Having coached many colleagues on education-focused tracks through the preparation process for promotion I’ve distilled the ingredients of a successful application below.
- Check the criteria – this will vary from institution to institution but this is what your application is being measured against.
- Assess whether you are ready to apply – draw on your annual appraisals, have discussions with your Head of Department. Benchmark yourself to the criteria.
- You may need to prepare a teaching portfolio – take time to ensure this represents your body of work and demonstrates coherence. Often you will need to do the following: outline the rationale for your approach to teaching; demonstrate teaching methods that link to your rationale; summarise your teaching achievements; summarise your scholarship achievements.
- Think about evidence for each of your assertions; external and internal, qualitative and quantitative evidence is important. Self-report is often weak evidence.
- Some promotion processes require a statement of how you meet the criteria as well. You need to be clear, and concise and make it irrefutable that you meet the criteria for the role.
Susan Smith 