SCHOOL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Head Tutor Position Description: 2010
The following provides a guide as to the type of administrative tasks that may be
appropriate for Head Tutors in large 1st year Psychology courses. The relevance of
these duties would vary according to the course and be subject to the hours approved
by DHOS/HOS.
To help delineate this role from the convenor’s role, related convenor responsibilities
are indicated.
This guide was developed in consultation with academic and sessional staff.
Head Tutor Tasks
Related Convenor Responsibilities
Convenor to organise meeting with Head
Pre-semester preparation:
Meet before semester starts to discuss and Tutor and clearly outline the hours and
agree on the number of hours and
nature of tasks for the HT role
administration tasks relevant to the
position
Meeting Co-ordination:
Coordinate regular meetings with the
other tutors (which are separate to the
minimum of 3 meetings with the
convenor) to check the consistency of
teaching across tutorials. Depending on
the experience of the tutors, this could
vary between 10 & 30 minutes.
Course Convenor to organise and
facilitate at least 3 meetings with all
tutors throughout the semester
Tutorial materials:
Organise the tutorial material to distribute
to tutors (at least 2 weeks before each
tute) – who can then make necessary
copies, PPTs etc for their own tutes
It is the convenor’s responsibility to
provide for the Head Tutor, in written
form, the minimum requirements of:
 goals of the tutorial
 key questions to be answered in the
tutorial
 procedures to be carried out in the
tutorial
 links with the content of the lectures
 list of, or provision of materials to run
the tutorial.
e.g., Karla ordered the lab books for
1001PSY and distributed tute materials to
tutors before each tute
** The Course Convenor will keep in
weekly contact with the Head Tutor and
monitor their hours to ensure that the
workload is appropriate and does not
exceed the pre-approved amount
Note: It is the convenor’s responsibility
to provide a minimum of two week’s
notice to tutors on the content of
tutorials/ practical/ workshops, preferably
four weeks.
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Assignments:
 picking up assignments
 distributing assignments to tutors
according to their marking
workload (i.e., no. of tutes)
 distributing assignment criteria
It is the Course Convenor’s responsibility
to provide tutors with clear written
criteria for assessment items including:

an indication of weightings for each
component of the assessment item

how much feedback to give to
students

the type of feedback.
Assignment moderation:
It is the convenor’s responsibility to:
 Ensuring that tutors have all
assignments marked and the Mean
 Organise and facilitate the moderation
and SD ready for the moderation
meeting
meeting
 Double mark all Fail and HD grades
and a sample of assignments across
 Note: tutors may have met prior to
moderation to check on marking
the spectrum (i.e., P, C and D)
consistency of a proportion of
assignments [e.g., 5-10 each] marked
early in the process. It is the Head
Tutor’s responsibility to organise this.
Extensions, special consideration,
deferred exams etc:
It is the Course Convenor’s responsibility
to review students’ circumstances
concerning extensions, special
consideration, deferred exams etc and
approve these.
The HT and other tutors need to explain
to students that they CANNOT grant
these, and that they need to contact the
Course Convenor and complete necessary Note: the Convenor needs to respond
paperwork (perhaps direct them to the
promptly and directly to the students
website etc)
about these requests.
Consultation:
The Head Tutor will conduct their usual
consultation as per tutor contracts (i.e., a
total of 6 across the semester)a and
respond to a reasonable level of emails
and/or discussion board postings
It is the Course Convenor’s responsibility
to:
 Conduct the usual 2 hours face-toface consultation time each week with
students
 Set up Discussion board and have the
primary role of monitoring and
responding to queries (note: this
should alleviate excessive emails and
consultation for the HT and other
tutors)
 Clarify the HT role in providing
support with the Discussion board
Marks Entry:
Enter marks into the spreadsheet
It is the Course Convenor’s responsibility
to:
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aftereach assignment and assist the
convenor to collate information for
Assessment Board
Teaching Quality:
The HT will meet weekly with tutors to
assist with the design of Tutorials, and to
monitor the teaching quality. The HT
will assist to problem solve issues which
arise with the tutor team e.g., difficulties
with particular students in class, and will
advise the Course Convenor of ongoing
issues and concerns. Depending on the
nature of tutor’s issues, the HT may
involve the Course Convenor in problem
solving e.g., performance management of
particular tutors. The HT may also be
involved in peer review and coaching of
inexperienced, under-confident tutors to
assist them to improve their teaching
initially.
Tutor Training Program:
Head Tutors may be asked to assist in the
training of new tutors in the annual 1 day
Tutor Training Program in February of
each year. HT would be paid separately
for these additional hours.

Prepare the report in the Marks
Spreadsheet for the course
 Request/justify change to Grade
cut-offs
 Submit this to the School Admin
Officer
 Attend the Assessment Board
meeting
It is the Course Convenor’s responsibility
to:
 Support HT in their efforts to monitor
teaching quality and to problem solve
issues which arise with the team of
tutors, and with individual tutors
 To performance manage tutors who are
not performing at an adequate standard,
as indicated by feedback from students,
and validated by HTs.
Suggested formula for allocation of consultation hours for tutors If giving 1-2 tutes each week:
paid 6 hours consultation per semester
If giving 3-4 tutes each week
paid 9 hours consultation per semester
If giving 5-6 tutes each week
paid 12 hours consultation per semester
Consultation rate is $30.45 per hour
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