School of Education and Social Work
Guidance for Annual Workload Planning 2014-15
1. Purpose, principles, expectations and benchmarks
The purpose of this guidance is to support the planning of workload allocation in a way that is
equitable and transparent for all colleagues who are involved in teaching, research and service across
the School as a whole. The normal expectation is that, unless their contracts specify otherwise, all
lecturers, senior lecturers, readers and professors will be involved in teaching, research and service
to the university. This will be in the ratio of 40/40/20% respectively over the course of an academic
year. The ratio of teaching to service for teaching fellows and lecturers on teaching only contracts will
be 80%/20%. A full time member of staff has a notional working year of 1,650 hours. The staff –
student ratio on which the university financial planning is based is 1 to 18. This means that a course
involving 18 full time students generates 1 FTE staff time over a full year. This equates to 660 hours
of staff time for teaching and teaching related activity and 330 hours for service related activity on that
course. It is expected that this staff-student ratio will be reflected in the planning of all courses.
2. Teaching Hours
 The norm for faculty teaching contact hours is 220 hours per year. Preparation and marking
are allowed for by allocating 2 hours for every 1 hour of contact time so that a full teaching
load for academic staff will normally be 660 hours within the overall expected 1,650 hours.
When considering significant variations to this norm, and in particular where contact hours are
significantly/more than 10% over the norm, HoDs will consider such factors as the nature of
teaching contact. This is in recognition of the fact that some forms of contact such as group
facilitation usually require less preparation than allowed for in the standard multipliers referred
to above.
 As the norm, a full teaching load for teaching fellows/teaching only staff is 440 contact hours
per year.
 Variations from the above should have a clear rationale and should be agreed within the
resource available by the HoD.
 The level of direct contact time timetabled for students on specific courses and modules is
agreed in discussion with the HoD (with involvement from the DTL if appropriate) on the basis
of the validation/amended formal approvals.
 During periods of significant growth and/or development faculty will be allocated a percentage
remission from teaching duties or service tasks (depending upon other needs) to recognise
the need for such development time. This is likely to be in the region of 10% FTE but is
subject to negotiation with the HoD and may vary depending upon the particular needs and
tasks involved.
3. Research and Consultancy
 Unless otherwise exceptionally agreed with the Head of School, research grants and
consultancy fees must be fully costed at the application stage by the Research and Enterprise
Office. For further details, see the university’s costing and pricing document available
at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/res/1-4-4.html
 Research funding awards or consultancy may fund a reduction in teaching contact and
service hours once 30% FTE time on research has been exceeded.
 As a rule of thumb for the use of the 40% FTE research time, if every academic member of
staff achieved £10k research income contribution per annum, then the School would achieve
its overall income generation target. Accordingly a research project involving 4 academic staff
members could reasonably aim for a research income contribution target of £40k per annum
and a research centre involving 10 staff could aim for £100k per annum.
 As a second rule of thumb in relation to research outputs, if every academic member of staff
achieved one output of 3* or 4* quality per annum, then the School would expect to achieve
its aim of 100% entry of staff in the next REF exercise.
 It is expected that all lecturers, senior lecturers, readers and professors will have a research
plan that demonstrates how and when outputs will be produced and how income will be
generated for the next REF exercise
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School of Education and Social Work
Guidance for Annual Workload Planning 2014-15
4. Service

As a norm all lecturers, senior lecturers, readers and professors are expected to share the
internal service load within the School. In particular all teaching staff are expected to take on
the role of module convenor for at least one module, senior lecturers in particular are
expected to take on course convenor roles and readers and professors are expected to take
on research leadership roles and also a fair share of School Director and Head of Department
roles. It is expected that such internal School service roles are prioritised over other wider
university or external roles in the work planning process and agreed with the appropriate
HOD. Other such activities might include mentoring, appraisal, exam board
membership/chairing, campus-wide tasks such as committee membership (other than that
which is directly associated with a School Director role or other role for which remission is
included in the calculation of workload/contact hours), membership of professorial appointing
committees and external activity on behalf of the university, but not journal editorship roles.
5. Paid study leave
 Staff may request up to one term’s (non-cumulative) paid leave out of nine terms. This will be
considered if the School’s financial position can sustain it and programme coverage can be
maintained. Applications should normally be made in February for the following year. In
reaching a decision concerning the request, the HoS will be advised by the HoD, and will be
mindful of balancing the needs of the individual, the Department, the School and the
university.
 When applying for leave, faculty must propose a plan of cover for their teaching. Normally it is
expected that doctoral supervision will be continued. They must also have agreed a plan of
research or other outcomes for the study leave, and should provide a final report on the
achievement of these goals to the HoD/HoS after the end of the leave period.
 In exceptional circumstances, and following discussion with the relevant PVC, the Head of
School may award a period of ‘special leave’ provided the School’s financial position can
sustain it.
 In considering applications, those from colleagues stepping down from School Management
roles (i.e. Directors and HODs) will be given priority. Other applications will be considered on
their merits and against the background of availability of staff able to cover.

