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Sessional academic employment

Applying for sessional teaching

Applications for sessional teaching positions must be made on the relevant faculty form which gives details of the information required from applicants and the process for applying. The form can be downloaded from each faculty's sessional website; faculty links will be included below as available. The faculty websites will also contains information about the types of sessional appointment  available in the faculty. See also the salary rates for sessional teaching.

Employment restrictions

Research graduate students

Please note that there are restrictions on the amount of paid employment that can be undertaken if you enrolled in a doctoral or MPhil, or if you are a scholarship holder. Please see  the employment conditions for doctoral and MPhil candidates and conditions of receiving a postgraduate research scholarship.

International students need to be aware that the employment restrictions outlined above apply even though a student visa permits students to work up to 20 hours a week.

Immigration requirements

Visa clearance is required if you do not hold an Australian or New Zealand passport; the visa must be arranged before a person from overseas departs for Australia, and a person appointed from within Australia must obtain visa clearance before commencing duties. For details see the immigration requirements for new academic staff.

Employment processes

After being offered a sessional teaching position, you will need to complete the following forms:

  • Tax File Number Declaration Form (available from your school/department HR officer);
  • an Employment of Casual/Sessional Staff form (available from the Human Resources Staff forms website - click on Staff Employment);
  • also from the HR Staff Forms page, a Banking and Employee Details form to nominate the bank account into which your salary will be paid (note that this is the only method of payment available).

You will need a Monash Staff Identification card for access to the library, sporting facilities and areas requiring security, to use the free shuttle bus services between campuses, and to obtain staff discounts where available at university retail outlets. Staff ID cards can be obtained from any of the locations below between 9.00am and 5.00pm on weekdays:

  • Human Resources, 710 Blackburn Road Clayton
  • Student Services Centres at Berwick, Caulfield, Clayton, Gippsland, Peninsula or Parkville campuses

Once you commence duties you will need to submit regular time sheets which can be downloaded from the Human Resources Staff forms website under Staff Employment. See the Human Resources Calendar for the payroll schedule for the year, and other key dates.

Your school/department Human Resources officer will be able to assist you in these processes and can also answer other queries about your employment. You can also lodge queries with ask.monash, the University's online help service for human resources, information technology, library services, health, safety & environment, equity & diversity and student administration.

Faculty/school/department contacts are available from the faculties' sessional webpages (links to be provided below as they become available).

Employment support

You will be provided with shared access to office space, telephone and computer facilities.

Useful resources that will help you work in the Monash environment include:

Employment benefits

Sessional academic staff are eligible to apply for UniSuper membership if you earn a specified minimum amount - see the Superannuation policy for details.

Sessional staff are able to participate in the University's salary packaging (salary sacrifice) scheme.

Note that sessional staff are eligible to join the Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). You may also find the NTEU website for sessional academic staff useful.

Induction and training

You will be required to attend a compulsory induction and training program for sessional academic staff, unless granted an exemption by the Associate Dean (Education) of your faculty. These programs run in faculties and/or within schools/departments. Details will be available at faculty sessional websites.

Sessional teaching appointees are welcome to attend the University's orientation program, Welcome to Monash, which is held at regular intervals throughout the year at no cost. Check with your school/department if you would be paid for attendance. Information for new staff is available at the university's Induction for new staff page.

Your responsibilities

During your induction and training program you will be informed of the time commitment expected of you regarding:

  • amount of class preparation required;
  • consultation hours; and
  • time allotted for marking.

These expectations will also be specified by your Unit Coordinator and you will be paid accordingly.

Your Unit Coordinator is also responsible for:

  • preparing unit materials;
  • organising class schedules for lectures, tutorials, labs etc;
  • providing assessment criteria for assessment tasks;
  • general enquiries and complaints about the unit;
  • organising regular meetings/briefings with the teaching staff in the unit about forthcoming classes (tutorials, workshops, laboratories etc)  and assessment tasks.

The Unit Coordinator should be your first port of call if you have any queries or concerns, or experience any difficulties in your teaching.

Faculty sites for sessional staff

Science