Assistant Learning and Teaching Manager

Durham Law School

Grade 6: - £27,929.00 - £34,308.00
Fixed Term - Full Time
Contract Duration: 18 months
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date: 19-Dec-2022, 7:59:00 AM
Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement: Not Applicable.

Job Title:  Assistant Learning and Teaching Manager
Department: Durham Law School
Responsible to: Learning and Teaching Manager
Grade: Grade 6
Salary range: £27,929 - £34,308 per annum
Contract type: Fixed-Term Until July 2024 – Full-time (Secondments very welcomed)
Working arrangements: 35 hours per week Monday to Friday

The School and role purpose    

Durham Law School is a leading law school. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 nationally and Top 50 globally, it has been growing strongly over the past few years and now comprises a community of over 100 academics and professional support staff. Durham Law School fosters innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to legal research and wishes to attract scholars with strong backgrounds in these areas. The Law School provides a supportive environment for its community of academics, which comprises a very generous sabbatical policy and an infrastructure of high-profile research centres that brings together colleagues for collaborative projects.  The School is housed in the iconic Palatine Centre overlooking Durham Cathedral in the heart of  the city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located on the main East Coast trainline connecting to London and Edinburgh and also within convenient reach of Newcastle Airport. The School has an extensive network of leading international partner institutions and close ties with the City of London and the Inns of Court. It counts among its alumni two Supreme Court Justices.

Our top-ranked global law courses are very competitive with an excellent and diverse student population from across the world delivering a cutting-edge, research-led curriculum with a commitment to small group teaching through seminars and tutorials much prized by employers.

Our School’s strategic objectives put EDI at the heart of everything that we do. We are committed to Equality Diversity and Inclusion and actively develop our policies and procedures to ensure that everyone within our community is treated fairly and is provided with the same opportunities. This applies to our everyday working in teaching, research and administration, including academic progression and promotion processes. Our Law School has recently been awarded the Athena Swan Bronze award.

Role Purpose

The Assistant Learning and Teaching Manager will work towards enhancing the quality of existing programmes, contributing towards reviews and evaluation for the purposes of continual improvement. S/he will work closely with the Learning and Teaching Manager to work with colleagues to inform planning and developments in line with strategy and mission statements, implementing new programmes and initiatives.

The Assistant Learning and Teaching Manager will supervise a team of professional support staff, ensuring the provision of an efficient administrative service, supporting a wide range of teaching, learning and assessment activities from the point of student enrolment through to graduation, ensuring the student experience is at the forefront of delivery.

Working at Durham 

A competitive salary is only one part of the many fantastic benefits you will receive if you join the University: you will also receive access to the following fantastic benefits:

• 27 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year – a total of 39 days per year.  The University closes between Christmas and New Year 
• No matter how you travel to work, we have you covered.  We have parking across campus, a cycle to work scheme which helps you to buy a bike and discount with local bus and train companies.
• Lots of support for health and wellbeing including discounted membership for our state of the art sport and gym facilities and access to a 24-7 Employee Assistance Programme.
• On site nursery is available and children’s clubs in the summer holidays.
• Family friendly policies, including maternity and adoption leave, which are among the most generous in the higher education sector (and likely above and beyond many employers).
• There is a genuine commitment to developing our colleagues professionally and personally.  There is a comprehensive range of development courses, apprenticeships and access to qualifications and routes to develop your career in the University.  All staff have dedicated annual time to concentrate on their personal development opportunities. 
• The opportunity to take part in staff volunteering activities to make a difference in the local community
• Discounts are available via our benefits portal including; money off at supermarkets, high street retailers, IT products such as Apple, the cinema and days out at various attractions. 
• We offer generous pension schemes. 

Core responsibilities:

• Supervisory responsibilities for services, resources and people.
• Contribute to the recruitment, induction and ongoing development support and training to team members.
• Contribute to the ADR process, assisting with the identification of development needs and performance management issues where appropriate. 
• Act as first point of contact for HR issues when supervising a team.
• Plan and organise own workload, and allocate and monitor work activities for others.
• Responsible for organising and overseeing all day to day aspects of programme delivery. 
• Reactive and proactive service provision with others to deliver an excellent stakeholder experience across learning, teaching and assessment activities.
• Relationship building, network participation internally and externally to build and update knowledge and skills.
• Implement and monitor protocols, procedures, processes and regulations.
• Monitor and report incidents. Implement and monitor recognised procedures to ensure compliance and meet University values of inclusion, diversity and participation.
• Contribute to business meetings, working groups and committees to help shape service delivery and stakeholder expectations, acting as Secretary and taking forward agreed action points where appropriate.
• Responsible for keeping financial and budget records and reconciling expenditure queries, working closely with Programme Directors to assess actual expenditure against an agreed financial plan.

