Teaching Fellow in Visual Studies and French Language (

Job Number:

24001654)

School of Modern Languages and Cultures

Grade 7: – £37,099 per annum

Fixed Term – Full Time

Contract Duration: 12 months

Contracted Hours per Week: 35

Closing Date

: 22-Sep-2024, 10:59:00 PM

Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement: Not Applicable. 

Working arrangements: 35 hours per week, Monday-Friday, with some attendance at weekend events, e.g. open days 

The University

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.

As one of the UK’s leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career while enjoying a high-quality work/life balance. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people’s lives. 

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world.

Our University Strategy is built on three pillars of research, education and wider student experience, but also on our keen sense of community and of inspiring others to achieve their potential. 

Our University Strategy

Our Purpose and Values

Find out more about the benefits of working at the University and what it is like to live and work in the Durham area on our Why Join Us? – Information Page

The Role and Department

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University seeks to appoint a talented individual to a fixed-term Teaching Fellowship to join the team delivering its innovative BA in Visual Arts and Film and MA in Visual Culture. Both these programmes are dedicated to interdisciplinarity and a global perspective, sharing a commitment to decolonializing approaches which are also being taken up elsewhere in the School. The successful applicant will also be required to contribute to the language curriculum in French Studies, and should have the ability to deliver classes focusing on written and oral language production in the target language. 

We welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of the Visual Arts and French, and we are particularly eager to hear from applicants with a focus on the moving image. 

The School is one of the largest and most successful Schools of Modern Languages and Cultures in the UK. Over the past two decades, the School has also developed a distinctive profile in the transnational and interdisciplinary study of visual culture, broadly conceived, bringing together visual culture research in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hispanic Studies, Italian, Japanese and Russian Studies.  

The School’s expertise in visual culture encompasses painting, film, photography, performance studies, urban studies, and book history, and has led to the establishment of an innovative BA programme in Visual Arts and Film as well as an MA in Visual Culture. Research activity extends from the medieval period to the present and embraces a range of theoretical and methodological orientations. The study of visual culture intersects in exciting ways with other areas of research activity in the School: medieval and early modern studies, the relationship between the sciences and the humanities, gender and sexuality studies, critical and cultural theory, the transnational study of literature, and translation. Indeed, translation — understood in its broad sense of transmission, interpretation and sharing of languages, ideas and histories — underpins the School’s collective practices, including research into the visual. The School’s forward-thinking research agenda was highlighted in its major conference ‘Our Uncommon Ground’, held in Durham in 2018, and a further conference ‘Where Are We Now? The Location of Modern Languages and Cultures’ took place in April 2023. These conferences brought together speakers from across the world to articulate and embrace the values of a discipline equipped to study cultures and their interactions in historical perspective. Indicative of the School’s ethos and commitment to the interdisciplinary study of visual culture was the invitation of Mieke Bal to give the keynote lecture at the 2023 conference and present a screening of her film About Time.   

As part of its commitment to local regeneration through internationalisation, the School is engaged in collaborative activities with The Auckland Project around the Spanish Art in County Durham initiative and the Zurbarân Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art. Colleagues have also worked extensively with local cultural organisations, including the Bowes Museum, No More Nowt!, and New Writing North. At national level, the School initiated and leads Durham University’s institutional partnership with the BFI, which delivers numerous benefits to staff and students alike.  

The School provides the leadership of the Centre for Visual Arts and Culture, a centre that collaborates regularly with the other centres and institutes in which School staff play a leading role: the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, the Centre for Culture and Ecology, the Institute of Medical Humanities, and the Institute of Advanced Study, which promotes world-class research across the Faculties. Within the School, staff and postgraduates are brought together in interdisciplinary discussions and collaboration through a set of research groups. These currently include Bodies, Texts, Nations; Digital Studies; Performance and Performativity; Living Texts; Translating Languages and Cultures; Decolonisation; and Transnational Cinema. Visual culture scholars are engaged in all of these groups. 

Teaching Fellowships offer the opportunity of valuable experience to those early in their academic careers and the University is keen to maximise the benefit to as many people as possible. The post of Teaching Fellow will involve a significant teaching load, which may extend into the summer period, and there may be related scholarship and the opportunity for administrative duties which relate to education and pedagogy.

The post is for a fixed term only, and it is not anticipated that the post will be extended beyond this fixed term.

Successful applicants will, ideally be in post by 15 September 2024

The University provides a working and teaching environment that is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.

Key Responsibilities

• Teach modules in appropriate learning environments at undergraduate/postgraduate levels, demonstrating an increasing awareness of different approaches to and methods of teaching and supporting student learning; specifically to contribute teaching to the School’s BA programme in Visual Arts and Film and its MA programme in Visual Culture and to deliver French language teaching for the BA in Modern Languages and Cultures;
• Demonstrate the ability to manage own teaching and designing, planning and writing teaching materials;
• Lead some aspects of modules and contribute to modules led by others by collaborating with colleagues on course development;
• Develop and deliver an inclusive curriculum and make an active contribution to an inclusive community in which diversity is embraced and celebrated;
• Seek and take on board feedback on teaching and engage with others in CPD;
• Supervise undergraduate student(s), and where appropriate act as part of a PhD supervisory team;
• Contribute to educational skill of colleagues, e.g. giving a seminar to colleagues or engaging in constructive discussion about a seminar;
• Build internal contacts and participate in networks to exchange information;
• Start to engage in scholarship (the creation, development and maintenance of the intellectual infrastructure of subjects and disciplines) e.g. develop online teaching resources;
• In addition to Board of Studies, membership of some departmental committees and professional body memberships;
• Student support, assessment of academic performance and provision of feedback, dealing with student disciplinary matters and complaints;
• Undertake effectively and efficiently any administrative role allocated by your Head of Department.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• To engage in continuing professional development by attending relevant training and development courses.

