A Snapshot of Accredited Professional Development Provision in Irish Higher Education

The first of three snapshot reports arising from the professional development consultation: “Mapping professional development pathways for those who teach in higher education; Where are we now and where do we want to go?’.
This first Snapshot report presents an overview of the existing accredited professional development (APD) provision in Ireland. It documents the programmes that are on offer, outlines their level and associated credits. In addition a qualitative analysis has been completed on the programme and modular learning outcomes of all identified provision to determine the knowledge, skills and competency development currently incorporated into teaching and learning accredited programmes across the sector. The outcome of this analysis provides an excellent foundation for informing a national professional development framework. This first report comes in two parts. Part One profiles the different programmes identified including, level, associated ECTS credits, mode of delivery, recognition of prior learning (RPL), support offered to participants and numbers graduating from these programmes nationally. The report’s second part provides a qualitative analysis of (i) the programme objectives and (ii) the associated modular learning outcomes to identify the key aspects of the provision. Finally a comparison of the intended modular learning outcomes and the programme objectives is provided.