General Mentoring Coordinator#

Mentor#

Teaching Mentor#

Text modified from a document produced by Tim Roberts, 4th December 2018

Background#

Each research section within the Department of Physics has a teaching mentor. However, the role of teaching mentors has become somewhat ill-defined in recent years. This document is an attempt to clarify the core responsibilities for this role. The teaching track staff, including the teaching fellows, do not necessarily have research section membership. In their case, the Director of Education (or a nominated representative from within the Teaching Mentors) will fulfil this role.

Responsibilities#

  1. Mentoring staff on the PGCLTHE The new Durham Centre for Academic Development (https://www.dur.ac.uk/dcad/) is revamping its training for new teaching staff via the DELTA programme. The new qualification they will take is the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. This will require close support by a mentor within the department – an obvious role for teaching mentors. Note, however, DCAD are now asking that mentors are themselves Fellows of the Higher Education Academy, hence our teaching mentors must have this qualification to be able to fulfil their role.
  2. Support for staff with low MEQ scores As part of the recently adopted policy to support staff with low MEQ scores, the teaching fellows were explicitly mentioned as providers for this support. They should work with the Director of Education in providing advice and support for staff that receive low MEQ scores, including conducting peer observations of teaching activities where required.
  3. General support for teaching activity within their research group The teaching mentor should ensure that staff within their research section are aware of their role and should be prepared to provide support to staff where requested. In the case of staff that are new to teaching (including PDRAs and other non-academic track staff) the teaching mentors should be pro-active in offering support.
  4. Sharing good practice The teaching mentors may also be called upon to assist in the general sharing of good practice, for example in the Annual Review of Teaching Programmes meeting

precision added:#

In addition to the above Teaching Mentors should also provide support to new exam setters.