Appointment of Tutors and other Teaching and Research Support
Staff - Guidelines
Human Resources Policy Group
1. Purpose:
These guidelines set out the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) appointment processes
for Tutors, Oral Language Tutors, Research Assistants and Fellows (less than one year),
Sessional Assistants, Laboratory Demonstrators, Teaching Assistants and Audio-visual
Teaching Assistants. They are designed to provide a fair and transparent process for the
appointment of, and remuneration for, these staff, and ensure compliance with the terms
and conditions of employment contained in the Tutors’ Collective Agreement (CA).
2. Organisational Scope:
These are University-wide guidelines. They are effective from 1 September 2014 subject to
the provisions of the CA.
3. Definitions:
For the purposes of these guidelines, the following definitions shall apply:
Oral Language Tutors/ Tutors,
Fixed term employees who are responsible for
Demonstrators, Audio Visual Teaching
teaching/tutorials, which may include marking
Assistants/Teaching Assistants
student assessment, and who work under the
supervision of course-co-ordinators or
Programme Directors, but excluding those
employees who have final responsibility for
awarding course grades.
Research Assistants and Research
Fixed term employees employed for less than
Fellows
one year who provide research assistance
and/or support to academic staff. Research
Fellows work at a higher level than Research
Assistants and may have responsibility for
supervising the work of Research Assistants.
Sessional Assistants
Fixed term employees who assist with and/or
provide support for tutoring or teaching
Manager
Head of School or delegate such as Course
Coordinator or Programme Director.
Note: Casual employees are excluded from the coverage of the CA. Casual employees are
defined as those employees who are generally employed on an ‘as and when’ required basis
without an ongoing expectation of work and without regular hours.
Victoria University of Wellington
Appointment of Tutors and other Teaching and Research
Support Staff
4. Guidelines:
4.1
Appointments
4.1.1
Appointments of six months or more
(a) Any appointment of six months or more must have the approval of the SMT
Appointments Committee before the position can be advertised.
(b) Applications for appointments of six months or more must be made electronically on the
University’s electronic recruitment system.
4.1.2
Notifying Vacancies
(a) All vacancies should be advertised on School notice boards or in a similar location to
enable suitably qualified and interested persons to apply.
(b) Advertisements shall include the duration of the fixed term, intended start dates, work
responsibilities, reporting lines, location, pay rates, an estimate of hours (including
marking hours), the selection criteria (education, experience and skills required) and
process.
4.1.3
Selection Process
(a) All applications must be assessed against the agreed selection criteria. Where
appropriate, interviews should be held to establish suitability for the role. All applicants
must be treated fairly, and the requirements of the Human Rights Act and Privacy Act
observed. Please contact your Faculty HR Manager if you require advice on the
appropriate selection process.
(b) Appointment decisions must be based on merit. In the case of comparable applications,
preference should be given to current post-graduate students with previous experience.
(c) The successful applicant should be advised immediately and given reasonable notice
of the intended terms and conditions of employment, including hours of work and
commencement date.
(d) Unsuccessful applicants should also be advised as soon as possible, and confirmation
provided in writing.
(e) All employees must receive their employment offers prior to them commencing work.
They must also have enough time to seek independent advice on the intended terms
and conditions of employment.
4.1.4
Allocation of Hours
(a)
Employees are entitled to be paid for all hours that they are required to work.
(b)
In the case of Research Assistants/Fellows and Sessional Assistants, hours will be
agreed between the employee and the Manager, and specified in the letter of offer.
(c)
In the case of Tutors/Oral Language Tutors, Demonstrators, Audio Visual Teaching
Assistants and Teaching Assistants who undertake duties similar to these roles, the
following guidelines should be used to determine the appropriate allocation of hours:
(d)
Where a tutor believes they are required to work additional hours over and above
those allocated they will notify their immediate supervisor. All requests for additional
hours will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the supervisor in consultation
with the Head of School. Where approved, additional hours will be claimed by
submitting a timesheet authorized by the supervisor.
Orientation/Training:
All new Tutors that have not been employed by VUW as a Tutor in the preceding two years
are entitled to three hours paid orientation/introduction to teaching per year. This may be
[Last approved: 1/09/2014]
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Victoria University of Wellington
Appointment of Tutors and other Teaching and Research
Support Staff
either an in-house programme or a generic workshop offered by the Centre for Academic
Development (CAD), such as Introduction to Tutor Training.
Additionally all Tutors who have not marked before will be required to undertake an
assessment workshop, consisting of training in marking, feedback and
assessment. This training will consist of a one-off two hour (paid) training session. This
assessment workshop is offered by CAD.
Tutors who are PhD scholarship students should discuss with their School Manager and
Supervisor whether or not the Tutor orientation/introduction to teaching and/or the
assessment workshop can be counted towards their 150 hours service to VUW.
