GTAs Enhancing Education Fund (EEF): Supporting Student engagement & Providing resources for GTA agency

Abstract

Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are often an underfunded and underutilised resource in Higher Education departments. However, when provided with resources and autonomy, GTAs can facilitate greater student engagement and develop core professional skills necessary for future academic roles. This article explores the development and outcome of the Enhancing Education Funding (EEF) call, developed by the Arts & Humanities Research Institute at King’s College London (KCL). The EEF was created on the principles of collective participation, with the dual purpose of supporting students’ engagement para-COVID-19 and enhancing the autonomy and leadership skills of GTAs in the Faculty of the Art & Humanities, KCL. Under EEF, seven projects were funded to support ten GTAs in leading curriculum-based, supervisor-supported projects between 2021-2022. Details of the theoretical basis for the funding call, the funded projects and the GTAs evaluation of their projects are provided. Findings are based on hour-long focus group interviews conducted at the end of the project, with all awardees and summaries of seven end-of-project reports produced by the ten funded GTAs. The findings from this study highlight that where collective participation is used, GTAs can be given more responsibility and autonomy and can create engaging content for students that can supplement the curriculum in a valuable manner. However, this can only be effectively achieved if GTAs are established with a framework of continuous support, particularly in areas such as administration and receive resources, such as payment for time.