How are you recognised for your pedagogical competence development at Lund University? 

On the basis of international best practices in line with the university's strategic goals and policies, the decision was taken to introduce a university-wide framework for the development of pedagogical competencies and the recognition of pedagogical merit (STYR 2024/1118). This framework supports your competence development and career progression, useful in recognition, recruitment, and promotions on the basis of your pedagogical competence.

• Introduction to the Framework
• Guidance on Evidence Collection
• Teachers' Guide to the Framework
• Heads of Department Guide to the Framework
• Teacher Appointment Boards' Guide to the Framework
• Faculty Guide to the Framework

Introduction to the Framework

The framework describes four stages of educational competence for higher education teachers:

These steps are not designed to map directly to the LU academic career framework. For some teachers, progression through the steps will be directly aligned to their promotion from biträdande universitetslektor to lektor to docent to professor, alongside similar progress in research. For others, research, teaching or collaborative working will form a larger part of their portfolio, with competence being less developed in the other areas.  

The framework provides a general approach to evaluating pedagogical experiences and competences. It is not a complete list of what should be expected of every person applying for appointment or promotion at a particular level at a particular moment. It gives both teachers and faculties more flexibility in the way they prioritise development. Some departments will have a need for someone who can teach a specific topic, while others may want someone with a research specialism to boost their funding and publications in an area. For some appointments, education leadership will be important, so the department wants someone with that experience, but for others, being a skilled and collegial educator will be sufficient, even for a senior post. Faculties may adapt the guidance in the framework to reflect disciplinary norms. If you are a teacher, always check with your head of department what is in place in your faculty.  

The guidance provided on this website complements the framework and is intended to support:  

• Individual teachers, so that they can plan their careers in ways which best suit their aptitudes and skills
• Heads of department and mentors, so that they can provide advice and suggest opportunities for teachers to develop their educational skills and achievements
• Teacher appointment and promotion boards, to develop their confidence in making judgements about educational competence
• External advisors who write reports for teacher appointment and promotion boards
• Faculties, so that they can put in place systems for recognising and rewarding educational competence  
• Human Resources, so that this guidance is added to career planning workshops which are regularly offered in the competence portal

Guidance on Evidence Collection

In the scheme, there are five main areas for evidence collection and information about each of these is provided in the detailed guidance. Area 5 would not be expected for the two first career steps (Competent and Skilled teachers).  

• Experience of teaching  
• Experience of educational enhancement activities
• Participation in relevant professional development  
• Participation in peer review of educational activity
• Publication of scholarly work and resources

Teachers’ Guide to the Framework  

The framework is designed to provide teachers with a clear and transparent way of documenting their educational development and achievements for use in development discussions and salary appraisals and applications for new appointments or promotions. It has four steps that correspond to different levels of expertise and impact in teaching and learning, and each step is described by a set of criteria that cover five main areas of evidence:

• Experience of teaching
• Experience of educational enhancement activities
• Participation in relevant professional development
• Participation in peer review of educational activity
• Publication of scholarly work and resources

You should discuss your educational development in your annual work discussion. We suggest that you start by talking about the step in the framework you think you have already achieved, and how far you would like to go. Then you can talk about your achievements in the last year and what you hope to do next year, and what help you will need to develop further.  

The framework is not intended to be a rigid or prescriptive checklist, but rather a flexible and adaptable tool that can be used by teachers to reflect on their own practice, identify their strengths and areas for improvement, and plan their future career development. Having a common framework means that you can discuss this with heads of department, mentors, and colleagues.  

It may take some time to get used to doing this, but collecting evidence is meant to be something you can do naturally as part of your usual work: taking notes of how classes went, reflecting on the impact of seminars or reading on your teaching practices, learning from observing other teachers’ work, helping a colleague frame a tricky topic or approach to a new class. 

Heads of Departments’ Guide to the Framework  

Heads of department play a key role in helping individual teachers to prioritise aspects of their career development. You will be guiding them on the balance of time spent on teaching, research, and other activities such as departmental and faculty leadership and work with the community.  

It is normal for different teachers to have different career paths, but this has not always been recognised in career development. At different times in their career, lecturers and professors may focus on different aspects of their work: maybe there is a new course to develop, or the department is implementing a new piece of software, or there is an opportunity to get a special research funding this year which needs more time. With the framework, you have some structure to discuss the educational element of teacher careers.

We recommend that heads of department discuss educational competence development with every teacher at the annual development interview. We suggest that teachers should begin this discussion by indicating what step they think they are at and where they would like to be. They can then talk what they have done in teaching, what development they have done, how they have worked with colleagues, and so on, during the year. This topic may also be discussed in the leadership training organised by HR. The implementation co-ordinator can also provide a training session on request (2024-2026).  

Teacher Appointment Boards’ Guide to the Framework

Teacher appointment boards have an incredibly important role in supporting the quality of education at Lund University. According to the recruitment rules, research and education should receive equal consideration. The framework gives some structure for judging educational competence which teacher appointment boards told us would be useful. The implementation co-ordinator can also provide a training session on request (2024-2026).

Each faculty should have its own plan for the recognition and reward of educational competence and achievements. The plan should be aligned with the university framework for educational excellence but reflect the faculty’s own needs and priorities. The faculty plan takes account of career planning relevant to the academic areas of the faculty. It should be updated annually by the faculty education board or equivalent and should aim to ensure that:

• Recruitment of all staff with a teaching contract is clearly based on the expectation that teaching is part of the role, with a minimum standard of competence expected.  
• Educational competence should be developed throughout a teacher’s career.  
• Educational leadership is incentivised, recognised, and rewarded.  
• Progress on the recognition of educational competence and achievements is reviewed regularly.  

A template for the faculty plan is provided but faculties are free to develop their own plans. (PDF, …)