Professors Earle Abrahamson, Emmajane Milton, Hannah Cobb
At the ANTF Symposium in Hereford on 21 May, we gathered as members of National Learning and Teaching Focused Network to explore a subject often absent from sector-wide discourse: hope.
In a higher education environment increasingly shaped by financial pressures, policy shifts, and uncertainty, the core purpose of education and learning can become lost. Our session invited colleagues to reflect on how we can reclaim the heart of higher education; centred on learning, teaching, care, and community – using the WISER framework as a guide. WISER – Well-being, Innovation and Impact, Student/Staff/Stakeholders, Equity and Ethics, Reward and Recognition – offered us more than an acronym; it gave us a shared language for hope.
Well-being must underpin everything we do. In our session, colleagues shared the emotional toll that a commitment to teaching, and the provision of high-quality learner experience can carry, especially for those who feel invisible within institutional hierarchies. Yet we also heard stories of strength: communities built through peer support, collaboration, writing groups, and safe spaces where people could be their whole selves. Hope grows when well-being is taken seriously, not just for students, but for all of us.
Innovation and Impact can sometimes feel like terms reserved for high-profile projects or glossy reports. But real innovation is often quiet, deeply relational, and rooted in care. We heard about small pedagogic shifts, creative and authentic assessments, and inclusive learning environments. These are acts of hope – grounded in the belief that education can always be made better, and that our impact doesn’t always need a headline.
Students, Staff, and Stakeholders are not separate categories but parts of a shared and interrelated story. We reflected on how teaching-focused staff often serve as the bridge between these groups – holding connections that are essential, yet often under-valued and recognised. In those connections, we find hope: in the laughter of a seminar, in a student’s confidence blooming, in moments of mutual and reciprocal learning and respect.
Equity and Ethics challenge us to do better. Many in our network came into higher education through unexpected routes and have experienced the discomfort of not quite “fitting the mould”. Yet we’ve also seen how that difference becomes strength. Hope lies in challenging assumptions about who belongs in academia and building more inclusive, ethical spaces that welcome diverse voices, perspective and values, even when they do challenge the status quo.
Reward and Recognition remain difficult terrain. Teaching-focused pathways still often feel like an afterthought in systems designed around research prestige. But in this session, we celebrated each other’s successes, big and small. We saw the value in shared recognition, in telling our stories, in lifting others up and not forgetting where we have come from. Hope comes from knowing our contributions matter, even when they’re not always formally acknowledged.
Our session wasn’t just about reflection; it was a call to action. In small acts of disruption, we can choose connection. In complexity, we can centre compassion. Through WISER ways of working, we’re reminded that higher education can still be transformative, not just for students, but for staff too.
The message we left with is simple but powerful: Hope is not a luxury; it’s a necessity. And when we build it together, we remind each other: You matter. You belong. Keep going.
Further Information: @earleabrahamso2; LinkedIn: Earle Abrahamson; scholarshipspotlight.uk, https://ltfocusednetwork.wordpress.com/
