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Little is known about the nature of educational proficiency in evaluation practices in academia. This is unfortunate, since excellence in teaching is increasingly seen as significant for the prosperity of contemporary higher education institutions. This study explores the meaning ascribed to educational proficiency in the recruitment of academic teachers, and draws on data from a comprehensive research-intensive university in Sweden offering educational programmes within a broad range of scientific domains. The data consists of 100 evaluation reports derived from 54 appointments. A thematic analysis and an analysis of reviewers' strategies of intertextuality are carried out. The findings show that (1) although qualitatively distinct aspects are attributed to educational proficiency, the principal meaning ascribed to it is the mere act and experience of teaching; and (2) reviewers draw on the application files using distinct textual strategies that have significant consequences for their construction of educational proficiency. These strategies involve referring to existing information in the file in different ways (quoting/listing, paraphrasing/summarising, commenting/assessing), stressing the absence of information in the file (wanting), and disregarding information in the file (withdrawing). Reviewers' dominant use of paraphrasing or summarising as a strategy of intertextuality is consistent with educational proficiency primarily being conceptualised as a matter of quantity.

While research merits have long been the priority in the recognition of institutions and scholars, teaching is often downplayed, appearing as a practice of less worth in Academia. To counteract this tendency, various systems to upgrade the value of education and to promote teaching excellence have been introduced by higher education institutions on a global scale. In this chapter, we explore the values and beliefs unveiled in the promotion of academics in such a system. We employ empirical data collected from an inquiry into the promotion of distinguished university teachers at a comprehensive university in Sweden. An analysis of reviewers’ judgements and legitimations shows that the intersection between promotion, peer review, and excellent teaching affects not only the peer review process, but also the notion of the distinguished university teacher.

The recruitment of full professors is critical for the formation of academia. The professorship is critical not only for the prosperity of the HEIs, but especially so for the establishment, development and communication of the discipline. In this chapter, we analyze the initial step of the typecasting process in the recruitment of full professors. We use a few cases to illustrate how the intellectual and social organization of the field of education science(s) is manifested in publicly posted job advertisements. The analysis shows that the field is characterized by heterogeneity and no longer has a basis in one single discipline. New relations between research, teaching, and society can be observed, as well as a narrowing of authority of the professorship but an increase of responsibilities.

This article develops knowledge about the meaning and value ascribed to educational proficiency in the recruitment of full professors. Hiring processes reflect standards that organize academia and notions of academic scholarship, its value and quality, and agents involved have an institutional gate-keeping function. The empirical data, external peer review letters, is drawn from an old comprehensive research-intensive university, offering educational programmes within a broad range of scientific domains. Although a large variety of aspects are ascribed to educational proficiency, and variations do occur across scientific domains and reviewers, the main finding is a restricted notion. A special value is assigned to the scope of doctoral supervision and teacher training. Internal individual classroom performance is focused, while scholarly interaction is less emphasized. Reviewers primarily serve as gatekeepers of disciplinary research, not the education thereof, thus educational proficiency is no game changer in the context of academic scholarship.

This thesis develops knowledge on educational proficiency as an object of assessment in academic hiring of university teachers. Hiring processes are essential for the very formation of academia, and peers involved in these processes have an institutional gate-keeping function. University teachers are an important resource for both research and teaching and thus student learning. Consequently, educational proficiency is crucial for the development of higher education institutions. The analysis is informed by a discursive perspective and by research and conceptualizations on educational proficiency, and peer review as a practice of evaluation. The empirical material consists of full dossiers and external peer review letters, drawn from a comprehensive research-intensive university in Sweden.

The first study explores the weight and care peer reviewers attribute to candidates’ educational credentials in the promotion of senior lecturers to full professor. The second study examines educational proficiency in the recruitment of full professors. The meaning and the value attributed to educational proficiency in peer review letters are analyzed, and a set of interrelated themes is developed. The third study investigates the assessment of educational proficiency in the recruitment of senior lecturers. The themes previously developed are further explored as are strategies of intertextuality used by reviewers.

Educational proficiency is attributed a variation of aspects, albeit only a few of those are assigned special value: teaching experience and PhD supervision appears as the touchstone of educational proficiency. Although teaching experience refers to various types of experiences, emphasis is on scope of teaching, and almost no attention is given to the teaching-research nexus. This way, the epistemic foundation of teaching is disregarded. Further, by summarizing and listing merits, reviewers equal experience with proficiency. Although variations do occur across scientific domains, peer reviewers’ affiliation and assignment, the deepest impression conveyed are the similarities. Findings imply that educational proficiency primarily relates to internal and locally embedded activities, and is understood as a technical and generic process. The thesis discusses and problematizes peer review as an expert evaluation, and illuminates how peer review in academic hiring is positioned in the intersection between institutional values and academic cultures.

During 19992010, eligible Swedish university lecturers had an unconditional right to apply for promotion tothe position of professor. Our aim was to discuss the motives of the reform and to problematise challenges inmaking qualitative assessments of educational expertise. We presented the results from an evaluation of thereform, and we focused on the weights that the peer reviewers in their assessment assign to the educationalcredentials of the applicants as opposed to those assigned to the research credentials. The empirical materialconsists of the dossiers from 294 cases of promotion. For research expertise and for educational expertise, wecreated one and three indices, respectively, where different types of credentials were given different weights.Changes over time were examined, as well as differences between disciplinary domains. In the assessment anddecision process, educational expertise was outweighed by research expertise, and mainly quantitative aspectsof the former were taken into account. There were signs that the peer review system underwent changes andthat its intended quality-promoting function diminished over time.