The Faculty of Education at the Free University of Bozen – Bolzano is currently seeking a full-time RTD junior Ricercatore a Tempo Determinato) position in Sport Pedagogy – Physical Education, starting September 2022, offering a fixed-term contract.
Topic: Physical activity and sport practice promotion in children and young adolescents.
Duration of the contract: 3 years, with possible renewal after selection for max. 4 other 3-year periods.
Teaching hours per year: min 60, max 120.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Attilio Carraro.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Continue and establish a research line within physical education, physical activity promotion in children and young adolescents, wellness, or related fields. The main focus is to assess the effectiveness of different strategies for the promotion of motor and sport activities in young people, and particularly in the age group 3-11 years. The research activity will be carried out both in schools and out-of-school settings and will consider also significant adults (parents, teachers, sports coaches). Quantitative and qualitative approaches will be adopted, objective (quantity and quality of physical activity, fitness and motor skills) and subjective data (attitudes, motives, emotional response) will be collected and analysed.
Teach graduate primary school teacher courses to a diverse student population in initial teacher certification, in the areas of sport pedagogy, physical education and motor development.
Advise and mentor students.
Provide service to university, school and community.
Collaborate for program administration and to develop and implement dynamic curriculum and program enhancements.
QUALIFICATIONS
Earned a PhD in in Physical Education, Sport Pedagogy, Sport Sciences, Education/Pedagogy, Sport/Exercise Psychology or a related field.
Language proficiency: German native language or at least C1 CEFR; Italian or English at least B2 CEFR.
APPLICATION
To be considered, applications must be submitted through the Free University of Bozen – Bolzano website only:
Direct any inquiries to Francesca Martorelli, Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen – Bolzano, email: Francesca.Martorelli@unibz.it
About UNIBZ
The Free University of Bozen – Bolzano (UNIBZ)is a young university founded in 1997 as a multilingual, internationally oriented institution. It is a non-state funded public university located at the crossroads between the Italian and the German cultural and economic worlds. Multilingualism and internationality are its main characteristics as shown by the composition of its academic staff (33% of tenured professors and researchers are of international origin) and its exchange programmes with about 150 partner universities all over the world. Within international relations, UNIBZ counts 145 Erasmus+ Agreements and 35 Bilateral agreements with non-European and Italian universities; one Erasmus Mundus Partnership and 9 International study programmes with double or combined degree. This international outlook is also a driver of the research activity carried out at UNIBZ aiming at addressing contemporary challenges while also meeting local interests. In fact, besides teaching and research, another fundamental objective of UNIBZ is to contribute to local development fostering knowledge through collaborations with public institutions and private organisations.
UNIBZ is composed of five faculties (Economics and Management, Computer Science, Education, Design and Art, Science and Technology) and 2 Competence Centres with specific research focuses.
Despite its recent foundation, UNIBZ in the past few years has already established itself as an important research institution, both in Italy and abroad. In 2020, for the fourth time in a row, UNIBZ was placed first among the small non-state universities (less than 5,000 students), reaching also the highest average score among all Italian universities, state and non-state ones (Censis). At international level in the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings UNIBZ ranked in the band of 401— 500 this year out of 1.527 institutions worldwide.
The Faculty of Education, located in Brixen – Bressanone, one of the three university’s campuses, counts more than 1.700 students (out of about 4.300 students at the whole university) and a teaching staff of about 70 lecturers and researchers. The faculty relies on a large network of collaborations with national and international organisations and universities. At the local level it has developed a large network of collaborations with regional educational authorities, schools, museums network, libraries, media libraries, cultural and sport associations. As far as teaching is concerned, the Faculty of Education offers three bachelor degrees, four master courses and two PhD programmes. A series of post-graduate courses enriches the training opportunities to further develop and qualify teachers’ competences. The Faculty offers high quality didactic programmes based on the interplay among research, teaching and fieldwork, and on the collaboration with regional institutions working on education related issues such as professional training, communication and culture, social services and welfare. Moreover, teaching and learning are enhanced with a well-equipped library, excellent IT services and EduSpaces, namely dedicated laboratories for innovative educational activities.
The research activity of the Faculty of Education is carried out by an interdisciplinary academic team focused on seven main research-areas: permanent education; innovative and inclusive education; psychology and wellbeing promotion; language and multilingualism; aesthetic experience and communication (sport pedagogy is included in this area); educational contexts, disciplines and their teaching in school; socio cultural worlds: institutions, welfare, social professions, environment and population.
Sport pedagogy/physical education are part of the Faculty of Education and as part of the Master program in “Educational Sciences for the Primary School” responsible for the studies in physical education in Italian and German language for more than 200 students per year. The working group in this field currently comprises three people, but will continue to grow in the ongoing year. Actual members of the team have different experiences in the fields of sport pedagogy, exercise psychology and physical education. They work together with kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and sport clubs in the region and cooperates with several national and international scientific, educational and sport authorities.
