UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
PROMOTIONS ANNEXURE D
PRESENTING A CASE BASED ON TEACHING ACHIEVEMENT
A)
SUMMARY
Eligible academic, teaching or research staff may apply for promotion to Principal Teaching Fellow or
Professor on the basis of teaching achievement.
To evaluate that component of a promotion case dependent on assessment of teaching achievement,
the Academic Promotions Committee will require evidence of the quality of achievement (see
Introduction to Promotions Procedures - section 5).
It is expected that the evidence itself will reside in a teaching record . Such a record is normally
termed a "portfolio", the contents of which are records kept and owned by the member of staff for him
or her to select from to make different presentations according to audience and purpose.
It is expected that academic staff will have maintained such a continuous record throughout their
careers (but see paragraph (E) 3).
Reference to this evidence should be submitted to the Academic Promotions Committee in a brief
form, and in the style of a normal CV. It is not necessary or desirable to submit the complete record
(which is referred to hereafter as a 'portfolio', in line with the usual nomenclature)
This ANNEXURE attempts to define a way of helping potential candidates for promotion to provide a
basis on which judgements can be made.
(B) INTRODUCTION
The recognition of teaching achievement in the promotion process is established UCL policy.
The Academic Promotions Committee is faced with decisions on the weight to give such
achievement in the overall assessment of promotion cases, and it needs evidence on which to make
those decisions.
The UCL tradition has been that a candidate for promotion submits appropriate documentation (a
CV) as the basis for a case, which can be substantiated by appeal to suitable referees. This
documentation has historically been heavily weighted in favour of research achievement, reflecting
the weight traditionally accorded to research performance relative to other academic activities.
References have also traditionally provided opinion based primarily on research performance.
Referees and the Academic Promotions Committee are now however required to make judgements
about teaching achievement without access to material similar to that contained in the normal CV,
which traditionally serves to testify to research performance. What follows is advice on what evidence
is expected in relation to teaching excellence and how to collect it and submit it.
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(C) EVIDENCE OF TEACHING ACHIEVEMENT
It is expected that each member of academic staff will keep a continuous record of personal teaching
activity throughout his/her career. 'Teaching' here includes all activities associated with the teaching
function as carried out by the member of staff.
This is considered to be a normal part of a staff member's duties in many universities. It does not
require an unacceptably large extra burden of work and should be seen, and accepted, as an
important component of any case for promotion. Documentation of this kind will, in any case,
normally be required to inform the biennial career review and development interview.
The important and difficult question is how a candidate can provide evidence of teaching
achievement, including both competence and innovation. For research achievement, such evidence
is available in many forms; publication records and grants awarded being obvious examples, neither
of which is necessarily available to attest to teaching achievement. The best evidence available to
those in a judgmental position is the recognition that has been received (mainly internal, perforce) of
teaching competence or excellence.
It is the responsibility of the candidate, to seek evidence by requesting documented evaluation of
teaching activities by peers or students from time to time, or participation in teaching activities which
are openly visible to the Head of Department and colleagues, such as leading (or initiating) a joint
staff/student seminar or discussion session or by publishing a textbook or other teaching materials, to
give two very different examples, or by any other method likely to bring recognition. Similar examples
can be found for enabling activities.
The promotions process therefore requires a candidate to include in the CV, a summary of the
evidence available which includes how the individual meets the promotion criteria, together with an
explanation of the significance of claims where appropriate, but not the portfolio itself. This is much
the same as submitting a list of research publications, together with a statement of their importance in
the field, but not the publications themselves.
The following procedure is envisaged: 1
If the Department supports the candidate, then the complete portfolio must be made
available to the Head of Department and, by agreement, the appropriate summary should
be constructed. The Head of Department is then clearly able to testify to the accuracy of
the submission and to decide what level of support to give to that component of the case
dependent on teaching performance.
2
The Dean will also call for sight of the portfolio should he/she deem it necessary, or if the
Academic Promotions Committee has so requested, and may wish to discuss the
submission with the Head of Department.
3
If the candidate is making a direct route submission, then the decision on what to include
in the CV perforce has to be a personal decision, or a decision reached in discussion with
colleagues but, in any case, the complete portfolio, or relevant extracts, must be made
available on request to the Dean (or to an appointed member of the Academic Promotions
Committee in circumstances where the Dean feels unable to form an unbiased opinion) to
support the summary provided in the CV.
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4
UCL will approach one or more referees familiar with the candidate's teaching activity, and
such referee(s) shall have the right to call for sight of those elements of the full portfolio
referred to in the CV before responding to the Academic Promotions Committee.
Section (D) provides an indication of those features of teaching activities a member of academic staff
should bear in mind as the portfolio is built up. This is not intended to be prescriptive; it is more in the
nature of an aide mémoire.
(D) ELEMENTS OF A TEACHING PORTFOLIO
The contents of a portfolio will vary considerably from teacher to teacher and discipline to discipline.
Nevertheless, there can be defined a short list of categories in which evidence could be required in a
situation where assessment of performance is the issue. Such a list might look like: 1
2
3
Contributions to teaching and learning
Outcomes
Recognition
Within these categories, there are many possible forms of evidence to attest to the excellence of
teaching performance and teachers will no doubt be creative in providing them. Obviously, the
emphasis throughout should be on quality, not quantity.
The following is a list of examples within each of the above categories. It is completely open-ended,
non- prescriptive and non-prioritised. It is given solely to stimulate creativity in building a personal
teaching record.
1
Contributions to teaching and learning
a)
For each course taught (undergraduate or postgraduate)
(b)
(i)
Course details:

