What is an ETP?

Excellent Teaching Practitioners (ETPs) distinguish themselves in all their teaching activities by their clear and dedicated focus on their students’ learning. ETPs are characterised by efforts over and above the ordinary and works systematically towards the continuous development of their teaching practices. ETPs also display an exploratory and scientific approach to their work regarding the planning, implementation, assessment, documentation and adaptation of their teaching practices. They also have an ability to reflect on and defend their practices on the basis of relevant theory and current research linked to both higher education in general, and their own respective fields. In other words, being an ETP is not just about what teachers do and how they do it, but also to a great extent about demonstrating why they do what they do. Moreover, being an ETP is not restricted to a teacher’s own teaching activities. ETPs are team players and active contributors to their colleagues’ work to advance the quality of study programmes. ETPs are also facilitators of expertise and share their teaching experiences with others.

Why has USN developed an ETP merit system?

The Norwegian Parliamentary White Paper no. 16 (2016-2017) Kultur for kvalitet i høyere utdanning (A culture of quality in higher education) emphasises that standards of educational practice in higher education must increase, and that greater weight than at present must be given to teaching competence – not only immediately after employment, but also throughout a teacher’s career. Thus, the ETP merit system at USN is all about valuing good teaching and stimulating teachers to step up their efforts. A pivotal concept here is student learning. The intention of the merit system is to reward innovative and developmental work linked to teaching and learning. Systematic efforts to promote quality in education can contribute towards the establishment of professional collegiality in teaching. ETP status is thus not only a recognition of extraordinary effort, but also part of an initiative designed to promote a collegial culture of learning. The White Paper provides more details about the concept of an ETP merit system and also contains information about SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), which forms the basis of the Norwegian version.

The ETP merit system at USN

From the autumn of 2022, it has been established a fixed ETP merit system at USN. 

In the period of 2019 - 2022, a pilot project of the ETP merit system was carried out. You can read about the implementation and assessment of, and experiences linked to the project in these three reports from the project: 

• Report no.1: Merittering på USN (report in Norwegian)
• Report no. 2: Merittering på USN (report in Norwegian)
• Report 3 Meritteringsordningen ved Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge. Sluttevaluering av pilotprosjekt om merittering (2019-2022) (report in Norwegian)

If you achieve ETP status at USN, you will receive a permanent salary increase. Your collegiate will also be awarded a lump sum, that will be earmarked to fund a professional educational initiative for implementation within your collegiate in consultation with you. Both sums are now at 30.000 NOK. 

Who can apply?

In order to apply for ETP status, your principal position as a teacher must be at USN, and you must hold a permanent position as a Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, Docent or Professor. You must also have at least five years’ experience as a teacher in the higher education sector, with two of these years having been spent at a Norwegian educational establishment. You must also be able to document your basic professional educational qualifications either in the form of completed courses of at least 200 hours total duration in university or university college pedagogics, or by means of a pedagogical portfolio that documents such qualifications.

Be inspired by our ETPs

USN has ETPs at all its four faculties. In the following, you can read more about our ETPs and view their applications. Notice: These are in Norwegian.

In 2020 the following scientific employees were awarded ETP status:

In 2021 the following scientific employees were awarded ETP status:
 

In 2022 the following scientific employees were awarded ETP status:

Do you want to know more?

If you require more details, you can listen to this podcast or watch this video all about the ETP merit system. Notice: These are in Norwegian.

We also recommend that you read our ETP application guide, which sets out the criteria required of an ETP and offers information and advice that may help you when writing your application.

If you have any questions about the ETP merit scheme at USN, do not hesitate to contact one of the following members of the project group:

Hilde Larsen Damsgaard (project manager)

Cecilie Enqvist-Jensen

Cecilie Aurvoll