Lecturing in 3rd Level

Wantobe wrote: »

Does anyone know what is the difference between Lecturer 1 payscale and Lecturer 2 and 3?

The Assistant Lecturer scale is the one on which you will be placed if you do not have a Ph. D If you have a Ph.D and mee the criteria laid out below, you may apply to progress to The Lecturer L1 grade.

"An Assistant Lecturer with a Ph.D and relevant research experience may be considered for progression after three years continuous service. If successful such an assistant Lecturer may be placed on the first point of the lecturer scale and remain on that point until five years service have been completed. Progression for Assistant Lecturers shall be irrespective of whether a new post of Lecturer has been established or a vacancy at Lecturer level has occurred."


If you cannot progress as above then, you remain on the AL scale for 9 years then you can progress to the Lecturer L2 scale:

"Assistant Lecturers will progress to the grade of Lecturer on completion of one years’ service after having reached the maximum of the Assistant Lecturer scale subject to a minimum of five years continuous service in the grade subject to ability, experience, academic qualifications, scholarship and demonstrated performance. Possession of an appropriate defined post graduate qualification or equivalent shall normally be considered an essential requirement. Institutes may award incremental credit for previous service in the Assistant Lecturer grade in another Institute or University. The Institute may require five years service in the Institute before progression is considered."

The Ph.D holder would move to point 7 on the Lecturer L2 scale after reaching the top of the L1 scale.

The other lecturing scales in IoTS that exist are the senior lecturer SL1 (teaching) scale - usually an open competition post open to internal and external applicants.

The SL2 grade is usually held by Head of Depts and the SL3 grade by Heads of Schools. These are being lost now through many retirements and are not being replaced.


There are very few and likely to be very few full time permanent lecturing jobs in IoTs now and into the future.

I worked as a contract lecturer in 2 different universities. Much different to working in an IT as it was literally the hardest job if you are trying to obtain a full time position.

Huge pressure to publish papers, to secure funding and to supervise postgrads. Then there is the teaching duties such as lectures, labs, supervising undergraduate projects etc. You will also be attending international conferences, open days, schools visits, staff meetings, workshops, seminars etc.

I loved the work but the hours are tough. It is one job where even if you want to be average at it you will be putting in seriously long hours weekdays and regularly at weekends also.

Very different to my initial perception before I started which was that a lecturer gives a few lectures per week and has the full summer off - couldn't be further from the truth!

Hi guys, quick question.

I started as an hourly paid Assistant Lecturer in an IT in the second semester of an academic year (January). Then in September I was moved to point one of the AL scale for the following full academic year up until the end of my contract and end of my employment.

I might now be getting a few hours in another IT. I am just wondering does my previous experience have any affect on the pay scale I start on now, or do I just go back to the normal AL Lecturer hourly rate?

Thanks. I'll find out soon enough anyway!

He can apply for progression to the Lecturer scale, as mentioned above:

Galway wrote: »

"An Assistant Lecturer with a Ph.D and relevant research experience may be considered for progression after three years continuous service. If successful such an assistant Lecturer may be placed on the first point of the lecturer scale and remain on that point until five years service have been completed. Progression for Assistant Lecturers shall be irrespective of whether a new post of Lecturer has been established or a vacancy at Lecturer level has occurred."

bundaegi wrote: »

He can apply for progression to the Lecturer scale, as mentioned above:

Probably as well to check with the college that you are interested in.

consultancy13 wrote: »

I am a retired environmental consultant touching 70 years of age and have recently been appointed as an associate lecturer in engineering health safety and environmental management in one of the IT's A lot of my career has been in the area of environmental training. Back in the 70's I was teaching academia for about 2 years
Not sure whether this role is for me

I'm a lecturer in an IoT - did work in industry before. It is a fantastic job - if you like teaching you would really enjoy it.
Give it a go for a semester even

Sky King wrote: »

I recently applied for an associate lecturing role. I think myself I would really like it but I would be really keen to hear from others in the same position if anyone else out there does this?

It's only a few hours a week on a part time course but i am self employed so flexible hours - i can make it work.

So what do you want to know?

I've worked part-time as a lecturer before, while I worked in industry.

Here's a (very quick) brain-dump of things I learned:

- never bull****. Can't say that any clearer, not only will you be found out, but you will also lose the respect of the students. If you don't know, be straight up and say "I don't know for sure, but I'll find out for you"

- I always get fantastic response to referring the academic/theoretical concepts to real wold examples. In fact, I go off on tangents to say "while I worked in this company, here's how we would implement [concept X] in the real world".

- I did find support somewhat lacking. Very much "here's the material, now off you go". In pretty much every case, I had an excellent Head of School/Department who gave me great support and could put me in contact with the relevant person about any questions I had

- Get your hands on previous course material/notes/handouts and, most importantly, assessments (exams and anything else). Always put your own slant on them, while maintaining the integrity of the course/syllabus

- get familiar with key dates of the academic calendar

- get (intimately) familiar with policies and procedures

- buddy up with somebody who can advise you on above

- most of all, enjoy it. I always compare working in industry, being essentially a cog in a machine, to lecturing where you are actually making a difference to people's lives.

Any more questions, let me know.

I think for the interviews, make sure that you know about the college, the sorts of courses, modules they do in the area, and any plans for mergers of institutes etc.. Often surprises me how little some applicants know about the college they are applying for. Look at things like the strategic plan, the presidents welcome web page (if it exists) so you can comment positively about how you are aligned to the culture / strategy of the institute.

Many have student centered type strategies, you could turn this to your benefit at the interview.

If you have a masters, have identified some doctoral level studies you might do, what your research interests are, who / where you might do your doctorate with. Be precise for the purpose of the interview like you have taught it through, dont say I might do one on Education but then again I might focus on some aspect of my discipline. It generally does not matter what, just be confident you have a plan. A good justification of an educational doctorate could give you the opportunity to align your self to key objectives of the institute.

If no one presents with a doctoral qualification, hiring managers will be looking for staff with potential to undertake doctoral qualifications.

If you have a doctorate, talk about possible publications etc....

It varies by area, some disciplines (Science and Social Sciences) would have a lot of doctoral candidates while in Business / Engineering it would be less so.

If you have to make a presentation:-
1. Dont go over time
2. Try and use it to sell your self
3. Do not clutter your slides, 3-4 lines is enough on any
4. Do not use any of the special effects such as getting stuff flying in from the side etc
5. Hand out a copy of your presentation at the start.
6. Read the job description and demonstrate how you meet the essential and as many of the desired qualifications as follows.
7. Dont underestimate some very good non teaching experience that you have.
8. Have a read here and similar http://9thlevel.ie/ to get a general overview of where education is at.



If you get a job I agree with everything that Tom says above. Try to make contacts in the discipline area who will share stuff with your.

Also when applying for the job look at the required and desirable qualifications / attributes.

The shortlisting should be carried out based on these, make sure that if you have something that is relevant to the job requirements that you mention it either in the CV and covering letter.

As an example in a different area, I know someone was shortlisting for a trades man, got hundreds of applicants, one of the essential requirements was a full clean driving license. All of the applicants had one but all the ones that had not explicitly said they had one were excluded.

I went for a job years ago in my own workplace, and when I asked for feedback on why I was not shortlisted, I was told I had the requirements but had not mentioned them in my application and therefore could not be scored.