Lecturer

What does a career as a Tertiary Lecturer involve?

If you're creative, love people and a confident public speaker then the career of a tertiary lecturer could be yours.

A tertiary lecturer is involved in duties and activities both inside and outside of the classroom. Foremost, a lecturer is a teacher. They are responsible for designing the curriculum for a course; developing lecture and tutorial plans, learning objectives, assignments, topics to be covered; producing supporting materials for the course, such as course readings; and ensuring that each class is taught to reflect the needs and interests of students taking the course.

Lecturers are often involved in research projects, keeping them up-to-date with the topics they are teaching. They communicate the results of their research through writing for academic journals and other scholarly publications.

What skills are needed?

Lecturers need up-to-date knowledge of their subject area and, most importantly, they need to have good communication skills to provide students with information in an interesting and understandable manner. Communication skills are also essential for lecturers to be able to network effectively with other academics and professionals.

Strong research skills are important, for individual research, and the role of supervising student research as well.

Writing and computer skills are a must for this profession, as lecturers write a lot of their own teaching material, and often communicate this to students using computer slides and online forums.

Tertiary lecturers need to be approachable, open-minded and able to motivate and inspire their students

What subjects or qualifications do I need?

Lecturers at universities need both a degree (with Honours) in the area they want to lecture in, and a Masters degree or Doctorate. Tertiary lecturing jobs at colleges of education require a graduate degree.

Many lecturers have further qualifications, such as a PhD or a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Further Education) (P.G.C.E (F.E.)). Most lecturing jobs in the United Kingdom expect you to have, or will help you gain a P.G.C.E (F.E.), as it provides you with the support, tools and professional expectations of the career, as well as providing social introduction into the community of scholars.

What career opportunities will I have?

Many lecturers see their job as making a difference to people's lives and the community. Others strive to reach the top of their career and become a Professor.

Lecturers have many opportunities throughout their careers, such as becoming head of their department, mentoring other lecturers, being on journal review and book publication boards, getting involved in organising conferences, and also being involved as external examiners and moderators for other universities.

Additional Information
http:// www.careers.govt.nz

A special thanks to Cheryl Cockburn-Wootten
Lecturer, University of Waikato

See Also:

Graduate Profiles