The "Heroic Journey": Managing the pedagogy and development of Business Studies teachers

This paper examines the use of the "Heroic Journey" framework from Joseph Campbell as a conceptual approach to manage the development of teaching skills of academic teachers in Business Education, through the teaching of tutorials in the Management Development Programme (MDP) of the University of Strathclyde. Tutors’ development during their time spent in the MDP, their learning and their evolution into academic teachers is presented through the monomyth structure of the “Hero’s Journey”, as introduced by Campbell (2008). This paper offers insights, based on practitioner’s perspective, and discussions and recommendations on the pedagogy of academic tutors in Business Education. Through the author’s reflections, based on his experiences as Director of MDP during 2017-20, it is suggested that tutor development is a continuous process of learning, and a journey of discovery for anyone involved in it. The approach to manage the development of skills and knowledge-based competencies of teams can also be extended to other fields, to create a managerial tool.