The Curtin Teaching, Learning and Student Experience Plan 2013-2017 outlines an ambitious vision for reforming teaching and learning, enhancing the student experience, optimising the education portfolio and the student experience. This vision, enabled through a number of strategic projects will position Curtin as leaders in globally innovative education; provide a richly interactive and personalised learning experience and provide opportunity for graduates, equipping them with skills for the future.
It is in this context, that teaching excellence is defined. Key to the development of teaching academics, who are engaged in facilitating student learning, is the establishment of criteria to which excellent teachers can aspire. These criteria highlight the capabilities and skills that guide the successful recruitment, development, recognition and retention of quality teaching academics in higher education. The Curtin Teaching Excellence criteria provide a single set of measures to underpin all relevant reward and recognition processes, so that teaching excellence is clear and consistent with the University’s strategic goals.
The teaching excellence criteria are designed to assist individual academic staff, particularly new and early career staff, in clarifying expectations, as well as providing guidelines to assist in the process of supporting academics and establishing guidelines for promotion and awards. The criteria will be used by academic staff and their supervisors as a formative development tool to identify career objectives, and development needs, in addition to forming the basis for informing promotion and awards.
Curtin’s Teaching Excellence criteria are designed to be broad and flexible, whilst providing a robust and valid definition of excellent teaching within the Curtin context. The criteria are aligned to the teaching roles within Curtin Expectations for Academic Performance (CEAP)1 and the Curtin University Academic,