Associate Professor in Psychology and Education (EDUC22-3)

Job title: Associate Professor in Psychology & Education

Vacancy reference:EDUC22-3

Department:The School of Education

Responsible to: Head of Department

Grade: Grade 9

Salary Range: £53,348 - £60,022 per annum

Working arrangements: The role is full time but we will consider requests for flexible working arrangements including potential job shares

Open date: 4 January 2022

Closing date: 4 February 2022 at Midnight (UK)

Preferred start date: Successful candidates will ideally be in post by 1 September 2022

Durham University

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world.

As part of Durham University, you’ll be working with exceptional minds, all with the desire to ask, and answer, the big questions. Access to leading edge facilities and an active contributor to the global research and university community means you’ll be part of an international and diverse network of partners spanning the world’s best research institutions, organisations and businesses. And all this within the evocative and historic surroundings of the city, county and community that is Durham.

We find it easy to be proud of the extraordinary people we have at Durham. We offer the inspiration, they achieve the outstanding. We invite you to join them.

Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in the University. We are committed to equality: if for any reason you have taken a career break or periods of leave that may have impacted on the volume and recency of research outputs, such as maternity, adoption or parental leave, you may wish to disclose this in your application. The selection committee will recognise that this may have reduced the quantity of your research accordingly.

Durham University’s Athena Swan institutional award recognises and celebrates good practice in recruiting and supporting the development of women. We have also signed up to the Race Equality Charter, a national framework for improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education.

The School of Education

The School of Education is one of the leading UK Education departments, with an outstanding reputation for excellence in teaching, research and employability of our students. Ranked fifth in REF2014 in terms of grade point average and joint first for Impact, we are a vibrant community of scholars, with members across the range of career levels, many of whom are internationally-acclaimed researchers pursuing innovative and critical research agendas, as well as future leaders establishing such profiles. The School of Education has internationally recognised research clusters in the areas of:

• Assessment, Evaluation and Educational Effectiveness
• Durham University Evidence Centre for Education (DECE)
• Higher and Further Education
• International and Comparative Education
• Psychology & Education
• Pedagogy and Curriculum

The School of Education is committed to research-led teaching and diversity in approach to accommodate needs and potential. We have a portfolio of teaching that ranges from undergraduate programmes (a BA in Education Studies and a BA in Primary Education), through Postgraduate Taught Masters pathways (from MAEd to MA Research Methods) to Postgraduate Research. We are currently ranked 12th in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021.

The School is also renowned for the quality of the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provision, rated as ’Outstanding’ across the board when last inspected in 2011 and again in 2013. The School offers several routes into teaching, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, including programmes that lead to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and programmes that prepare trainees to work in international school contexts.

The ITE provision has a well-established partnership across the North East of England, which comprises of over 500 Primary and Secondary schools which is embedded in a partnership hub approach (partnership clusters for Primary Programmes; partnership PODs for secondary). The School works closely with overseas partners in Geneva and China to support a vibrant Community of Practice and has ambitions to grow this area. Together, Durham University and school partners provide innovative routes for many students to realise their ambition of becoming a teacher, developing critically informed, reflective and reflexive practitioners. Our students bring qualities that are highly regarded by schools and teachers. Our alumni continue to make significant contributions to the world’s teaching body - both increasing teacher diversity and addressing subject shortages.

About the Role

The School of Education at Durham University seeks to appoint a talented individual to the role of Associate Professor in Psychology & Education. We welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of educational psychology and /or subfield(s) of psychology as relevant to education, and we are particularly eager to hear from applicants with a focus on how individuals learn and/or perform. Applicants will be required to contribute to the Psychology & Education cluster (details can be found at https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/education/research/areas/psychology-education/.

Research topics may include but are not limited to: learning and development in childhood and beyond; personality and individual differences as antecedents, correlates and outcomes of learning; learning and cognition; memory; complex problem solving; emotions and emotion regulation and learning; motivation and learning; intelligence; psychometric measurement; assessment of learning; reasoning, cognitive flexibility and creativity; relation of learning and instruction / instructional design; social-cognitive determinants and processes of learning.

This post offers an exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the development of internationally excellent research and teaching while allowing you unrivalled opportunities to progress and embed your career in an exciting and progressive institution. For more information, please visit our School pages at www.dur.ac.uk/education/.

Associate Professors at Durham

The University is committed to enabling all of our colleagues to achieve their full potential. We promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment to ensure that all colleagues can thrive. Academic colleagues are supported to publish internationally excellent research in high impact journals in their area of interest with a focus on quality rather than quantity. We will fully support your research needs including practical help such as resources to attend conferences and to fund research activity, as well as a generous research leave policy and a designated mentor. Sitting alongside world class research; teaching quality and innovation is critical to ensure a first class learning environment and curricula for all of our students. You will be supported to develop your existing teaching expertise and to engage in teaching innovation to embed our student experience.

All of our Associate Professors are encouraged to focus on research and teaching quality, and innovation. We of course value research income, which is a necessary input to drive research outputs and impact.

Engagement in wider citizenship is expected as your career develops, to support your department and wider discipline, and to contribute to the wider student experience.

We are confident that our recruitment process allows us to attract and select the best international talent to Durham. We therefore offer a reduced probation period of 1 year for our Associate Professors and thereafter, subject to satisfactory performance, you will be confirmed in post.

Associate Professors in Psychology & Education

Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in the field of psychology related to education with the ability to teach our students to an exceptional standard and to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University. The University provides a working and teaching environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.

