The YoungLecturerMovement
This past December, I found myself in a “Reactor Hall” 25m under the ground in Stockholm. It was this mystical place, where Sweden had its first nuclear reactor in 1954, by the campus of KTH University. 63 years later I had the privilege of giving a Tedx Talk at this (by now, much less radioactive ;) venue. My talk “How to solve the higher education disengagement crisis” can be found at the end of this blog. For those of you who are too busy to watch it right now (or any time soon), here’s the rationale:
Too many university students are disengaged. 60% of students find at least half of their lectures boring. One of the root-causes for this disengagement epidemic are disengaged professors. Professors, who have oftentimes lost their enthusiasm for teaching and or care more about their research than about their students. At the same time, there are plenty of youngsters who are either in their end of their studies, or recently graduated who have a passion for teaching and the ability to engage and inspire their peers. When I had just turned 23 I became a lecturer at the Amsterdam School of International Business of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (more explanation on the how and why in the video) where I taught an entrepreneurship project for second-semester bachelor students. I ended up loving the experience and my students did too, judging by the fact that I received the highest evaluation out of all lecturers teaching this course. I found that many other youngsters from different countries and all types of universities have made a similar experience. They have been appointed assistant lecturer or lecturer (mostly for undergraduate students) at a young age despite not fulfilling all formal requirements and their students rated their performance exceptionally. In my talk I point out the reasons for why young people can often make for great lecturers for undergraduate students, and why we need more courageous program managers who give these young talents a chance. Connected to this I started the YoungLecturerMovement.
In this blog I want to add to my talk and share my opinion on who can make for a great young lecturer, what the conditions are the university needs to set and what the risks are and how to mitigate them. My hope is that this blog can serve as a guideline or inspiration for program managers who are thinking about having more young lecturers in their teaching staff.
Who could these young lecturers be?
Firstly, young (not quite as young as the boy on the title picture) women and men who are finishing their bachelor or master studies or are recently (1–3 years) graduated. They have not necessarily stood out through academic records (though most of the times they do), but instead they have shown exceptional effort in gaining real-life experience in the field of their study, in learning more about the subject than required and they have showcased their skills.
Secondly, people who feel comfortable on stage. This may seem rather obvious, but I can’t emphasize enough how hard and crucial it is to be able to be yourself when speaking in front of a crowd. Especially when dealing with impatient students whose (including my own) attention span seems to be decreasing day-by-day, a good stage-presence is necessary to keep the student minds sharp. This ability comes natural to some people and is not dependent on age or experience.
Thirdly: In my talk, I’ve mentioned a couple of qualities of potential young lecturers. Passion for teaching and the subject, conviction, enthusiasm and empathy are some of the crucial “soft skills” a young lecturer needs to engage and inspire his/her students. One other trait which I haven’t mentioned in my talk but I believe is a must-have for any (young) lecturer is natural authority. Emphasis on natural. I´m not talking about the authority that comes with titles and credentials. There are many people, who already at a young age, have high levels of natural authority. Meaning, that people respect them and that they are able to get the attention of their students without having to yell at them, punish them or humiliate them (which I think we have all experienced sometimes in class). Authority can’t be forced upon anyone. On the one hand, there are some people who have this quality as an in-born trait. You know it when you see them interacting in groups. One the other hand, authority grows from mutual respect; a concept every young lecturer I talked to understood and practiced religiously. I’ve also learned that being honest and transparent with my students is the best way to gain authority. For example, when I started my class I made clear to the students that I have not done this before and that while I had some experience in the field, I don’t know the answers to everything. I made the clear to them, that we’ll elaborate all content together and I’ll involve them in the process. This authority can also be created by making the “rules of the game” very clear right from the start and to make them aware that they can approach you differently than they would maybe approach other lecturers, you’ll not be accepting free-riding, missing deadlines and disrespectful behavior. So I told them to call me Daniel not Mr. Breitwieser and that they can also text me on whatsapp if something urgent pops up. Yet, I tried being very strict with adhering to the rules we had agreed on in class.
What are the conditions the program manager needs to set?
Being a lecturer or teacher isn’t easy. Being a young lecturer without years of experience, pedagogical education and only little professional experience is even harder. That’s why a support system should be established to help the young lecturers thrive. For example, every young lecturer should get a more senior lecturer as a mentor. So many times, you are not sure what to do or need advice on how to deal with the students in the best possible way. A mentor can help you with these questions. The mentor can also help you with grading which is another very important area where support is needed. Having to grade my first paper was a nightmare, I start shivering when I only think about it. Talking it through with other, more senior lecturers, was what helped me the most to handle these challenges. In general, young lecturers should get a crash course on how to grade. Assessment grading forms alone are not the solution.
Another crash course on the fundamentals of pedagogy and coaching, before they get started could be a great addition. This crash course could entail, teaching how to coach students to finding out the right answers by themselves and also on how to give feedback in a constructive way. Additionally, it could help including tips on how to deal with different characters of students and learners.
What are the risks and how can you mitigate them?
Of course there are risks involved with appointing students or recent graduates as lecturers. In the end, they are still in their early professional and personal development process themselves. Many things can happen or change along the way. For me, my second year of teaching was totally different than my first one. A new class can be a totally new playing ground too. There is always the chance that the young lecturer can not handle the pressure or doesn’t perform as expected. So it becomes even more important, that the young lecturers become the support they need to take on the challenge of teaching. In higher education, most lecturers have more work than they can handle and everyone is extremely busy. Nevertheless, if the faculty head / program manager shows the braveness to appoint young lecturers, the conditions need to be set accordingly. All staff teaching the same course should be informed about the decision to take on a young lecturer into the team, including a brief motivation and background of the newcomer. This way acceptance amongst other staff members rises as well as the willingness to help the younger colleague out if needed. Next to implementing some of the measures mentioned in the previous section, one of the best ways to avoid a bad experience for the students and the young lecturers, is to test the young lecturers beforehand. For instance, he or she should could first assist a senior lecturer in class and then occasionally take over to see how she or he is performing. It is also important to have them teach a class by him/herself without the senior lecturer to be present and to let students rate the quality of the class after. As an example, two years before I was appointed lecturer, I participated in an honours program where students attended classes on team and start up coaching whilst serving as an assistant lecturer for the course I ended up teaching. I taught the class together with the main lecturer who occasionally would give me the chance to teach classes or hold workshops for a selected group of students. This program was a great initiative from our school and a great way to find young lecturer talent. Like this, most of the qualities and characteristics above can be validated easily.
Final Call
While the title of my talk was “how to solve the higher education disengagement crisis” integrating young lecturers into the teaching staff alone won’t help making higher education more engaging and inspiring. However, currently this resource of people who have the ability and conviction to be teach at young age are often underutilized. In my opinion, the perception of who can make for a great lecturer or teacher in general has shifted. For me, whoever has the ability to inspire, engage, and help others learn, is a great teacher.
No matter whether they are old or young, lecturers should have a passion for what they do and not view teaching students as a burden (which according to William Deresiewicz’s book “Excellent Sheep” many ambitious academics do). With a small percentage of engaging young lecturers and a majority of lecturers who are assessed on a regular basis whether they still have the capacity and interest to teach their students in an engaging way, universities can create a great mix of generations to pursue the only goal that matters: Help students thrive.
Check out the video of the Tedx talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnEaBdeDuro&t=441s
PS: To all youngsters out there, who think they have what it takes to teach and to all university program managers who want to include more young lecturers into their teaching staff, sign up to the YoungLecturerMovement. I’ll personally make the connection whenever there is a match in a city / university :)
