Associate Professor (Education) - Birmingham Medical School - 81609 - Grade 9

Birmingham Medical School, School of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £58,225 to £67,468 with potential progression once in post to £87,974

Grade: 9

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 12th August 2026

Role Summary

Birmingham Medical School is one of the largest medical schools in the UK, with a faculty of medical education specialists, clinicians and non-clinical scientists. Birmingham Medical School delivers the undergraduate medicine programme (MBChB), plus postgraduate education programmes, including the Education for Health Care Professionals (E4HP) that provides Advance HE accredited pedagogic qualifications for clinicians who deliver medical education in universities and is our partner NHS Trusts.

This appointment will support scholarship and pedagogical innovation within both the MBChB and E4HP teams, enable support for faculty progression through academic promotion pathways, and strengthen the school’s ambition to establish a national and international reputation as a leading centre for clinical education.

We are seeking an exceptional individual at Associate Professor level who will be able to provide considerable pedagogical leadership to support the ongoing high-quality design and implementation of Curriculum 2030, working with faculty, students and clinical partners to ensure educational excellence at scale. With the first year of a new medicine Curriculum 2030 rollout in 2026/27, it is imperative that this ongoing momentum is supported, particularly with regards to the new introduction of formative assessment tools, innovative approaches to self-directed learning in the cohort and a spotlight on student experience.

The postholder is a key individual within the MBChB senior leadership team and would be expected to provide module leadership for one of the new modules on Curriculum 2030: Integrated Thinking and Application of Knowledge (ITAK). Additionally, the individual may act as Deputy Programme lead for the Education for Health Professionals (E4HP) portfolio of awards. This programme plays a key regional role in supporting Clinical Teaching Fellows and healthcare educators, who subsequently deliver a large proportion of hospital-based teaching for MBChB students.

The programme is Advance HE accredited, with renewal confirmed in February 2026 for a further five years, enabling participants to achieve Fellowship status (FHEA), an internationally recognised marker of teaching excellence. Senior academic oversight is required to maintain accreditation standards, curriculum currency, external reputation, and student satisfaction.

Teaching roles are likely to include:

• Leadership, development and teaching on our flagship MBChB program: ITAK module, Curriculum 2030 development and delivery by supporting Deputy Program Directors.
• Portfolio development and delivery by supporting portfolio lead.
• Support for assessment for various modules on MBChB program, including the portfolio.
• Support for assessment for various modules on the E4HP portfolio of programmes.

Main Duties

Education

You will contribute across the range of teaching and learning activities:

• Making a significant contribution to the pedagogical knowledge base of the subject that advances teaching through the enhancement of practice, the development of teaching resources and/or through practice-based research.
• Leading on the management and the development of approaches to teaching and learning, including designing innovative approaches and supporting colleagues to use them in the subject area or institution.
• Leading on curriculum design at module and programme level to ensure it is contemporary, inclusive, engaging and academically challenging.
• Actively engaging students in curriculum design.
• Making an impactful, high-quality contribution to debates about education policy, methods and practices through internal and external publications, subject societies and conference activity.
• Developing an external profile evidenced through engaging in external quality assurance activities related to teaching, e.g. external examining and engaging with/supporting education in other institutions.
• Where appropriate, playing an important and sustained role in the recruitment and admission of students; co-supervising doctoral students to completion.
• Leading the development of teaching, learning and assessment policies and strategies.
• Acting as an education mentor to colleagues in the School/Department/College or more widely.
• Leading the development of new and appropriate approaches to learning and teaching.
• Leading sustained high value impact in knowledge transfer and enterprise (including business engagement, public engagement) that enhances the student experience and/or employability, and is of manifest benefit to learning and teaching in the College and the University.
• Undertaking own teaching, which will include teaching and examining courses at a range of levels, planning and reviewing own teaching approaches, developing programme proposals, supervision, marking and examining.

You will ensure that your teaching practice is informed by discipline-based research, through participating in the research culture of the school.

Management/administration

Lead activities in the Department/School and represent the School on College/University committees or working groups. Where appropriate to the discipline, this is likely to include some, but not all of the responsibilities listed below.

• Making an important contribution to the development and running of the Department or School, for example, leading activity on teaching assessment; leading a successful international engagement at School or College level.
• Developing and managing staff and resources in support of major teaching activities.
• Making important contributions to the development of the Department’s (and the University’s) learning and teaching strategy.
• Contributing significantly to the development and delivery of knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement and public engagement activities with sustained high value impact of manifest benefit to the College and the University in a teaching/education context.
• Developing and implementing a culture (including policies and procedures) that promotes Equality and values diversity and inclusion.
• Leading, serving on and assisting the work of committees and task and finish groups beyond School/Department, e.g., Senate, Council, University Education or Research Committee etc.
• Leading external committees, e.g., those associated with public/professional bodies or delivery of activities for an external body at an appropriate level, e.g., chairing sub-committees associated with large elements of work.
• Leading/project managing a team to devise and implement a new and/or revised process (e.g. new programme or a recruitment drive).
• Making a sustained contribution to widening participation, schools outreach and/or public understanding of the discipline.
• Contributing to administrative activities within the University (e.g. appeals panels, working groups).

Citizenship

Identifying wellbeing issues within the School/College/University and developing appropriate solutions to address these; taking collective ownership of challenges faced by the School or College and working with colleagues to develop solutions; mentoring and coaching of colleagues, particularly those in the early stages of their career.

Person Specification

Normally, a higher Degree relevant to the discipline area (usually PhD) or equivalent qualifications.

Demonstrated excellence in Learning and Teaching, and Management and administration.

Learning and teaching requirements

An excellent teaching profile and performance in terms of both impact and quality. Teaching quality demonstrated to be informed by an appropriate level of scholarship. Evidence of success under the following headings:

• High national reputation for the development of teaching and learning excellence within the discipline.
• Successful and sustained use of a range of appropriate teaching methods, and assessment strategies that promote high quality learning, including learning that is flexible, distinctive and current and stimulates learners’ natural curiosity.
• Significant and sustained contribution to one or more of the following: strategic development of new programmes, approaches to learning, the development of learning resources.
• High quality and sustained contributions to fostering excellence in teaching activities more widely, i.e. in the Department/School or College and/or externally.
• Mentoring and expert advice which develops the skills of colleagues in teaching and in fostering learning.
• Sustained high value impact knowledge transfer and enterprise that is of manifest benefit to the College and University.

Management and administration-related requirements

Demonstrated significant achievement in management and administration-related activities, which may include leadership of activities/initiatives. Evidence of success under the following headings:

• Successful and sustained performance in significant administrative/managerial role(s) (e.g. exams officer).
• Significant and sustained high quality innovative contributions to the management/administration of the Department/School/College or University.
• Successful and sustained contribution to the corporate life of the School/College/University, displaying willingness to contribute actively to committees, collaborative teaching and administrative tasks.
• Actively promotes equality and diversity to internal and external stakeholders.
• Able to use data to identify equality and diversity issues. Experience of developing interventions to address equality and diversity issues.

Informal enquiries to Beverly Tsai-Goodman, email: b.tsai-goodman@bham.ac.uk

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.