they shape a well-rounded academic professional.

Developing as a teacher

Good teaching is not instinctive – it is a craft that improves with deliberate effort and reflection. Faculty need to keep pace with changes occurring in higher education and with the latest innovations in teaching and learning to genuinely serve their students. This includes learning about active learning techniques, student-centred approaches, inclusive pedagogy, and the use of digital tools.

One particularly valuable form of teaching-focused development is peer observation. Professional development has been defined as the promotion of teacher quality through peer observation, providing informative feedback, and self-guided mastery of new skills. When teachers observe each other’s classes and give structured feedback, they gain insights that no workshop alone can provide.

Structured programmes – such as the Teaching4Learning initiative at the University of Padova, which covers learner-centred teaching, syllabus design, active learning techniques, and inclusive teaching – show that when faculty development is embedded into institutional culture rather than treated as an add-on, it leads to real transformation in practice. The key is that such programmes move beyond technical training to shift beliefs and values around what good teaching actually looks like.

Engaging with research on teaching and learning

University teachers are, by definition, researchers in their disciplines. But there is a growing recognition that teachers should also engage with research about their teaching. This is where the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) becomes relevant. SoTL is defined as systematic inquiry into student learning that is shared publicly – making evidence-based teaching a collaborative, community-wide endeavour rather than a private practice.

Through SoTL, teachers ask questions like: Is the way I’m structuring discussions actually improving student participation? Are my assessment methods reaching all learners equally? Faculty who engage in SoTL join an ongoing conversation with colleagues across disciplines and around the world by reading prior scholarship, attending conferences, publishing findings, and collaborating on projects. This is professional development that directly feeds back into better teaching.

Carrying out SoTL permits individuals to become more empowered by their research, engaging with others and creating narratives inherent within professional interest communities. For many university teachers, this kind of inquiry is also a way of reclaiming their sense of professional identity – particularly for those who may feel pulled between research and teaching demands.

Community involvement and collaborative professional cultures

Professional development does not happen in isolation. Learning communities can foster collaborative work cultures for teachers by promoting and sustaining shared learning. Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs), mentoring networks, peer coaching circles, and discipline-specific conferences all provide spaces where teachers can exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and hold each other accountable to growth.

Community involvement extends beyond the university walls too. Engaging with professional associations, contributing to public discourse in one’s field, and participating in interdisciplinary networks all enrich a teacher’s perspective. Scholarly societies are increasingly being called upon to expand their professional development function – offering targeted workshops, mentorship programmes, and initiatives that help academics navigate an ever-shifting professional landscape.

The most widely used professional development modalities in higher education include workshops, mentoring, consulting peers or experts, pedagogical research, and communities of practice – with the best ones sharing the common aim of professionalising teachers in a sustained rather than one-time way.

Challenges in building a culture of professional development

Despite broad recognition of its importance, professional development in higher education faces significant structural and cultural barriers. Time is the most obvious: course preparation and student communication now occupy nearly 40% of faculty time, leaving little room for activities beyond immediate teaching obligations. Research pressures, administrative burdens, and the demands of managing increasingly diverse student populations all compete for attention.

The institutional support gap is equally telling. One in three faculty want financial reimbursement to address their top professional challenges, but only 5% actually receive it. A disconnect exists between what institutions say they value and what they actually fund or reward. Faculty are often told that professional development matters, but promotion systems continue to reward research output above all else, sending a contradictory message.

Technology adds another layer of complexity. Nearly half of instructors are now using AI in their work, yet three in five report having no institutional policy in place to guide them on AI use in their courses. This gap demonstrates precisely why universities need to invest more actively in helping educators understand and navigate new technologies – rather than leaving individual teachers to figure it out alone.

The departmental culture a teacher works within also matters enormously. Research shows that perceived professional culture plays a pivotal role in academics’ teaching and professional learning. Teachers in departments that are collaborative and supportive of pedagogical experimentation are far more likely to engage with professional development than those in environments where teaching is treated as secondary to research.

Opportunities: what effective professional development looks like

The good news is that there is growing momentum – and evidence – behind more effective models. Scaffolded professional development, which is ongoing and features regular practice and demonstration in the workplace, is gaining traction as an evidence-based model. Rather than isolated training events, scaffolded approaches build in long programming, peer observation, and coaching – recognising that professional learning takes time, thought, and sustained commitment.

Coaching from a more experienced colleague can serve learning, directive, supportive, and motivational functions within a professional development programme – and has been shown to reduce occupational stress, not just improve teaching skills. This is particularly relevant for newer university teachers, who often enter academic roles without formal teaching qualifications and can struggle in silence without structured support.

Crucially, individual initiative matters just as much as institutional provision. Professional development is partly driven by personal reflection on learning experiences as well as collaborating with others to generate critical thinking. Teachers who seek out peer conversations, read educational literature beyond their discipline, experiment deliberately in their classrooms, and reflect honestly on outcomes are engaging in professional development – regardless of whether their institution formally supports them.

The combination of institutional support and individual initiative is what creates a genuine culture of professional development – one where growth is not a tick-box exercise but an ongoing commitment embedded in academic identity. Effective faculty development programmes address multiple teacher roles while promoting organisational change and producing significant positive changes in participants’ attitudes, knowledge, and skills. That is the standard to aim for.

Professional development as a lifelong commitment

The most effective university teachers are not those who stopped learning once they got their degrees. They are the ones who treat their own development with the same rigour they apply to their research – asking questions, gathering evidence, revising their approach, and sharing what they learn. Practical professional learning around interactive lecturing, evidence-based instruction, and pedagogy can help faculty help students learn more effectively across all stages of an academic career.

Building a culture of professional development in higher education requires both systemic change and personal commitment. Institutions need to structure time and resources for it, recognise it in promotion criteria, and create collaborative environments where it can flourish. Individual teachers, in turn, need to approach their careers as lifelong learners – not just experts in their subjects, but practitioners who are always refining the craft of teaching itself.

What do you think? If professional development were formally recognised and rewarded in academic promotion systems the way research output currently is, how might the culture of university teaching change? And as a university teacher, what has been the single most impactful form of professional development in your own practice – and why?

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References

PDF 📄

Professional Development for University Teachers: A Lifelong Journey

Table of Contents

Why professional development matters for university teachers 🔗

Key areas of professional growth for university teachers 🔗

Developing as a teacher 🔗

Engaging with research on teaching and learning 🔗

Community involvement and collaborative professional cultures 🔗

Challenges in building a culture of professional development 🔗

Opportunities: what effective professional development looks like 🔗

Professional development as a lifelong commitment 🔗