Job application portfolio
When applying for a position at the University of Copenhagen at associate professor or professor level, you will need to enclose a teaching portfolio, the purpose of which is to document your teaching qualifications.
Down below you can find a guide for teaching portfolio when applying for an academic position. You can download the exact same guide here in pdf.
Guide for teaching portfolio when applying for an academic position
The purpose of the teaching portfolio you submit with an application for an academic position is to ensure systematic documentation and assessment of applicants' teaching qualifications. The teaching portfolio should give the assessors a clear and comprehensive picture of (1) your experience a teacher (2) your competence as a teacher. It should be easy for the assessors to identify the different areas of the University of Copenhagen Pedagogical Competence Profile.
Extent and language
The suggested extent of the total teaching portfolio is a five-page brief and ten pages of attachments unless otherwise indicated in the advertisement. If the job advertisement is in English, the documentation should be delivered in English, though the attachments can be submitted in Danish. If no requirements are made regarding an application in English, the documentation and attachments can be submitted in Danish.
Content and suggested structure
The teaching portfolio should reflect the Pedagogical Competence profile to make it easy to assess your teaching experience and competencies.
1. Teaching experience in form of a Teaching CV
This part is factual and descriptive and documents your experience and responsibilities as a teacher. It refers to the four outer areas of the Pedagogical Competence Profile.
- Areas of responsibility: List of courses taught and educational responsibilities. For each course, please state: Title of the course, language of instruction, number of ECTS points, number of students taught (class sizes), educational level (bachelor, master's or PhD degree programme), role (e.g. class teacher, course coordinator), teaching form (e.g. classroom teaching, lectures, student supervision, exercises), number of times you've taught the course and which period (year(s)). Remember to include similar information on your experience as a supervisor.
- If relevant: List of pedagogical courses completed (e.g. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Programme, course for PhD supervisors). Attach certificates and statements in the appendix.
- If relevant: List of pedagogical development projects – short description of each project.
- If relevant: List of participation in structured knowledge sharing or peer supervision. Feedback from colleagues could be attached in the appendix if convenient.
2. Reflection paper – structured according to the pedagogical competence profile:
This part is reflexive and substantiates your competence as a teacher. It refers to the two central areas of the Pedagogical Competence Profile where you reflect on your teaching practice in the light of your knowledge about teaching and learning.
- Practice and reflection – knowledge of learning, teaching, and the study programme. Reflections include descriptions of your practice, that is, examples of what you actually did; informed choices, that is, why you did it, and how that is implicitly or directly substantiated by knowledge; what you have changed, why you changed it, how it turned out, and how you plan to develop your teaching further.
- If mentioned in the CV: Reflections on pedagogical development projects you were involved in.
- If mentioned in the CV: Reflections on the impact that knowledge sharing and peer supervision may have had on your teaching.
- If relevant, you can include reflections on your development as a teacher through the pedagogical courses.
3. Appendices to support the validity of your reflections.
This could be: examples of assignments you have designed, textbook material you developed, student evaluations, videos, etc. There should be links and/or references to each of these appendices in the reflection paper.
Assessment
General principles in the assessment of teaching qualifications:
- The appointment committee submits an assessment of the teaching qualifications of the respective applicants referring to the University of Copenhagen Pedagogical Competence Profile.
- The assessment made by the appointment committee should include a detailed and specific description of the applicant's teaching qualifications on the background of the submitted materials.
- Assessment is in accordance with the weight placed on the specific areas in the job advertisement.
Criteria for the assessment of teaching qualifications:
- Teaching experience: The extent, breadth and documented quality of the applicant’s teaching experience and formal pedagogical training. ‘Breadth' refers to experience with subject, institution, target group/level, teaching form, teaching language, and the applicant’s level of formal pedagogical training.
- Teaching competence: The integration of teaching practices and pedagogical understanding, i.e. the applicant's demonstrated competencies as the basis for their own pedagogical understanding - focusing on the students' learning - to analyse their own teaching make reflected decisions about its further development and carry out changes to their own teaching practice. The assessment should place emphasis on documentation in the form of submitted examples of e.g. teaching materials and evaluations.
Advice for preparing the teaching portfolios:
- Make full use of the general framework in the teaching portfolio to show what approach you have used in your teaching
- Have a clear focus on student learning
- Underpin your statements so they appear valid, such that changes, for example, you have made in your teaching are the direct result of student evaluations, collegial supervision, literature or other
- Describe what you have actually done in your teaching and what the students' response to it has been – and enclose examples of teaching materials which you have prepared
- Show progression and evidence of your own learning over time
- Show an action-oriented plan for the future
- Show the link between what you do and your theoretical knowledge of teaching and learning
Examples of teaching portfolios for job applications
Job application portfolio - Applied Science
