The Induction Framework of the University of South Australia

The induction framework of the University of South Australia

university of south australia

The induction framework of the University of South Australia

Executive Summary

The Induction Framework of the University of South Australia is intended to set the parameters for induction of all staff at the University of South Australia, and assist those involved in providing induction for staff.

The implementation of the various components of the framework means that all new staff will receive a program of information and experiences that set expectations and assist them to perform in their roles within the university.

Where information and experiences in programs is generic the delivery process should bring together academic and/or professional, security and grounds and document services staff across Divisions or involve academic and/or professional, security and grounds and document services staff within Divisions.

Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes will need to consider an appropriate mix of face-to-face delivery and other delivery mechanisms (e.g. on-line resources) to suit the employment periods and start dates of employees and balance the need for economy in the delivery of the programs to groups with the flexibility necessary to account for specific circumstances of individuals.

The Induction Framework is used to generate suggested programs for groups of staff. Implementation of the programs that arise from the Induction Framework is a collaborative activity and it is essential that the delivery of programs is coordinated and involve all stakeholders. The framework can be seen as one of many measures that the University has in place to assure others of its commitment to quality.

A staff member has completed induction when all components of the program have been satisfactorily completed. Prior learning and experience is acknowledged and given credit where this is appropriate.

All new staff are required to complete their appropriate induction program as part of their conditions of employment and it is the responsibility of Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes to monitor and certify that their staff have satisfactorily completed their programs.

The materials that follow contain the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1

/ That satisfactorily completing an induction program that meets the conditions of the Induction Framework is part of the conditions of employment for all employees of the University of South Australia. Completion of the induction program should take place either prior to undertaking the key responsibilities of the role expected of the employee, or as soon as is possible from the start of the employment period. For staff undertaking casual teaching or short term contracts, satisfactory completion of the induction program is required before second or subsequent periods of employment are undertaken.
Recommendation 2 / That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes identify a person responsible for implementing the induction framework for that Division/Portfolio. The responsible person would oversee the design, delivery and evaluation of the effectiveness of the program and ensure that records regarding participation in the program are maintained in the Division/Portfolio. The person responsible for the induction framework within the Division/Portfolio may be assisted by a Divisional/Portfolio working party that contains representatives of stakeholder interests.
Recommendation 3 / That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement an 18 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 1 for continuing academic staff with teaching/research/service expectations within their role.
Recommendation 4 / That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement a 9 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 2 for academic hourly paid/casual staff that meet the one third or more condition associated with the delivery of a subject/s.
Recommendation 5 / That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement at least a 9 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 3 for long term professional, security and grounds and document services staff and advise Divisional Board/Portfolio PVC of the proposed program prior to its implementation each year.
Recommendation 6 / That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement at least a 6 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 4 for short term professional, security and grounds and document services staff and advise Divisional Board/Portfolio PVC of the proposed program prior to its implementation each year.

Hours are provided as a guide.

The components of the induction framework of the University of South Australia

The induction framework is in the form of a matrix (see below). Components of the program and the groups of staff undergoing induction make up each axis with activities and responsibilities making up the matrix elements. The matrix provides an overview of induction programs and is used in designing the induction programs that will be outlined in the next section of this document.

The horizontal axis identifies four groups of staff that require induction. These are:

w  long term contract or continuing academic staff

w  long term contract or continuing professional, security and grounds and document services staff

w  short term contact/hourly paid/casual academic staff

w  short term contract/hourly paid/casual professional, security and grounds and document services staff

The vertical axis deals with the four components of induction programs. These components are termed professional, corporate and organisational, accessing service providers and legislative obligations.

Professional

This involves activities and information about good practice and University expectations in major aspects of the inductees principal accountabilities. For example, for long term or continuing academic staff this involves information and activities about the teaching and learning framework of the university and its codes of good practice in teaching and learning/assessment; activities and information about research infrastructure, consultancy work, and expectations of research supervisors; information about community service commitments.

For long term professional, security and grounds and document services staff in particular areas this may involve particular information about their role and its interface with other service and academic areas of the University. However, the induction program for most professional, security and grounds and document services staff does not require this component.

Corporate and organisational

This involves information about the impact of the University’s mission corporate plan and strategic directions upon the inductee’s area and introduces the local strategic plan and its expectations. The corporate and organisational induction includes information about the university structure, the code of ethics and the range of policies operating within the university.

A component of this area is information about local organisational work arrangements.

Accessing service providers

This involves information about the service providers within the university that impact upon the ability of inductees to fulfil their roles and achieve expectations of good practice. Information from the following areas would be brought together: Induction Web Site, induction handbook, IT systems, Campus Services, Library, Finance, Human Resources, Flexible Learning Centre, Academic and Student Administration, Research Services, Campus Central, Student Association and so on.

Legislative obligations

This involves information that employees are required to observe. Examples here are the requirements of the Acts in relation to disability and discrimination, ethical treatment of animals, occupational health and safety requirements.