As an Associate Professor, you would be expected to:

• Pursue research that is internationally excellent, with some work that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour;
• Make a significant contribution to the development of successful research projects/ fellowship proposals in pursuit of suitable national and international funding opportunities to support research and end-user engagement.
• Enhance the quality of the research environment in the School, the wider University and beyond, by supporting, establishing and leading School of Education research groups and promoting and disseminating research within and beyond the University, and engaging in the mentoring of early career researchers;
• Attract and provide excellent supervision to research students, and enhance the School’s commitment to its vibrant and international postgraduate culture.
• Contribute to the thematic cluster Psychology and Education in terms of research, teaching and governance.
• Contribute significantly to the development and delivery quality teaching, including the design of excellent learning environments and curricula at undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels.
• Contribute significantly to the administrative functioning and collegial environment of the School, the Faculty and the wider University, undertaking leadership activities which support the functioning of the School and wider University.
• Fully engage with, champion and enhance the values of the School and the University;
• Carry out such other duties as specified by the Head of School.

Person Specification

Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in psychological research related to education, with the ability to teach our students to an exceptional standard and to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University.

Research

Candidates must demonstrate a major contribution to their research field with impact beyond their own institution with outputs consistently recognised as internationally excellent, with some outputs either being world class or the candidate having the potential to achieve world-class.

Essential Research Criteria

Teaching

Candidates must make a significant contribution to the development and delivery of high-quality teaching with demonstrable contribution to the design of excellent learning environments and curricula, including curriculum development, which enables students to achieve their potential.

Essential Teaching Criteria

Services, Citizenship and Values

Candidates must actively contribute and engage in the administrative and collegial functioning requirements of the School, Faculty and University, positively contributing to the University Values and to fostering a respectful environment; as well as demonstrating their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Essential Services, Citizenship and Values criteria

Desirable Criteria

The desirable criteria for this post (for which candidates should provide evidence of some if not all criteria) are:

Contact Information

Department contact for academic-related enquiries

Professor Lynn Newton, Head of School

Educ.HoD@durham.ac.uk, telephone: +44 (0)191 3348422

Contact information for technical difficulties when submitting your application

If you encounter technical difficulties when using the online application form, we prefer you send enquiries by email. Please send your name along with a brief description of the problem you’re experiencing to e.recruitment@durham.ac.uk

Alternatively, you may call 0191 334 6801 from the UK, or +44 191 334 6801 from outside the UK. This number operates during the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday, UK time. We will normally respond within one working day (Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays).

University contact for general queries about the recruitment process

Tammy Singh - HR Administrator

thanwant.k.singh@durham.ac.uk

How to Apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application, we will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

Information if you have a disability

The University welcomes applications from disabled people. We are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, adjustments will be made to support people within their role.

If you are unable to complete your application via our recruitment system, please get in touch with us on e.recruitment@durham.ac.uk.

What to Submit

All applicants are asked to submit:

Your work should be uploaded as PDFs as part of your application in our recruitment system. Please ensure that your PDFs arenotlarger than 2mb. Please note that your work may be read by colleagues from across the School and evaluated against the current REF criteria;

Please save all application documents with your name and document type as PDF files.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Referees

You should provide details of 3 academic referees and the details of your current line manager so that we may seek an employment reference (if they are not listed as an academic referee). Please note:

• We shall seek the academic references during the application process. Academic referees should not (if possible) include your PhD supervisor(s) and a majority should be from a University other than your own (save for early career applicants applying for their first post). We would ask that you alert your academic referees to this application as soon as possible, and provide them with a copy of the CV you submit with your application, so that we can quickly obtain references should you be progressed to the interview stage. As part of your application you will be asked whether you give your consent to your academic references being sought should you be invited to attend interview.
• Academic references sought for short-listed candidates may be made available to the panel during the interview process.
• We will seek a reference from your current line-manager if we make you an offer of employment (albeit you may have also nominated your line manager as an academic referee). Please clearly indicate which referee is your current line-manager and please let us know if we should only approach them once an offer has been made.

Next Steps

All applications will be considered; our usual practice is for colleagues across the School to read the submitted work of long-listed candidates.

Short-listed candidates will be invited to the University, either virtually or in-person and will have the opportunity to meet key members of the School. The assessment for the post will normally include a presentation to staff and students in the School followed by an interview and we anticipate that the assessments and interviews will take place over two days in or around April 2022.

In the event that you are unable to attend in person on the date offered, it may not be possible to offer you an interview on an alternative date.

About Durham University

As one of the UK’s leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career while enjoying a high quality work/life balance. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people’s lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

All new staff are given membership in a Senior Common Room in one of our 17 colleges for their first year and thereafter they may choose to remain and/or to join additional SCRs. SCR membership offers the opportunity to participate in social and scholarly events - dinners, lectures, debates, research talks (colleges are all interdisciplinary), music and drama. Membership includes past and present University staff, alumni, and members of the wider Durham community and gives the opportunity to engage with the College’s students.

Less than 3 hours north of London, and an hour and a half south of Edinburgh, County Durham is a region steeped in history and natural beauty. The Durham Dales, including the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are home to breathtaking scenery and attractions. Durham offers an excellent choice of city, suburban and rural residential locations. The University provides a range of benefits including pension and childcare provision and the University’s Relocation Manager can assist with potential schooling requirements.

If you’d like to find out more about the University or relocating you and your family to Durham, please visit https://www.dur.ac.uk/jobs/recruitment/