Policies and procedures
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POLICY NO: A-54.0
DATE: September 2008
AMENDMENTS:
REFERENCE AUTHORITY: Deputy Vice Chancellor: Academic
CROSS REFERENCES:
CONTENTS:
This policy defines the structures and processes for the development, delivery and management of service and shared teaching within the University. The aim of this policy is to ensure the provision of high quality and relevant learning by staff recognised as expert in a given subject area but in a discipline-specific context through collaboration between the subject expert and the School providing the program.
The provision of high quality service teaching removes unnecessary duplication of courses and provides benefits to the University in the efficient use of resources, including staff, finances, equipment and teaching spaces.
This policy applies to all Schools and all coursework programs and includes any arrangement where more than one school have entered into a shared teaching arrangement.
Program owner: the School that owns the program into which the service course is being delivered.
Provider: the School(s) providing the service course.
Service teaching: describes any arrangement for the design and/or provision of a course or part of a course to students from another School in order to achieve the objectives of the program.
Service course: any course included in a program in order to achieve the objectives of the program that is provided by a School other than the School that owns the program.
Shared teaching: describes a specific arrangement where two or more schools agree to jointly own a course. This joint ownership is recorded on the course statement and student records system.
The principles underpinning this policy are:
1. Duplication of content and courses should be avoided.
2. High quality and relevant teaching and learning can be enhanced by:
2.1 consultation and collaboration between the subject experts and those offering the program on the content, objectives, teaching and learning arrangements and assessment of service courses
2.2 ensuring that the most appropriate School/s contribute to the teaching of a course or a program
2.3 ensuring that appropriate consultation occurs at all levels of the University when programs and courses are being developed and delivered.
3. Service teaching arrangements should arise from a collaboration between the provider and the program owner that results in mutual benefits. All parties have a responsibility to ensure a satisfactory outcome for service teaching.
4. The existence of a particular discipline or professional area of study in a given School does not imply exclusive ownership of that subject area where the application of that knowledge is multi-disciplinary.
5. A service teaching arrangement should be negotiated when:
5.1 substantial content of an existing course or courses in a given School coincides with that of a proposed course or courses in another School
5.2 substantial content of a proposed course or courses from a given School coincides with the subject matter of the discipline or professional area of another School. The other School may need to modify or create a course to meet the teaching and learning requirements of the proposed course(s)
5.3 substantial content of a proposed course or courses from a given School overlaps with the subject matter of the disciplines or professional areas of both given School and another School ie it includes material that is multi-disciplinary in nature.
6. Service and shared teaching arrangements should be mutually beneficial to all Schools and as such may take on a number of different forms:
6.1 A generic course owned, designed and fully service taught by the provider School to a program owner or range of program owners
6.2 A course owned and fully service taught by the provider School but customised with involvement from the program owner School(s) to provide relevant and appropriate discipline-specific context, examples and applications
6.3 A course that is co-taught as a result of a formal shared teaching arrangement.
7. Course and program development resulting from the establishment of a service teaching arrangement will be in accordance with the requirements of the Coursework Program Approval Manual and include documentation of the associated consultation process. As part of program development and amendment:
7.1 Division Boards are responsible for ensuring that course duplication and proliferation does not occur through the establishment of appropriate service teaching arrangements for that Divisions' programs
7.2 Heads of School are responsible for initiating discussions for potential service teaching provision as part of the Schools' program and course review and development requirements.
8. Service teaching arrangements will be subject to University budget requirements whereby the program owner School retains 10% of the teaching income associated with the course and the provider School receives 90% of the income. This arrangement may be varied by agreement between the appropriate Schools and Divisions where a shared teaching arrangement has been established.
9. Evaluation of service courses will be subject to the requirements for course evaluation as specified in Policy A35A Quality assurance and improvement: Programs, courses and teaching arrangements and any additional mutually agreed evaluative processes established as part of the service teaching arrangement (see clause 12 below).
10. Where it is determined that a reduction or withdrawal from a service teaching arrangement is required through program review or amendment, adequate notice and consultation with the provider must be undertaken. Evidence of this consultation will form part of the documentation associated with the program/course amendment.
11. Service teaching arrangements should be the result of a process of negotiation between the Heads of Schools and relevant teaching staff and may be documented as a formal service agreement between the relevant Schools.
12. The following should be clearly determined to the satisfaction of both parties for the service courses in question:
13. Where either the program owner or the provider are dissatisfied with some aspect of the arrangement, the Heads of each School, in consultation with the relevant Deans: Teaching and Learning, will be responsible for determining mutually agreed improvements and strategies for their achievement.
14. Where the matter cannot be resolved by the Heads of School, it should be referred to the relevant Divisional Pro Vice Chancellor(s) who will consider the nature of the problem, strategies that have already been undertaken to resolve the matter and the consultation and negotiation processes that have occurred to date. The Pro Vice Chancellor(s), through further negotiation will resolve the matter and provide a final decision.
