Reframing the role and value of Learning and Teaching Units.

Presenters: Professor Ruth Greenaway (SCU) and Professor Kevin Ashford-Rowe (QUT)

This presentation responds to a timely and increasingly contested debate about the role of Learning and Teaching Units (LTUs), sparked by recent critiques of pedagogical expertise alongside renewed sector advocacy for their importance. Drawing on perspectives such as those presented in Scholfield (2026) and Wright (2026) and situated within the policy context of the Australian Universities Accord’s emphasis on accredited teaching qualifications and professional standards, the session reframes the question from whether LTUs should exist to what they need to become and whether institutions can achieve sustainable transformation without them.

Using Southern Cross University as a case study, the presentation demonstrates how LTUs and “third space” professionals act as critical partners in addressing complex, cross-institutional challenges, such as digital transformation, assessment, and curriculum renewal, through the deliberate development of institutional capability. We argue that the true value of this work is measured by demonstrable shifts in what institutions can do, highlighting capability, educational, and transformational outcomes as the key measures of impact.

Ultimately, we position effective partnership between academics and third-space professionals as essential to innovation, adaptability, and the development of institutional capability. We close with a provocation: might Schofield’s critique be right, in part?

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