Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor/Professor (permanent) and Head of Department (5 – year contract) at University of the Free State

Duties and responsibilities:

• Provide formal teaching for undergraduate as well as post-graduate programmes.
• Act as a supervisor for postgraduate students.
• Ensure active involvement in research. 
• Active involvement in curriculum development relating to Early Childhood Development (ECD) and/or Foundation Phase modules specifically.
• As an Academic Head of Department (AHD): Continuous planning and execution of teaching and research strategies, general organising and coordinating of administrative duties, mentoring and motivating staff, manage finances (e.g. annual budgeting, allocation of funds) of the school.

Additional duties applicable to the Academic Head of Department:

• Provide academic leadership by creating and executing strategies to establish the Department as a leader in the faculty vis-à-vis competing international entities.
• Direct the academic debate in the Department.
• Influence the Department's overall climate and culture.
• Energise everybody in the Department and beyond; and
• Shape the future of the Department.
• Contribute positively to the overall leadership in the faculty.
• Plan, organise and coordinate staff, students, and activities, mentor and motivate staff, structure and exercise overall control frequently.
• Create an atmosphere of consensus among staff.
• Communicate effectively internally and externally.
• Link staff in disciplines and students with the University’s management and administration through communication, negotiation, and consultation.
• Actively participate and be involved in faculty management structures, attend meetings, lead project teams, represent the Department and faculty, and fulfil the roles of liaison officer and marketer when necessary.
• Initiate, formulate, and implement a visionary academic strategy for the department that is aligned to and supportive of the guiding strategic documents of the UFS and faculty.
• Ensure:  
• The provision of top-quality, research-informed facilitation of learning at all levels of teaching in the department.
• Relevance of content, material, and presentation in all modules.
• The enhancement of student experiences and their continuous engagement in academic debates.
• That adequate rules and regulations are in place to optimally deliver high-quality teaching and learning programmes on both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
• Adherence to all the rules and regulations of the UFS, faculty and disciplines.
• Quality and timely feedback on student work.
• Proper and quality-driven academic advice and support to all under-and postgraduate students in the Department; and
• Revisit and develop fresh learning programmes that will help to position the Department as a leader in the education fraternity.
• Create and maintain a(n):
• Visionary research strategy for the Department.
• Environment that encourages research leading to strong and active research habits and a culture of inquiry.
• Ensure that – 
• Every academic staff member is engaged in quality-driven, discipline-specific, and collaborative research.
• Postgraduate students are recruited to broaden the research base of the Department and ethical requirements are met.
• Guide and support senior academics towards acquiring NRF grants.
• Actively engage with the faculty research committee and the UFS Directorate of Research Development to ensure sustainable financial support for the Department’s research initiatives.
• Build an effective team of scholars through:  
• Planning and implementing a fair and reasonable dispensation regarding the workload of staff members in the department.
• Planning and implementing a clear and reasonable career path for every staff member in the department, taking into account the strategic plans of the university, faculty and department.
• Appropriate mentoring interventions where and whenever needed.
• Managing staff performance in accordance with existing university policies and procedures.
• Recruitment and selection of scholars in the case of vacancies and/or specific strategic needs, whenever strategic repositioning requires expansion of academic endeavours.
• Creating and maintaining a scholarship-friendly environment in the department
• Planning and overseeing effective and relevant staff development.
• The ultimate responsibility in terms of financial management culminates in:  
• Annual budgeting.
• Financial planning.
• Allocation of funds.
• Financial control.
• Adhere to the UFS’s financial policies and procedures.
• Encourage and actively support academic staff members to apply for external research and other grants.

Inherent requirements:

Senior Lecturer

• A relevant Doctoral degree on NQF Level 10 with specialisation in Early Childhood Education and/or Foundation Phase Education.
• Candidates should also be in possession of a formal school teaching qualification (e.g., Diploma in Education, Postgraduate Certificate in Education or Bachelor of Education degree or equivalent).
• Minimum of three (3) years’ experience of teaching ECD and/or Foundation Phase modules at university level.
• Proven experience in the presentation of papers at national scholarly conferences.
• Proven national recognition for specialist expertise and research in a specific area of scholarship.
• An NRF rating or demonstrate potential for obtaining an NRF rating.
• Proven experience in supervision of graduated master’s students.
• A proven research record of relevant publications in national and international accredited journals.
• Proven experience of service as an active member of a national or international scholarly society or committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels.

Associate Professor

• A relevant Doctoral degree on NQF Level 10 with specialisation in Early Childhood Education and/or Foundation Phase Education.
• Candidates should also be in possession of a formal teaching qualification (e.g., Diploma in Education, Postgraduate Certificate in Education or Bachelor of Education degree or equivalent).
• Proven experience in research management and capacity building.
• Experience as external examiner for postgraduate students.
• Proven experience in the presentation of research papers at national and international conferences, where there is evidence of peer review of papers.
• Act as an editorial board member and/or reviewer of high-quality national scholarly journals.
• Proven national recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a specific scientific area of scholarship.
• An NRF rating of C3 or equivalent status.
• Proven experience in the supervision of graduated master’s and doctoral students.
• A proven research record of relevant publications in accredited national and international journals.
• Sere as a member of a national scholarly society, OR a national committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels, OR show evidence of service as an active member of an international equivalent.

Professor

• A relevant Doctoral degree on NQF Level 10 with specialisation in Early Childhood Education and/or Foundation Phase Education.
• Candidates should also be in possession of a formal teaching qualification (e.g., Diploma in Education, Postgraduate Certificate in Education or Bachelor of Education degree or equivalent).
• Proven experience in research management and capacity building.
• Experience as external examiner for postgraduate students.
• Proven experience in the presentation of research papers at national and international conferences, where there is evidence of peer review of papers.
• Act as an editorial member and/or reviewer of high quality national scholarly journals.
• Proven international recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a specific scientific area of scholarship (e.g., regularly serves as a reviewer for international/ISl/IBSS journals).
• An NRF rating of C1 or C2 or equivalent status
• Demonstrated successful supervision of graduated master's and preferably doctoral students.
• Proven experience in delivering keynote addresses at national scholarly conferences.
• Serve as a member of a national scholarly society, OR a national committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels, OR show evidence of service as an active member of an international equivalent.

Recommendations:

• Specialisation and/or experience in different research methodologies.
• Experience in community engagement.
• Experience in grant writing and/or preparing research funding applications.