Warwick Postgraduate Teaching Community (WPTC) was established in 2021. As early career colleagues, postgraduate researchers who teach (often called Graduate Teaching Assistants) embody responsibilities such as lab demonstration, seminar leadership and marking. They are commonly referred to as being in a ‘liminal space’: somewhere between staff, student, teacher and researcher; which is where WPTC provides a point of connection, support and endorsement. The team has two broad aims. Firstly, it seeks to offer developmental opportunities to an evolving core of PGR teachers from across the institution, enabling connection and collaboration, incubation of ideas and an opportunity to lead, share and learn. Secondly, the team enables these colleagues to co-create research, resources and initiatives, and form partnerships which will benefit and give voice to the wider PGR teacher community, at Warwick and beyond.
Collectively developing the work as PGRs allows the team to move in a meaningful direction, with an authentic voice and a vested interest in the community and its needs. This is maintained through devolved and shared leadership on an annual cycle, within the core team, between PGR Teacher Champions (who drive the work); PGR Teacher Mentors from previous years (who support these peers); and a colleague in the Academic Development Centre (who provides oversight, mentorship and support). WPTC is personified by a relational pedagogy, a democratic space built on positive relationships: indispensable for the progression of the work. The team ecosystem brings developmental and reciprocal benefits to individuals who work in and transition between the roles.
WPTC has developed resources and opportunities for PGR teachers including: editorship of the Journal of PGR Pedagogic Practice (currently on its fourth call for papers); creation of a resource and information bank; promotion of PGR-run workshops and networking opportunities; and research into the state of the PGR teacher experience, which has informed institutional policy and practice. The team has been highlighted in a publication by Advance HE and its work disseminated via the national GTA Developer Network. Institutionally, the team was recognised for its work in the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence in 2022 and continues to champion the PGR teacher voice.