The allocation of duties #

The allocation of duties is the responsibility of the DoE, on behalf of the HoD, in consultation with all affected staff. When allocating duties the following factors are taken into account:

• Suitability: who has the skillset and knowledge, or the potential to develop the skillset and knowledge, to make a success of the role in question
• Workload: who needs to pick up hours in order to get closer to their target load
• Availability: who is available at that time, i.e. in Durham and not overloaded with other tasks
• Balance: as far as possible, to give staff a range of roles in different types of teaching

The general process for filling a specialised role (e.g. a Level 3/4 lecture course) would be to start by asking who is suitable to give the course, and then looking at whether these people are already overloaded. If they are, then re-allocating some of their other workload tasks is a plausible option in order to get the right person for the job (``round peg in a round hole"). For tasks where many staff members would be capable of doing a good job – usually those jobs at Levels 1 & 2 – then the process will often begin by looking at a list of staff with the highest need to pick up hours, and selecting a good candidate from that list. This is always done with some level of consultation with the staff members in question, to ensure they are able and willing to pick the task up, and to ensure they have a manageable portfolio of duties for the year in question.