4.0 Consultancy Advice and Support

4.1.1 Centre for Staff Development

The Centre for Staff Development provided a broad range of consultancy services across the University to sections including Accounting and Finance, Anatomy and Human Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Financial Services, Geology, Psychology, Public Health, Safety and Health, Unipark and Zoology. These consultancies covered issues such as strategic planning, departmental reorganisation, conflict resolution, client service, train-the-trainer, and supervision of PhD students. The Director of the Centre was invited to do consulting work both internationally: at Tokyo Gakugei University in Japan and the University of Oslo in Norway, and nationally: at the universities of Canberra, Adelaide, and the Australian National University.

4.1.2 Industrial Relations

During 1999 the industrial relations unit experienced significant increases in the level of advice and support required by departments for restructuring; this reflected a greater complexity in the restructuring activity due largely to the increased size and scope of organisational change. Restructuring activities were undertaken in relation to eleven areas of the University's operations, as shown on the following table:

4.1.3 Equity

The Equity Office continued to provide information, advice and training to departments and groups on issues of equal opportunity and discrimination. Promotional material on a variety of issues such as work and family, harassment and discrimination and sexual harassment was distributed to departments. The Office was involved in a number of activities during 1999 including:

Awareness raising for staff

• All staff received a copy of the new brochure on sexual harassment and a letter from the SDVC.
• Two Affirmative Action information sessions on women’s issues were held.
• An Affirmative Action presentation was made to the Status of Women Group, the Faculty Executive Committees and the Vice-Chancellors Advisory Group.
• There was a presentation to the Vice-Chancellors Advisory group on the AVCC Plan for Women and a gender comparison of the group eight Universities.
• Equity Advisers made various EEO/equity presentations to Faculties, departments, staff and student groups

Awareness raising for students

• Tutorials on equity, diversity and anti racism were held.
• A talk on mentoring was given to ECU and UWA’s Springboard Programme.

Other

• Meetings with the Executive Deans were held to discuss the Equity Adviser Network, AA and other Equity issues.
• The Equity Office operated a stall for Open Day and dealt with many enquires from staff and students and members of the community,
• UWA Equity strategies were featured in articles in Uni-View, the Leader, the newsletter from the Department of Productivity and Labour Relation and various other state government publications highlighting the University’s best practice in EEO.
• The Equity Office regularly prepares written information for students, departmental newsletters, and student handbooks.
• The Equity Office dealt with a wide range of equity enquiries/complaints during the year.

Equity Page on the World Wide Web

Sexual Harassment/Equity Adviser Newsletters

Newsletter for Women General Staff – Levels 1-5

International Women’s Day

Harmony Day

4.1.4 Safety and Health

Safety and Health staff visited about one half of the total safety and health representatives and departmental safety officers to help clarify their safety roles and responsibilities.

A review of all policies, procedures and guidelines was undertaken to assist in making it easier to locate and read this information. A formalised safety induction procedure for all new staff was introduced in July. A new contractor safety and health policy was approved following widespread consultation.

Pamphlets and notices prepared by SHO and distributed widely throughout the University included SHO services, safety and health issue resolution procedures, working comfortably with computers, and emergency evacuation procedures for lecture theatres and tutorial rooms.

Accident statistics were regularly (every 3 months) provided to Executive Deans and senior managers to keep them informed and involved in accidents and workers’ compensation claims from staff and students within their areas of responsibility. Safety related training specifically aimed at workplaces with higher incident and accident rates commenced.

Women of Diversity

The Manager Equity is co-ordinator of the Women of Diversity Network that continues to meet and maintain contact via email. The network was established to provide support to women on the campus who are culturally and linguistically diverse.

Women in Non-traditional Areas

This informal network was established in the later apart of 1999 and targets women in the grounds and workshops.

Status of Women Group

The Senior Policy Analyst has been Coordinator of this Group which is open to all women on campus.

In an effort to increase efficiency and reduce costs, reports of Student Perceptions of Teaching (SPOT) surveys were sent out to SPOT users electronically (as e-mail attachments) in 1999. The change from paper to electronic reports was announced early in Semester 1 through a SPOT Bulletin. Most reports were sent out in 2-3 weeks of receiving the survey forms representing a most satisfactory turn-around time. Rating Interpretation Guides (RIGs), allowing broad comparison of an individual set of results with a similar cohort of results, were developed and placed on the Web and their availability was made known to SPOT users through email.

The number of academic staff seeking help in the preparation of Teaching Portfolios increased by approximately 30% on the previous year. The ‘Introduction to Teaching Portfolios’ workshop was conducted in both semesters, and the booklet ‘A Guide to Teaching Portfolios and Their Role in Promotion and Tenure’ was revised to take account of recommendations in the ‘Achieving Diversity and Inclusivity in Teaching and Learning Project Report’.

‘Peer Feedback on Teaching’, a rating type of survey form that had been used by few academics in past years, was reviewed and a new format is expected.