Teaching and academic development in the ecological university: making sense together across difference

What happens when teachers, students and academic developers use the same words but understand them differently? Discussions about engagement, educational quality or curriculum change can conceal differences in expectations, professional identities and assumptions about knowledge. Drawing on conceptual work, this talk explores the university as an ecology of relationships in which shared understanding must be continually negotiated. It introduces relational liminality: situations where familiar meanings become unsettled and a shared interpretation has yet to emerge.

Through illustrative scenarios involving teaching, curriculum change and institutional priorities, the talk considers how university teachers and academic developers can recognise these situations and create conditions for productive dialogue. It explores enabling leadership as an everyday practice of making differences visible, negotiating workable understandings and supporting collective action without requiring everyone to think alike.

The session invites participants to reflect on how relationships, disciplinary contexts and institutional conditions shape educational change, and how teaching and academic development can become mutually supportive practices.

Biography
Paulo Correia is an Associate Professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, based in the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities. His research connects chemistry education, concept mapping, threshold concepts and academic development. He serves on the Steering Committee of USP’s Faculty Development Space (EDD-USP). In 2027, he will undertake an approved sabbatical project at USP’s Institute of Advanced Studies, investigating contextualised academic development through individual and small-group support. His collaboration with Ian Kinchin explores relational approaches to teaching, academic development and the ecological university.