Associate Professor/Professor: Childhood Education

Organizational Unit University of the Free State -> Faculty of Education -> Department of Childhood Education Contract Type Occupational Level Middle Management Location South Campus - Bloemfontein, FS ZA (Primary)

Closing Date 27/8/2026 Description KINDLY TAKE NOTE: Applications may only be submitted online through the official UFS vacancy website: https://ufs.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/JobSearch/viewAll - Applications submitted through any other platform will not be considered. The system allows a maximum of eight attachments. To avoid upload issues, we recommend merging some or all documents into fewer files before submitting.

INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED!

To ensure your application is complete, you must submit ALL documents listed under the inherent requirements, as well as the following standard documentation:

• A detailed Curriculum Vitae.
• Copies of your qualifications, or official proof of qualifications obtained (If you hold foreign qualifications, please include SAQA accreditation).
• A copy of your identity document (South African ID or passport for foreign nationals).
• Confirmation of employment in the form of a letter, appointment contract, service certificate, or recent payslip from your current or most recent employer (applicable to external applicants only).

Duties and responsibilities:

• Provide formal teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Department of Childhood Education.
• Act as a supervisor for postgraduate students in the relevant field.
• Engage in the Work Integrated Learning Programme of the faculty (Teaching Practice).
• Ensure active involvement in research in a relevant field of Childhood Education and publish research articles in accredited national and international journals.
• Active involvement in curriculum development relating to the relevant field of Childhood Education.
• Apply for external funding grants for research and/or teaching and learning projects.
• Mentor and support junior colleagues in the department and faculty.
• Contribute to leadership and administrative tasks in the department and faculty.

Inherent requirements:

Associate Professor

• A relevant Doctoral degree on NQF Level 10 in Education with specialisation in Childhood Education and/or Foundation Phase.
• At least five (5) years relevant experience in a Higher Education Environment.
• Experience as external examiner for postgraduate students.
• Proven experience in the presentation of research papers at national conferences, where there is evidence of peer review of papers.
• Acted as an editorial board member of high-quality national scholarly journals.
• Proven national recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a specific scientific area of scholarship.
• An NRF rating or potential for rating.
• Proven experience in the supervision of graduated master’s degree students.
• A proven research record of relevant publications in national and international accredited journals
• Serve as a member of a national scholarly society OR a national committee or agency concerned with research at higher education levels OR show evidence of service as an active member of an international equivalent.
• Proven experience in curriculum and/or programme development.
• Evidence of attracting research and/or training grants in the past 5 years.
• Proven experience in co-leading one or more collaborative research projects in the past 5 years.

Professor

• A relevant Doctoral degree on NQF Level 10 in Education with specialisation in Childhood Education and/or Foundation Phase.
• At least seven (7) years relevant experience in a Higher Education Environment.
• Experience as external examiner for master’s-degree and doctoral students.
• Acted as editorial board member of high-quality international/ISI/IBSS journals.
• Proven international recognition for specialist expertise and research leadership in a particular area of academic scholarship (for example, regularly serves as a reviewer for international/ISI/IBSS journals).
• An NRF rating or potential for rating.
• Demonstrated successful supervision of graduated master’s-degree and preferably graduated doctoral students.
• Proven experience in delivering keynote addresses at national scholarly conferences.
• Served as a member of an international scholarly society OR an international committee or agency concerned with research at higher-education levels.
• Proven experience in curriculum and/or programme development.
• Evidence of attracting external research and/or training grants in the past 5 years.
• Proven experience in leading one or more collaborative research projects as a Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI in the past 5 years.

Recommendations:

• Experience in the use of different research methodologies and/or data analysis tools
• Experience in grant writing and/or preparing research funding applications.

Competencies Required competencies:

• Results Orientated:
• The ability to cope with a frequently changing environment and to adapt to evolving situations.
• The ability to be reliable, responsible, dependable and to fulfil obligations.

• Strategic Thinking:

• The ability to focus on details, work towards perfection, and approach work in a neat and organised manner.
• The ability to plan work and to follow plans.

• Business Acumen:

• The ability to adhere to rules and strictly follow work regulations.
• Proficient in using MS Office.

• Leading:

• The ability to maintain high levels of personal motivation, energy and enthusiasm.
• The ability to lead, take charge of situations, and offer opinions and directions to others.
• The ability to be cooperative with others, display a good-natured attitude and encourage people to work together.

• Building Coalitions:

• The ability to negotiate, sell, influence and to persuade others.
• The ability to make decisions through consultation, collaboration and working with close supervision.

Assumption of duties:

01 November 2026

Closing date:

27 August 2026

Salary:

The salary is available on request.

Fringe benefits:

(Subject to specific conditions): pension scheme, medical aid scheme, group life insurance, housing allowance, leave and sick leave, service bonus and study benefits.

Enquiries:

For enquiries, please feel free to contact 051 401 2558 or email ManzanaL@ufs.ac.za or Recruit@ufs.az.za. Additionally, kindly contact 051 401 2979 / 9813 for assistance.

General:

The UFS is a designated employer and is committed to the pursuit of excellence, diversity, and redress in achieving its equity targets in accordance with the Employment Equity Plan of the University and its Employment Equity goals and targets. Preference will be given to candidates from the under-represented designated groups including candidates with disabilities.

The University processes personal information in line with its obligations under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and any personal information provided to the University will be treated as confidential and processed in accordance with the rights provided to data subjects under POPIA.

The University reserves the right not to fill the post. The UFS will only consider applications of candidates who meet all the inherent requirements of the position. Applications that are incomplete will not be considered. Communication will be limited to shortlisted candidates only. Should you not be contacted within six weeks of the closing date for applications, you may assume that your application was unsuccessful.