Developing conceptions of teaching and the scholarship of teaching through a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education

There is increasing pressure toward professionalisation of university teaching, through the attendance of academic development courses and programmes. This is based on the expectation that such courses lead to more student-focused perspectives on teaching and learning and more effective teaching and learning practices. In this study we interviewed alumni of a Graduate Certificate programme, to explore its effects on teachers' self-reported experiences of teaching and the scholarship of teaching. This suggested that the programme had been successful in fostering the development of more complex experiences for most interviewees.