The pedagogical academy: a way to encourage and reward scholarly teaching

In 2001 a large-scale project, the 'Breakthrough project', to develop teaching and learning was started at Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), Lund University, Sweden. The project has had a duration of 3 years and the aims of the project were to change the paradigm from teaching to learning and implement a sense of scholarship of teaching in the organization. Since the beginning of 2004 the Breakthrough project has been a permanent activity at LTH linked to the HR-function. Developed in this project was the pedagogical academy. This is a novel approach to stimulate and reward scholarship of teaching. Every teacher at LTH may apply for admission to the pedagogical academy and receive an excellent teaching practice award. If they qualify, they immediately receive an increased salary and the teacher's department receives additional funding. Six assessment criteria for the pedagogical academy have been developed from the area of scholarship of teaching. In a teaching portfolio the teacher should be able to show how well these criteria are fulfilled in practise and thinking.