Learning Development in Higher Education: Crisis, Practice, and Power in the 21st Century University

“This highly original and philosophically rigorous text is not principally concerned about what Learning Developers do (although it certainly does present such practices in an innovative way), but rather it is about the interweaving factors that create the sociopolitical contexts … . Eyre’s text is a philosophically rigorous, engaging, highly original piece of scholarship that I recommend without hesitation to anyone who works as a Learning Developer, or, indeed, with one.” (Sunny Dhillon, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 38, December, 2025)

This book examines the experiences of Learning Development as a pedagogic practice in higher education. Taking a philosophical approach, the book uses the perspective of a fictionalised Learning Developer to investigate the nature of power relations within the university, and how and why they lead to an ongoing sense of ‘crisis’ in higher education teaching practice.

Although Learning Developers and other teachers in higher education are subject to the constraints of power relations within the academy, they are not powerless. By comprehending the nature of these relations and their consequences, the practitioner can begin to formulate new responses and forge new relations.

The book provides a theoretical contribution to the emergent profession of Learning Development, and insights into the pedagogic practices of related professional disciplines, including librarians and academic developers. The book will benefit educational researchers and anyone engaged directly in teaching and learning in a university setting. It is also beneficial to those that work alongside them, including senior managers and administrators. The way the philosophical ideas in the book are developed and applied will also be of interest to scholars of Deleuze and philosophers of education.