High-quality teaching is a core priority at the university. This memo outlines expectations for different job categories regarding teaching and examination duties. These principles guide the allocation of tasks and provide clarity for both Danish and non-Danish speaking employees.
Key Points:
Teaching teams manage task distribution, supervision, and ensure fair workload allocation. Adjustments may occur based on funding, language barriers, or special agreements.
High-quality teaching is a core activity at the university. This memo presents principles for the individual job categories in relation to teaching and examination activities. The management team expects the principles to be the starting point in allocation of teaching and examination activities.
Besides the above written, the aim of the memo is to give all employees (Danish and non-Danish speaking) an idea of what we expect from them in relation to teaching. The memo does not cover all tasks or types of agreements, and according to the ordinary managerial rights, the management team still reserves the right to reallocate or divide additional tasks as necessary (within the limitations following from the job structure, employment contracts, agreements with the grant givers, etc.).
3.1 PhD students
PhD students (Danish speaking and non-Danish speaking) are employees with an obligation to teach 150 hours (including preparation) during their PhD. The main supervisor is obliged to provide supervision. PhD students are not to act as examiners.
The department expects all PhD students to teach to the extent that they are obliged to. The student, main supervisor and the team leader have a mutual obligation to agree on a satisfactory teaching participation.
PhD students on an integrated PhD programme likewise have an obligation to teach 150 hours (including preparation), however theirs teaching tasks can only take place during part B.
3.2 Post docs, including Marie Curie employees
From the job structure concerning a post doc, it appears that: The position entails mainly research. In addition, a certain amount of teaching may also be required. Furthermore, other duties (not related to teaching) may also be implicated to some extent. The university determines the specific allocation of the various tasks, which may vary over time.
The department expects a postdoc (Danish and non-Danish speaking) to teach to some extent. Health's guidelines1 assign a level of teaching corresponding to the level of a PhD student. A precondition to teach is supervision from an educational supervisor, usually the group leader.
The EU guidelines allow Marie Curie employees to teach if the employee and group leader agree on it. Guidance of students in the research group is considered teaching.
The DFF sets out the following rules: The Department can direct fixed-term scientific staff employed at postdoc level to teach to a certain extent and do other assignments to some extent. However, the teaching task and other assignments must not exceed 20% of the weekly working hours financed by the grant giver. Teaching activities and other assignments must be within the field of the employee's research area. The grant recipient is responsible for coordinating the above in consultation with the department.
In general, postdocs cannot obtain permission to participate in examinations. However, it is possible to seek exemption if the postdoc wishes to qualify for university research positions. Participation in examinations requires supervision from an educational supervisor responsible for marking.
The department expects all postdocs (both Danish speaking and non-Danish speaking) to teach to the extent of Health's guidelines, with the exception of postdocs paid by the Marie Curie research funds.
The postdoc, his/her group leader and the team leader have a mutual obligation to agree on a satisfactory level of teaching.
3.3 Assistant professors and tenure track assistant professors on department funds
Teaching is a mandatory part of the employment. Participation in examinations is subject to supervision and educational upgrading.
The leader of the teaching team will appoint an educational supervisor to the assistant professors.
The department expects all assistant professors and tenure track assistant professors funded by the department to teach to the same extent as the other members of their local teaching team – taking into account that an assistant professor is not fully qualified as a lecturer and examiner.
3.4 Assistant professors on external funding
Teaching is a mandatory part of the employment. Participation in examinations is subject to supervision and educational upgrading.
The leader of the teaching team will appoint an educational supervisor to the assistant professors.
The department cannot direct employees employed full-time on EU projects to teach, and therefore, as a rule, they cannot be employed as assistant professors, as the qualifications necessary for the teaching activities are to be achieved in an assistant professorship. Upon the request of the employee, the employee and the team leader may enter into an agreement on teaching, but the employee cannot specify the teaching hours used as eligible within the EU financial reporting.
The department expects the teaching task of all externally funded assistant professors to correspond to 50% of the teaching task of the other members of the local teaching teams –
still taking into account that an assistant professor is not fully qualified as a lecturer and examiner.
3.5 Associate professors, professors with special responsibilities (MSO), professors
Teaching, administration and examination are a mandatory part of the employment.
