The Rise of Teaching Focused Academics in Universities

This paper describes developments in the rise and implementation of teaching focused positions in universities. We note that such development is not without challenge given the research priority of many universities, and we note that teaching focused academics need to be across developments in the disciplinary knowledge of their field and able to integrate these into their teaching practice. We argue that teaching scholars must be different but equal to those engaged in research and/or research and teaching, we note the Importance of Ernest Boyer and we highlight the role of scholarship in teaching focussed positions. We provide examples of universities that have implemented teaching focused positions and identify implications for Chinese universities.