Preparation:
Managers must consider what preparation is required for the first tutorial each week. When
calculating preparation time, Managers should take account of reading requirements,
preparation of lesson plans and requirements to attend weekly meetings to discuss the
upcoming tutorials. Payment should be made for attendance at lectures, where such
attendance is agreed with the Manager. It is estimated that preparation time will be between
½ hour to 3 hours depending upon requirements. If an employee is taking subsequent
tutorials in a week, then preparation is not included in the calculation of hours for those
subsequent tutorials.
Delivery:
This is the actual delivery time per tutorial.
Student Consultation: Where this is required a general guideline is ½ -1 hour per week per
tutorial group.
Meetings:
Include all meetings that Tutors are required to attend except where
these have been accounted for under orientation, preparation and
marking.
Marking:
The expected time required to prepare for marking (meetings pre &
post marking, training sessions etc,) and to mark should be
calculated. When considering what hours should be allocated
Managers should consider:
•
The number of students and assessments per tutorial group
•
The type of assessment – terms test, essay, short answers, etc,
•
The length of assessment
•
The level of assessment – 100,200,300 or post-graduate level
•
Preparation required for marking – meetings, marking guides,
training etc
•
Moderation – meetings or peer moderation
Marking will need to be monitored, as individual Tutors will mark at
different speeds. If it is anticipated that a Tutor will spend more time
marking than the hours allocated, the Manager should investigate
to determine if more paid hours or training are required.
Managers should ensure that Tutors are aware that additional hours
will only be paid with prior agreement.
Other duties:
Some Tutors may be responsible for some coordination or training
of other Tutors.
Each employment offer must set out the hours required for each tutorial, including the first
and subsequent tutorials in each course, so that Tutors are aware how their rate of pay has
been calculated.
[Last approved: 1/09/2014]
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Victoria University of Wellington
Appointment of Tutors and other Teaching and Research
Support Staff
Example
Tutorial Times
You are expected to deliver the tutorials as set out in the schedule below.
Course
No. of tutorials in trimester
Schedule (day/time each wk)
UNIV 123
10
Tues 9 – 10 am
UNIV 456
20
Wed 2 – 3 pm, Fri 2 – 3 pm
Remuneration and Hours of Work
(a)
Your hourly rate will be $18.00 (gross).
(b)
You will be paid a total of $108.00 for the first tutorial given for each course per week,
and $72.00 for each subsequent tutorial. This is based on the following average
hours being performed:
First tutorial in a week (for each course):
Preparation:
2 hours
Delivery:
1 hour
Marking:
1 hour
Student consultation:
1 hour
Meetings:
1 hour
Other Duties
0 hours
Total
6 hours
Second and subsequent tutorials in a week:
Delivery:
1 hour
Marking:
1 hour
Student consultation:
1 hour
Meetings:
1 hour
Total
4 hours
UNIV 123:
10 first tutorials @ $108 = $1,080
UNIV 456:
10 first tutorials @ $108 = $1,080
UNIV 456:
10 second tutorials @ $72 = $720
(c) You will therefore receive a total of $2,880.00 for the delivery of 30 tutorials. You will be
paid in equal fortnightly payments during the term of your employment.
4.1.5
Hourly Rates
Hourly rates are contained in the CA. There are ranges for undergraduate and graduate
students. If an employee is not a student, then usually the graduate rate will apply. These
are minimum rates that must be paid. When determining the appropriate hourly rate the
following should be taken into account:
•
Relevant qualifications
•
Relevant experience, for example, an employee who has successfully tutored over
a period of time would normally be paid above the bottom of the relevant range, in
accordance with their experience
•
Additional Duties – if more senior duties such as tutor coordination or training other
Tutors are required, then an hourly rate towards the top of the range would normally
be paid.
[Last approved: 1/09/2014]
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Victoria University of Wellington
Appointment of Tutors and other Teaching and Research
Support Staff
4.1.6
Course Content and Marking
Tutors will receive guidance on course content and marking requirements and standards for
the courses on which they are tutoring.
4.1.7
Tutoring Evaluations
Staff covered by the CA/GTC who undertake tutoring as part of their responsibilities may be
requested to have their tutoring evaluated through a process conducted by CAD.
5. References:
Employment Relations Act 2000
Human Rights Act 1993
Privacy Act 1993
Tutors’ Collective Agreement
– www.vuw.ac.nz/hr.
Letter of Offer – Tutors/Teaching Assistants
– www.vuw.ac.nz/hr
Letter of Offer– Research Assistants/Sessional Assistants
– www.vuw.ac.nz/hr Minimum
Standards for Pre-employment Verification
– www.vuw.ac.nz/hr
6. Approval Dates:
This version takes effect from:
1 September 2014
7. Contact Person:
The following person may be contacted in relation to these guidelines:
Employment Relations Manager
Extension: 5174
[Last approved: 1/09/2014]
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