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: 

• 30 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year – a total of 42 days per year.
• The University closes between Christmas and New Year
• We offer a generous pension scheme, As a new member of staff you will be automatically enrolled into the University Superannuation Scheme (USS).
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 plus access to holiday camps for children aged 5-16.
• 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).
• 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.
• A salary sacrifice scheme is also available to help you take advantage of tax savings on benefits.
• If you need a visa, we cover most visa costs and offer an interest free loan scheme to pay for dependant visas.

Discover more about our total rewards and benefits package here.

Durham University is committed to equality diversity, inclusion and values

Our collective aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and we believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work. 

As a University equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are a key part of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do. We also live by our values and our Staff Code of Conduct. At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive. It’s important to us that all of our colleagues are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI. 

We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities and people from racially minoritised ethnic groups.

We are committed to equality: if for any reason you have taken a career break or periods of leave that may have impacted on the volume and recency of research outputs, such as maternity, adoption or parental leave, you may wish to disclose this in your application. We also understand that the Covid-19 pandemic will have had differential impacts on different people and welcome information on this if you wish to share it. The selection committee will recognise that this may have reduced the quantity of your research accordingly 

The University has been awarded the Disability Confident Employer status. If you are a candidate with a disability, 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, reasonable adjustments will be made to support people within their role. 

Contact Information 

Department contact for academic-related enquiries 

Dr Simon Ward, Director, BA Visual Arts and Film. 

Prof. Marc Schachter, Director of Studies in French. 

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 e.recruitment@durham.ac.uk 

University contact for general queries about the recruitment process 

e.recruitment@durham.ac.uk

How to Apply 

To progress to the assessment stage, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification below. It will be at the discretion of the recruiting panel as to whether they will also consider any desirable criteria, but we would urge candidates to provide evidence for all criteria. 

While some criteria will be considered at the shortlisting stage, other criteria may be considered later in the assessment process, such as questions at interview. 

Submitting your application 

We prefer to receive applications online. We will update you about 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 make sure you have not missed any of our updates.

What to Submit 

All applicants are asked to submit: 

• a CV and covering letter which details your experience, skills and achievements in meeting (or the potential to meet) the criteria set out below.
• a statement as to your aspirations as a Teaching Fellow in terms of what motivates you, what you would like to achieve and what your broad approaches to teaching excellence and innovation are (maximum 2 pages).

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. 

Next Steps 

Short-listed candidates will be invited to the University, either virtually or in-person and will have the opportunity to meet key members of the Department. The assessment for the post will normally include a presentation to staff and students in the Department followed by an interview and we anticipate that the assessments and interviews will take place over two days in September. 

In the event that you are unable to attend in person on the date offered, it may not be possible to offer you an interview on an alternative date. 

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 Job Applicants/Potential Job Applicants – Durham University which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data. 

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.

Person Specification

Candidates applying for a grade 7 post will have recently completed or be concluding their PhD and, while they may have limited direct experience of the requirements for the post, they must outline their experience, skills and achievements to date which demonstrate that they meet or that they have the potential to achieve the below criteria

Essential Criteria:

• A good first degree
• A PhD (or be close to submission) with emphases in Visual Culture, broadly conceived, or a related subject, or equivalent demonstrable practitioner experience which may include appropriate certification and/or membership of a relevant professional body.
• Experience of teaching and examining at University level with positive student feedback gained.
• Experience of contributing to the development and delivery of high-quality teaching and/or assessment of learning, including the design and creation of successful learning environments and curricula.
• Demonstrable ability to participate in the collegial/administrative activities of an academic department and/or discipline.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to engage with a range of students and colleagues across a variety of forums.
• The ability to teach, and experience of teaching, language classes covering oral and writing skills and grammar in French.
• Competency in the French language equivalent to CEFR C2.

Desirable Criteria:

• A research specialism in the study of the moving image.
• Experience of successfully developing innovative teaching methods for the design/delivery of high quality teaching.
• Experience of successfully working in an administrative role within an organisation or department.
• Experience of providing high quality one-to-one student supervision.
• Evidence of work undertaken (or which would be undertaken) in preparation for teaching and keeping up to date with developments in the subject area, such as:
• active membership and engagement with a professional body;
• demonstrable innovation in educational practice;
• publication in a scholarly journal or relevant professional publication;
• Attending and presenting internal and/or external seminars or at a regional conference; and/or
• Materials/curriculum development for wider use in a department.
• Candidates may have, or should have the ability to attain the rank of Fellow of HEA.

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