Role responsibilities:

• Manage and organise professional business and administrative service processes in order to deliver operational aspects of teaching, learning and assessment activities.
• Manage specific projects to develop and enhance teaching and learning activities.
• Manage staff and/or resources to achieve defined targets and outcomes.
• Develop, implement and enforce recognised procedures to ensure compliance, co-ordinate effort and contribute to team goals, fostering a continuous improvement philosophy.
• Provide professional guidance and advice to staff and students.
• Ensure team activities, budgets and documents comply with internal University and external regulation, policy and procedures.
• Ensure accuracy by instituting recognised and routine checks, assessment criteria and techniques.
• Record data and information accurately, provide reports and statistics, and distribute information to key internal and external stakeholders.
• Use a range of digital media and tools to communicate with a diverse range of key stakeholders, both verbally and in written format who may need to access information across different geographic and time zones.
• Establish, maintain and develop productive and ongoing relationships with stakeholders to influence perception of the University.
• Contribute towards programme review and evaluation for the purposes of continuous development.
• Contribute to the curriculum development process, through the review of module outlines and programme regulations, liaising with academic colleagues as appropriate. 
• Maintain an awareness of external professional requirements, providing dedicated records to demonstrate compliance, where appropriate.
• Plan and deliver on-site and off-site activities where appropriate, addressing and reporting issues.
• Oversee the process for student engagement, dealing with complex issues.
• Any other reasonable duties. 

Specific role requirements

Work outside normal office hours during peak periods.

Working Arrangements

At Durham we recognise that our staff and students are our greatest asset and we want to support the health and wellbeing of all.  Hybrid working supports this ethos and provides many benefits to our colleagues, including empowering people, where their role allows, to work in a manner which is more suitable for them, whilst encouraging our commitment to environmental sustainability.

Reward and Benefits

To support the delivery of the University's People Strategy to attract, retain and reward the very best, we offer a fantastic range of rewards and benefits to our staff, including:

• 27 days annual leave, plus 4 customary days and 8 bank holidays (pro-rata for part time) and the option to purchase additional leave;
• Automatic enrolment into a pension scheme;
• Corporate and local discounts;
• Wellbeing resources and discounted health benefits;
• Health discounts on sports and activities at Maiden Castle Health and Activity Centre;
• Reward and Recognition Schemes;
• Personal and career development;
• And SO much more, with further information available here

Recruiting to this post

In order to be considered for interview, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification.  In some cases, the recruiting panel may also consider the desirable criteria, so we recommend you evidence all criteria in your application. 

Please note that some criteria will only be considered at interview stage.

How to apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

Information if you have a disability

The University welcomes applications from disabled people. We are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, adjustments will be made to support people within their role.

If you are unable to complete your application via our recruitment system, please get in touch with us on [email protected] .

What you are required to submit

Please ensure that you submit all documentation listed above or your application cannot proceed to the next stage.

Contact details

For further information regarding this post, please contact; Bernie Taylor, Learning and Teaching Manager of Durham Law School at [email protected]

Contact information for technical difficulties when submitting your application

If you encounter technical difficulties when using the online application form, we prefer you send enquiries by email.  Please send your name along with a brief description of the problem you’re experiencing to [email protected]

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system.  Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Person specification - skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required

Criteria

Essential

• Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to develop excellent working relationships both internally and externally.
• Highly developed IT skills, including a detailed working knowledge Microsoft Office packages, as well as University software and programs. Educated to degree level (or equivalent experience).
• Experience of providing advice and guidance to a range of customers and colleagues.
• Experience of implementing policy and procedures and involvement with future changes for a service area.
• Experience of supervising/managing a team and/or a line management qualification.
• Experience of independently taking day to day decisions on appropriate courses of action to resolve complex problems.

Desirable

• Experience of working in a higher education environment.

Evidence of meeting the criteria (candidate to complete this column)