Graduate teaching assistants: a pilot program of preparation and support at the Australian National University (1995-6)

Abstract

This article offers a brief account of a pilot program of teaching support for casual and part-time PhD student tutors and demonstrators in their first experiences of teaching in an Australian university. Its analysis of the value of such programs draws heavily on an extensive body of written and oral evaluation data provided by participants, and it shows how some of the classic institutional and disciplinary dilemmas raised in the mounting of such programs are resolved in one context. Some of the unforeseen consequences of the introduction of this program for the larger organization and practice of teaching in the university are briefly analysed.