Warwick Teaching Certificate (Mathematics) - An experiment in departmentally-based training

I am very grateful to Bill Cox, Michael Grove and Joe Kyle for their support with the project described in this article, and to Bill Cox and Rebecca Earle for helpful comments on an earlier draft. Over the last five years, most British universities have introduced training for their new teaching staff. Completing it is, increasingly, a condition for ending probation and having one’s appointment made permanent. In most cases the training is provided, across all subjects, by a Centre for Staff Development, or a Centre for Academic Practice. This article begins with some very brief comments on central or generic staff training, and goes on to describe an experiment, still in its first year, in which the Mathematics Department at Warwick has taken over the training of its own staff. More details can be found at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/~mond/wtc.html (henceforth referred to as ‘the website’).