The Faculty of Education at the University of Turku invites applications for a position of Assistant or Associate Professor of Education, especially physical education and well-being (tenure track).

The position will be filled on the basis of the applicant's previous merits as a fixed-term assistant professor (phase I) for 3-5 years or associate professor (phase II) for 2-4 years.

The position is located at the Department of Teacher Education. The Department of Teacher Education educates a wide range of qualified and diversely skilled teachers and conducts internationally recognised critical research that creates a scientific basis for the department's teaching. The Department of Teacher Education administrates the Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction (CERLI).

The Department of Teacher Education operates in two locations, training teachers in both Turku and Rauma. The position of assistant or associate professor is located at the Department of Teacher Education in Rauma. It may also include tasks in Turku.

More information about the department and about the research centre is provided at:

Department of Teacher Education | University of Turku

Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction (CERLI) | University of Turku

Job description

The assistant/associate professor is responsible for promoting high-quality and multidisciplinary research in the field of child and adolescent well-being. The focus areas of the research are particularly related to physical education pedagogy, health behaviour and peer interaction. The aim is to increase understanding of how these factors affect the learning, agency and overall well-being of children and young people, and to strengthen the research and development of physical education pedagogy in teacher education and physical education teacher education.

Physical education teacher education focuses on the physical activity, holistic well-being and learning of children and young people. The development of pedagogical expertise and competence and responding to culturally diverse competence requirements are essential in the education of physical education teachers. Physical education pedagogy studies the teaching of physical activity and the factors behind an active lifestyle. Research in physical education also focuses on promoting physical activity, holistic development and well-being, as well as a physically active lifestyle, especially in childhood and adolescence.

The duties include an active role in the planning, funding and management of national and international research activities. In addition, the assistant/associate professor supervises doctoral dissertations and master's theses and participates in the development of undergraduate and postgraduate degree education. The duties also include expert tasks in their own field as well as administrative tasks.

Apply between 20 March 2026 and 20 April 2026 16:00 (Europe/Helsinki)

Who we are looking for

A person selected for the post of assistant or associate professor must possess an appropriate doctoral degree, ability to conduct independent scientific work and experience in management of scientific research. In addition, the person must have evidence of international co-operation in their field of study, and the ability to provide high-quality teaching based on research and to supervise theses and dissertations.

The position is mainly meant for researchers who are pass the postdoc phase. When selecting a person for the I phase (assistant professor), especially academic potential and motivation for an academic career are taken into consideration. When selected for II phase (associate professor), the associate professor should already have significant scientific merits and clear potential for the tenure of a professor. When assessing the merits of the applicant, special emphasis will be put on academic potential and quality. Closer instructions on assessment criteria are given in the Rector’s decision on the Tenure Track career path system.

Successful performance of the task requires strong mastery of quantitative methods. Expertise in demanding statistical modelling and experience in processing, analysing and reporting results on extensive register and monitoring data are considered an advantage.

The person selected for the position is also required to have extensive knowledge and teaching experience in the field of physical education pedagogy and didactics. This includes a comprehensive understanding of the key phenomena of physical education and taking into account the importance of well-being. Experience in working as a physical education teacher educator and supervising teaching practices and developing teacher education is considered an advantage.

The person selected for the post is required to have good spoken and written skills in English and good spoken and written skills in Finnish or commitment to learning Finnish language.

We value collegiality and promote equality, diversity, and inclusivity. We encourage all qualified applicants with different backgrounds to apply for our open positions.