The department cannot direct employees employed full-time on EU projects to teach. Employment as an associate professor with full-time employment at the department on EU funds therefore requires that the head of department exempts the employee from teaching. Upon request of the employee, the employee and the head of department can enter into an agreement on participation in teaching, but the employee cannot specify the hours used as eligible within the EU financial reporting.
The department reserves the right to include a period with increased teaching tasks in return for a previous period without teaching.
The department expects all associate professors, professors with special responsibilities (MSO) and professors to take an equal part in the teaching activities in the local teaching teams.
4.1 Affiliation with teaching teams
PhD students and post docs are affiliated with the same teaching team as their supervisor/group leader. Upon request, this rule may be deviated from to the extent that it is relevant. The management team decides (after consulting the employee) the affiliation of the individual assistant professors, associate professors and professors.
4.2 Supervision
In general, the supervisor/group leader is responsible for the teaching supervision of the PhD student/postdoc. The local teaching team can delegate the supervision task to another member of the academic staff if so agreed in the team. The teaching team should keep a list of PhD students/postdocs, including their supervisor, involved in teaching. The team leader and the deputy head of department will appoint an educational supervisor to the assistant professors.
4.3 Extent of teaching activities
Each teaching team is responsible for all the teaching activities within the specific teaching team. The teaching team divides all activities among the teachers affiliated with the team. Student instructors/teaching assistants and/or clinical associate professors can supplement the teaching in some circumstances as agreed with the head of department.
The distribution of teaching activities may vary: PhD students and postdocs follow the guidelines described above. Group leaders with several PhD students and postdocs have the same teaching tasks as other group leaders. However, in exceptional cases compensation may occur.
4.4 Employees on external funding (assistant professors, associate professors and professors)
As a rule, the teaching task of an employee on external funds is only approximately 50% of the teaching task of an employee on department funding. The group leaders must inform the teaching team leaders about new appointments. In addition to entering into an agreement on reduction in the teaching contribution, the management team, the member of academic staff and the centre director/group leader can agree to limit the employee’s contribution to one or more teaching tasks. A reason for this may e.g. be difficulty in solving the width of teaching duties due to language barriers etc.
4.5 Agreement on reduction in teaching tasks for staff in career-track positions on department funds
The management team can exempt employees responsible for other specific tasks partially from teaching. Currently, this concern, among other things, managerial tasks (deputy-heads of department and centre directors), functions as ambassadors, etc. In addition, in connection with the establishment of centres, a reduced contribution to teaching from newly recruited employees may be agreed. The head of department decides the reductions and informs the team leaders.
4.6 Agreement on extra teaching – when and how?
The management team and an academic staff member can agree on extra teaching. The management team will inform the team leaders about the agreement. The teams can also be supplemented by lecturers who have entered into an agreement with the management team to teach at the department as part of an agreement on housing of their activities. The management team must inform the relevant team leaders.
4.7 Possibilities for workload reduction or substitution
In general, it is not possible to get reductions from teaching, but a reduction may be included in an agreement if it is due to specific tasks. Nor is it an option to send someone else in one’s place to teach one’s lecture. However, it is possible to enter into agreements on (re)allocation of teaching tasks among employees affiliated with a centre if it is beneficial to the department as well.
4.8. Postponement of participation in teaching
The management team expects that an employee who has been granted reduced or no teaching for a period of time due to the terms of an external funding accepts increased teaching activities in a subsequent period (up to 3 years).
This version has been approved by the members of the teaching organization and has been presented to LSU and Department Forum for orientation in 2021.
It will be revised in January 2022.
An assistant professor supervisor plays a special role in supporting the assistant professor’s development of competencies within the field of teaching. It is a collegial responsibility to help the assistant professor get well started with teaching and examinations, and to assist with both formal and informal knowledge related to teaching. A thorough course introduction and attention to the new teacher are important elements in building the teaching competencies of the new teacher, maintaining the academic standard of teaching, and ensuring course stability at the Department of Biomedicine.
At the start of employment, the assistant professor will receive an email asking them to identify a supervisor and report back who this supervisor will be. For reasons of impartiality, it is important to note that the supervisor should not be the assistant professor’s own PI. If it is not possible to identify a supervisor independently, the assistant professor may contact the Deputy Head of Department or the head of the teaching team in which the assistant professor has their primary teaching responsibilities. The assistant professor and the supervisor are expected to discuss and plan the framework for the assistant professor’s participation in the University Pedagogical Programme (Universitetspædagogikum) and possibly other teaching-related preparatory activities. The role as supervisor extends throughout the entire duration of the assistant professorship.
