Welcome to this special issue of JADE , which captures highlights , reflections , and continued explorations from Keele ' s Becoming Well Read academic reading symposium , 2021 .
Editorial
Angela Rhead , SFHEA Senior Curriculum Developer Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence , Keele University
Angela has had an extensive career in teacher education in a range of contexts . After completing a first degree in English Literature she spent six years in Tokyo teaching and teacher-training . In 1995 , she returned to the UK and established a career in teacher education in the tertiary sector , completing a PGCE and MA Ed , before going on to lead PGCE awards and Educational CPD .
In 2015 Angela joined Keele as a Learning Developer , supporting students across the institution with their academic skills and working with colleagues in the Humanities and Social Sciences faculty to embed academic practices in their curricula . Now a Senior Curriculum Developer , she has pursued her interest in academic reading practices , disseminating her innovative Academic Reading Retreat approach to practice development and convening the annual Becoming Well Read symposium .
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As a teacher and teacher-educator , I became increasingly aware of how vital it is to focus on the often ‘ secret ,’ underpinning academic practices of critical reading and analysis if our students are to engage confidently in higher learning at undergraduate and postgraduate levels . My role at Keele University has given me an ideal opportunity to work with both students and academics to explore the ‘ sticky ’ concepts of academic practice , of which reading surely deserves the title ? If academic reading is located in Schon ’ s ( 1983 ) ‘ swamp ’ of complex and seldom explored knowledges , Becoming Well Read , building on the work of Academic Reading Retreats ( Rhead , 2019 ), is an attempt to situate academic reading at the centre of the academic literacies debate and learning development practices ; to resist the push towards technical skills that divorces reading from the culture of its discipline , from its relationship to knowledge acquisition and creation ; and a recognition of the importance of exploring why we read to complement the technical aspects of how to read and so , circumnavigate the seemingly ubiquitous anxious attention on writing and final performance .
In April 2019 , over fifty delegates from twenty Higher Education Institutions ( HEIs ) across the UK gathered to enjoy the first event of this type to take place in the sector : the Becoming Well Read symposium . We explored academic reading practices , reflected on the challenges of teaching reading for academic purposes and shared innovative and interesting teaching methods . After a Covid hiatus in 2020 , Becoming Well Read returned in May 2021 with an exciting second round for the symposium and a move to online assembly that saw a virtual but dialogic keynote shift to the close of the event , Learning Walks morph into Learning TWalks , and an increased audience of 85 registrations , from 40 UK and 5 international HEIs .
The popularity of the symposium took us by surprise and , having limited numbers to retain the focus on discussion and exchange , once again registration had to close early as we quickly reached capacity . Feedback suggested that the opportunity to pause and reflect together in a more intimate environment was something that participants appreciated , as one delegate reported : “ The fact that it was a fairly slow event , compared to other online events I ' ve attended ... gave the opportunity to get to know people but also to get engaged in in-depth discussions .” This sense of community and dialogue is a quality we look forward to maintaining in future symposia .