Staffing at TEIs

All Theological Education Institutions (TEIs) are required to demonstrate the adequacy of their staffing - both academic and professional services staff - in relation to the programmes delivered under the Common Awards Framework.

This guidance uses the following terms:

• Core teachers: individuals who are appointed to permanent full-time or part-time contracts at the (TEI).
• Associate teachers: individuals who are not core teachers, but are appointed to take responsibility for whole or part of a particular module, possibly (but not necessarily) on an on-going basis.
• Visiting teachers: individuals with no module-level responsibility but who may visit the TEI to deliver one or more ‘guest lectures’, or placement supervisors.

TEI Management Committees are required to monitor learning resources – including staffing resources – in relation to the quality and standards of the academic provision for Common Awards programmes. We would expect TEIs to make judgements on the adequacy of their staffing levels overall and within each sub-discipline, and that their staff were appropriately qualified, supported and developed.

TEIs are asked to reflect on matters relating to staffing - including recruitment, appointment, induction, professional development, and staff appraisal or review – as part of Annual Self-Evaluation and Periodic External Review (where relevant TEI policies are also reviewed by Durham).

Making new appointments

TEIs should inform the Common Awards Team of any anticipated staffing changes as their University Liaison Officer (ULO) should be invited to serve on the appointing committee for new staff to the TEI who will be teaching or examining on Common Awards programmes. The ULO’s role will be to ensure that the standards necessary for the continued validation of the programmes will be maintained. TEIs should contact the Common Awards Team to inform them of any interviews; we will determine whether it will be necessary for a University Liaison Officer to serve on the appointing committee. We anticipate that, in many cases, this will not be necessary. 

TEIs should ensure they provide the Common Awards Team with a draft job description before it is made public for any new staff appointment if the staff member will be teaching or examining on Common Awards programmes, in order for it to be reviewed by the relevant University Liaison Officer. TEIs should ensure that they provide the draft job description in good time to permit their ULO to make comments before the job description is made public.

We would normally expect that teachers are qualified to the level above that which they will be teaching or assessing. Contact the Common Awards Team if you wish to seek exemption from this.

Informing Durham of changes

TEIs are required to submit information relating to their academic teachers on an annual basis, usually in advance of the start of an academic year. Durham requires information on core and associate teachers, including details of qualifications, experiences, and publications. See our Templates and Forms page for the TEI staff summary template [T9] to provide this information to Durham, and the Common Awards Calendar for details of when to submit this information.

We would advise that TEIs update the staff summary template following new appointments and share this with Durham. If academic colleagues require access to the University’s electronic library resources, the Common Awards Team check the eligibility of TEI staff against information contained in the T9. See our page on Staff Resources for more information on how to request access to these resources.

TEIs should retain CVs on file (in line with GDPR guidelines) as these may be requested by Durham.