Shared Reading (SR) is a communal well-being intervention in which a literary text is read aloud and discussed in a group. A form of emotion-centred close reading, SR emerged as a reaction against elitist academic norms and was developed in an attempt to emotionalise and democratise literary study by moving it outside of the confines of the university. This theoretical essay argues that humanities and social science lecturers might benefit from introducing SR praxis into their classes. Each section analyses an aspect of SR through emotionally engaged (hooks, Palmer), relational (Hickey, Riddle, Gravett), and critical (Freire) pedagogical and theoretical lenses, arguing that SR serves many of the aspirations of these pedagogies. I then consider how SR might be implemented in an academic setting and the kind of adaptations that might be necessary. This essay is a thought experiment which I hope will lay the groundwork for a more sustained and applied experiment in SR. Throughout, I argue that infusing SR into university settings has the potential to positively benefit student well-being and academic performance.
This reflective essay examines the establishment of the Research Guild in King’s Digital, a department at King’s College London specialising in online and blended postgraduate education. The Research Guild is an internally created, mentor-supported community of practice designed to help professional services staff engage more confidently in educational research and scholarship. Using an autoethnographic approach and a systems thinking lens, I explore how the Guild emerged in response to a recurring pattern: teams highly effective at delivery but lacking time, infrastructure and perceived legitimacy to undertake inquiry. The essay describes how mentoring through the ALT ELESIG Scholar Scheme, a training needs analysis survey and three structured development pathways (literature review, conference participation and research projects) combined to make evidence-seeking feel more normal, safe and worthwhile. I highlight key outcomes and persistent tensions around time, equity and sustainability, arguing that staff development is most transformative when treated as a deliberately designed ecosystem of scaffolds, feedback loops and shared identity rather than a series of isolated activities.