The role of supervisor requires solid academic knowledge of the subject area as well as familiarity with relevant examinations and an understanding of the degree programme as a whole. In principle, all associate professors and professors at the Department of Biomedicine are qualified to serve as assistant professor supervisors.
Support tools for the role of assistant professor supervisor can be found on the CED website
20 June 2022
The Forum for Education at Health intends to use ‘The Values and Didactic Principles for Degree Programmes at Health" to define a common direction for the development of teaching at Health. Our goal is to articulate the common values and principles that are and will continue to be our guiding principles as we develop our teaching formats and competences, academic content and physical learning environments, as well as when we discuss and implement educational strategy initiatives at Health.
The foundation of our teaching, and thereby the starting point for this document is as follows:
Health provides research and knowledge-based degree programmes. One of the faculty's most important contributions to Danish society is the education of competent graduates for the labour market of the future. Educating relevant and key stakeholders for the Danish healthcare sector, health-related institutions and schools, organisations and private companies is an important social responsibility.
Based on this, Health wishes to:
The degree programmes at Health are structured around theory, research-based knowledge and practice. This ensures good balance and coherence at the various degree programmes and on individual courses between the degree programme elements of theory and practice, and experimentation and reflection.
The academic content of degree programmes is our first priority and is the basis for any didactic decisions that are made. These principles are therefore not explicitly defined to allow for subject-specific didactic variation.
The degree programmes at Health are characterised by a clear structure, as well as academic progression and interconnection across courses, semesters and entire degree programmes. We strive to make this clear to our students. Teaching staff at Health are therefore not solely focused on their own subject area, but also have an eye for the academic content that precedes their own teaching and the academic content that follows it.
A good study environment is paramount to good learning. As teachers on Health's degree programmes, we continue to work on developing a learning space that allows for questions to be asked, doubts to be shown, and errors to be made. The learning space must be safe and inclusive, and must provide our students with the opportunity to develop their personal and professional skills. This will give them the tools and space to actively contribute to their own learning processes and to those of others.
Dialogue and feedback are important elements in this context. Over the course of the programmes, our students build up experience giving and receiving feedback at both the individual and group level. Our ambition is to clearly communicate when and how this takes place, and to give the students the opportunity to act on the feedback they receive.
Teaching at Health includes learning processes that involve students in decisions on academic themes and working methods, and that give them the opportunity to independently include practical and problem-oriented cases and learning situations. This strengthens both their academic skills and involvement.
Throughout their course of study, our students work with both theory and practice, and thereby develop the ability to translate theory into practice – and practice into theory.
We use teaching formats that involve and engage our students because we wish to supplement the acquisition of academic material with generic competencies that will enable them to collaborate with an eye to problem-
solving, to ask necessary and critical questions, to manage data and complex knowledge, and to reflect on and independently communicate this knowledge in a responsible manner and on an ethically informed basis.
With these competencies, our students and graduates will be equipped
to acquire new knowledge, deal with real-life challenges and develop the methods and theories for problem solving in practice. We consider this a significant factor in the formation of academic discipline at Health.
Teachers at Health are the professional role models for our students in relation to responsible conduct of research, ethical considerations, and working with citizens, patients and clients.
Teachers at Health have their base in strong research and knowledge environments. This is where they find inspiration, and spar with colleagues and peers to further develop course programmes, academic content, didactic approaches and educational theories.
One characteristic of the academic environments is that they are not static. Some subject groups are formally established based organisational, strategic and academic needs. Others are informal professional networks defined by the specialists themselves. Common to all these academic environments is that their size and function change over time, as they are all dependent on the people involved; the principal organisers and culture bearers of the academic environment in question.
Health's academic environments are characterised by the fundamental methodical and pedagogical freedom of individual teachers based on their specific academic skills in combination with an understanding of the course of study as a whole.
Teachers at Health have an open and inquisitive approach to the educational practices of their peers and a genuine interest in mutual sparring. This is supported by many opportunities for competency development and plenty of resources.
"The values and didactic principles for degree programmes at Health" will from now on constitute the common guidelines for our work on strategic initiatives such as internationalisation, strengthening research integration and digitising the field of education. The aim of which is to create meaningful links between strategy, implementation and the teaching practices that characterise degree programmes at Health.