The induction framework of the University of South Australia

The framework is as follows:

Long term or continuing academic staff / Short term/
hourly paid academic staff / Long term or continuing professional, security and grounds and document services staff / Short term/
hourly paid professional, security and grounds and document services staff
Professional / Teaching and Learning/Research/
Service – combination of generic and School based / Teaching and Learning– combination of generic and School based / Tailored programs in particular instances. No component required in the majority of cases / No component required
Corporate and organisational / Corporate & Divisional PVC level / School level / Corporate & Divisional PVC level / School level
Accessing service providers / Full range of service providers represented / Teaching support services/HR / Full range of service providers represented / Selected
Legislative obligations / OHSW/Equity and Diversity issues / OHSW/Equity and Diversity issues / OHSW/Equity and Diversity issues / OHSW/Equity and Diversity issues

Using the framework to produce programs

This next section illustrates how the framework produces programs for the groups of staff that are identified in the matrix. For academic staff the suggested programs outline time commitments, provide details of what each session would provide in the way of information and activities and identify responsibilities for providing that part of the program.

For professional, security and grounds and document services staff the details provided in the appendix materials provide guidance upon the balance between generic components of a program involving information about the University and the diverse role-related information that is required by professional, security and grounds and document services staff.

The overall responsibility for the provision of a satisfactory program of induction rests with the Divisions/Portfolio/Institutes. The costs associated with induction programs are the responsibilities of Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes.

Academic staff that are employed as ‘research only’ are included in the programs for academic staff (continuing and short term). In the professional area there is a need to identify the nature of the program according to the role expected of the staff member – for example, where the research-only position involves teaching or supervision of research students there will be a need for the new staff members to undertake the teaching component of the professional area. Clearly, there is a need for flexibility in the ways that a program is interpreted at the local level.

The person responsible for implementing the framework and/or the working group involved with oversight of induction programs should ensure that consultation with research centres and research-only staff takes place so that appropriate program components are undertaken by the staff member.

Recommendation 1 That satisfactorily completing an induction program that meets the conditions of the Induction Framework is part of the conditions of employment for all employees of the University of South Australia. Completion of the induction program should take place either prior to undertaking the key responsibilities of the role expected of the employee, or as soon as is possible from the start of the employment period. Where there is more than one period of employment (e.g. casual staff), satisfactory completion of the program is required for the second or subsequent periods of employment

Recommendation 2 That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes identify a person responsible for implementing the induction framework for that Division/Portfolio/
Institute. The responsible person would oversee the design, delivery and evaluation of the effectiveness of the programs for all staff of that Division/Portfolio/Institute and ensure that records regarding participation in the program are maintained in the Division/Portfolio/
Institute. The person responsible for the induction framework within the Division/Portfolio/Institute may be assisted by a Divisional/Portfolio/
Institute working party that contains representatives of stakeholder interests.

Continuing academic staff induction—suggested program

This program involves a commitment of approximately 18 hours. Providers include the Vice Chancellor (or nominee), Heads of School, Service providers, Deans Teaching and Learning, Deans Research and professional development staff of the Flexible Learning Centre. Divisions would organise sessions/dates/venues/providers to suit their needs. The program outline is given in Appendix 1. Appropriate components of this program would also be used by research-only staff.

Recommendation 3 That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement an 18 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 1 for continuing academic staff with teaching/research/service expectations within their role.

Short term/hourly paid/casual academic staff—suggested program

This program involves a 9 hour time commitment. The program applies to those casual staff that undertake one third or more of the delivery of a subject. For example, if a subject has a normal delivery pattern of 1 hour lecture and 2 x 1 hour tutorials and a casual staff member takes one of the tutorials for each week of the semester then the casual staff member would be expected to undertake the induction). Special guest lectures and involvement less than one third would not require induction by this program.

The focus of this program is to give an understanding of the university position about teaching and learning and the role of tutor/support teacher for the staff member in charge of the subject. The program involves information about the relevant university policies that impact upon the work of casual staff and advice about teaching approaches.

The program involves a range of providers and the delivery of the program will need to take place at times that suit casual staff. The program outline is given in Appendix 2.

Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes would be responsible for any costs associated with staff participation in the program and would have to decide whether participation in the program is part of the paid employment of the staff member.

Recommendation 4 That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement a 9 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 2 for hourly paid/casual staff that meet the one third or more condition associated with the delivery of a subject/s.

Continuing professional, security and grounds and document services staff—suggested program

This program involves at least 9 hours of induction activities. Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes may decide to provide the generic corporate/divisional information in ways that bring together academic and professional, security and grounds and document services staff. The focus of this program is an understanding of the university and the local workplace arrangements that impact upon the role of the employee.

Recommendation 5 That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement at least a 9 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 3 for long term professional, security and grounds and document services staff and advise Divisional Board/Portfolio PVC of the proposed program prior to its implementation each year.

Short term professional, security and grounds and document services staff—suggested program

Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes will need to decide how to define short term for the purposes of participation in this induction program.

Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes would be responsible for any costs associated with staff participation in the program and would have to decide whether participation in the program is part of the paid employment of the staff member.

Recommendation 6 That Divisions/Portfolios/Institutes implement at least a 6 hour induction program as outlined in Appendix 4 for short term professional, security and grounds and document services staff and advise Divisional Board/Portfolio PVC of the proposed program prior to its implementation each year.

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The induction framework of the University of South Australia