Fellow at last!
After years of not quite applying for CeP, I’m finally a newly-minted ALDinHE Fellow! I had so many abortive attempts to apply for CeP that every time I went back to it, not only my experience but the form itself had changed. This time, I finally got it over the line just as the award morphed from ‘Certified Practitioner’ to ‘Fellow’.
What made the difference this time?
- Peer support: when I had previously started to apply, it had been an individual endeavour that had neither line management support nor peer encouragement. In those circumstances, it felt hard to justify the time and effort required. This time, I had CeP as a CPD objective in my performance review and colleagues alongside me for mutual support and accountability.
- A fixed-term contract: employment precarity imbues CPD activities with a certain urgency. With the clock ticking on my contract, I knew professional recognition needed to be a higher priority. As well as the value of the award itself, the process is affirming of your professional experience and value – a much-need morale-boost at a difficult time.
Learn to sell yourself
It’s not very British to blow your own trumpet. This cultural truism has been a barrier for me applying for professional recognition, as I have shied away from owning and celebrating my achievements. This reticence showed in my initial application, which I was asked to amend and resubmit to demonstrate my LD work more strongly. In one sense, this was a ‘failure’, but the supportive, collegiate way in which the feedback was given made it feel affirmative and developmental.
Be a (reflective) writer
As an LDer, I’m aware of the importance of continuing to learn, write and reflect. In part, this is so my own experiences don’t become too divorced from those of the students I work with: grappling with difficult practices will help prevent me from trotting out trite reassurances or formulaic ‘how to’ models without recognising the genuine challenges they pose. I’ve been working a lot on reflective practice in LD over recent years, too, and this opportunity to apply it myself was welcome – if uncomfortable at times!
Use it as a stepping stone
With the wind in my professional recognition sails, I went on to apply for my institution’s AdvanceHE-equivalent scheme, Recognising Excellent in Teaching (RET). The experience with ALDinHE was hugely helpful in enabling me become both an ALDinHE Fellow and a RET Fellow in the space of a year. That, and a little help from my friends.