title, level and nominal contact hours

average student numbers

years taught

course text (if any)

lecture, laboratory, fieldwork, seminar, other

project, essays or dissertation required
(ii)
Documentation produced for students:

course aims and objectives

supplementary material

coursework definition (e.g. problem papers, essay topics, etc.)

written examination papers, or other assessment papers
General contributions
(i)
Innovation

In curriculum and/or course development

In use of special teaching methods and/or special learning resources

In assessment methodology
(ii)
Self-improvement
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(iii)
2
Teaching and learning research and development

Involvement with local, national or international activity

Research and development publications in the area of teaching and learning
conference presentations

Production of teaching materials, e.g. video tapes, learning packages

Publication of textbooks
Outcomes

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


3
Account of times teaching observed by peers and of peer observations done
Account of quality assessment observations by external agencies
Record of courses and conferences attended
Involvement with teaching support activities
Service as a teacher or facilitator in the local community
Self-assessment of teaching performance
Results from formal student evaluation questionnaires
Results of student examinations or other assessments
Products of student learning (publications, exhibitions, projects, etc.)
Student progress (to advanced cognate courses, higher degrees)
External examiners' reports on courses taught
Recognition

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
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


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Appointment as course co-ordinator/supervisor
Accreditation of courses by professional bodies
Departmental leadership in teaching
Membership of Departmental Teaching Committee or equivalent
Receipt of awards for teaching
Professional teaching qualifications achieved
Provision of courses on teaching
Providing mentorship to colleagues
Acting as a Visiting Examiner at other Institutions
Solicited authorship of texts or sections of text
Editorship or referee for journals in area of teaching
Fellowship of, and/or offices of responsibility in, relevant professional bodies
Involvement with external quality audit or assessment
Service as an advisor on teaching and learning in the local community
Unsolicited written evidence (e.g. published reviews of textbooks)
Documented opinion (e.g. published reviews)
Relevant extracts from minutes of committees and/or working groups
Receipt of grants for aspects of teaching and learning development
(E) GENERAL GUIDANCE
1
There is no intention to formalise the process of compiling portfolios, although it is strongly
recommended that accumulation of evidence would conveniently be made within the broad
categories defined in (C) above. The value of having the above reference list of features is to
make teachers aware of the spectrum of activities and forms of recognition that could contribute
to a case for promotion.
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2
As a staff member's career develops, the portfolio could become quite bulky depending on what
it was felt suitable to include; moreover, the evidence testifying to teaching achievement will
differ significantly from discipline to discipline, hence the involvement of the Dean at an early
stage in the normal procedure. It must be emphasised again that the portfolio is the basic
evidence from which a teaching summary in the CV can be constructed. It is completely
reasonable that referees should be able to consult the more complete documentation, should
they so desire, in a way analogous to consulting published papers to confirm the research
performance of a candidate.
3
For a staff member well into an academic career, who wishes to prepare a case for promotion
including a component dependent on teaching activities, there arises the question of how far
back in the career the record should stretch. The Staff Review and Development Scheme has
been running for some years now, so it would not be unreasonable to expect that members of
academic staff will have paid some attention to recording their teaching activities for at least a
few years. It is therefore suggested that the comprehensive record documents achievement for
about five years prior to presenting a promotion case for those in post for longer than this.
Obviously, achievements before this date will also be taken into account in the promotions
process and, conversely, cases will not be immediately rejected if full evidence is not readily
available.
4
It could well become the case that some members of staff negotiate with their Heads of
Department to concentrate their activities mainly in the area of teaching. Such negotiation could
take place, for instance, in the context of the Staff Review and Development Scheme. If such
an agreement has been reached, it is obviously necessary to make this clear in the CV
presented, together with the date of the agreement, and the grounds on which it was based.
5
For those appointed relatively recently, it is strongly advised that the mentor should be fully
involved in initiating the portfolio, and that the candidate should attend the induction courses
provided which will give training in how to build a relevant portfolio.
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