Given the forecast of a continuing deficit, it is highly unlikely that any further applications for
Study Leave can be supported at this time . However, if targets for increased student
numbers are met and a surplus is generated, there should be more scope for supporting such
applications in the future.
6. Allowance for new members of faculty

Members of faculty in their first three years after appointment may need time to adjust to their
new working environment and some may need to complete an approved Postgraduate
Certificate in Teaching and Learning (if they have less than three years’ teaching experience)
for which they will be allocated an allowance of 10% remission from teaching i.e. 22 hours
with multiplier = 66 actual hours.
7. Allowance for service roles
All staff have an allocation of 20% of workload for service roles.
 Time allowances for major School Officerships are as follows:
50% remission is made for each Head of Department,
40% for Directors of Doctoral Studies, Research & Knowledge Exchange, Student
Experience, Teaching and Learning and Initial Teacher Education and
20% for each Research Centre Directorship
20% for REF UoA lead role
The allowances will be calculated as follows:
Head of Department
30% remission against teaching time, 10% against research and 10% against service = 50%
Directors: DDS, DRKE, DOSE, DLT and DITE
20% remission against teaching time, 10% against research and 10% against service
Research Centre Director/REF UoA lead role
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School of Education and Social Work
Guidance for Annual Workload Planning 2014-15



10% remission against teaching time, 5% against research and 5% against service
Other substantial administrative duties will justify an allowance of time that will be agreed in
negotiation with the relevant Head of Department who will aim to achieve cross-School parity
initially through discussions at the SMT level and subsequently through transparency by
making the information available to all colleagues across the School. As this process
develops in practice, further detail may be added under this section of the guidance.
The basis on which these decisions will be made is outlined above i.e. a course involving 18
full time students generates 1 FTE staff time over a full year. This equates to 660 hours of
staff time for teaching and teaching related activity and 330 hours for service related activity
on that course. It is expected that a Course Convenor role for a course with an intake of less
than 18 would have a reduced level of direct teaching contact hours and associated service
roles. Meanwhile a major course convenor role is likely to be at least 330 hours up to a
maximum of 660 hours. Time allocations for roles such as Admissions Tutor and Placement
Co-ordinator should be worked in negotiation between the staff member, Course Convenor
and HOD.
Module convenor roles will be allocated 20 actual hours per module (to be taken from the
Service component), over and above any assessment related activity.
8. Allowance for PGR supervision
The below norms specify anticipated contact time with PGR students; the actual work involved being
estimated at three times these hours:
Full-time PGR supervision 15 hours per student per year
(pro rata for joint supervision)
Part-time PGR supervision 9 hours per student per year
(pro rata for joint supervision)
Intermitting PGRs 0 hours (no fee income is received)
Continuation PGRs 0 hours (no fee income is received)
In a small number of cases where a supervisor is inexperienced (yet to supervise to completion) the
supervision of one student is a deemed a training partnership and the extra hours are allocated
between both tutors to allow for 3-way supervision and discussion as outlined below:
Training partnership supervision – full time: 21 hours per year i.e. 10.5
contact hours per supervisor
Training partnership supervision – part time: 12.5 hours per year (ditto pro
rata)
In addition each supervisor is also allocated 8 actual hours in total to cover required professional
development activities.
For students on continuation, supervisors may claim the standard allocation for 1 year, which will
include preparation for the Viva.
Internal Examiners will be allocated 30 actual hours per student.
9. Associate Tutors
 The Head of School will allocate an AT budget to each Department. HoD permission to
allocate work to ATs before and during each academic year must be sought prior to contracts
being agreed in order for financial control and planning to be feasible.
 For guidance on employing ATs, see separate School Policy.
10. Timescale
HoDs will submit a workload plan for each member of faculty for approval to the Head of
School at a date to be agreed and ideally by the end of June of each year. This will be done
using a spreadsheet template and a summary spreadsheet showing the overall workload
allocation to each member of staff will be made available to all members of staff in the School.
SMT, 5th March 2014
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