Job Title: Associate Tutor (Secondary)
Closing Date: 11 January 2015
Location: Any local area
Contract Start Date: 1 March 2015
Contract Type: Fixed Term
Contract End Date: 31 August 2015
About Teach First
How much you achieve in life should not be determined by how much your parents earn. Yet in the UK, it too
often is. We are an education charity. We work with like-minded people and organisations towards a day where
every child has the education they are entitled to. We train people with leadership potential to be inspirational
teachers in schools in low-income communities across the country. These leaders go on to work in schools and
other sectors of society towards our vision: a future where no child's educational success is limited by their
socio-economic background. For more information on the work we do and which regions we operate in, please
visit www.teachfirst.org.uk.
What is the Leadership Development Programme?
The two-year Teach First Leadership Development Programme begins with a six week residential summer
institute in which participants begin their training and development as teachers. The training forms a foundation
for the rest of their in-school and university-based training and supports them in being classroom ready by
September. The Summer Institute is a vital component of participants’ training, and the Associate Tutor team
will work with participants during weeks 5 and 6 of Summer Institute when all the local areas meet together in
Leeds.
Throughout their first year in school, participants receive a range of training including school-led training and
mentoring and support from university partners who enable participants to obtain their PGCE at the end of the
year. In the second year, the newly qualified teachers are challenged and supported by Teach First and our
partners to ensure they have maximum impact on pupils by continuing their leadership development. For more
information on the Leadership Development Programme, please take a look at the information page created for
graduates thinking of joining the programme here.
The Associate Tutor Role
This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated individual to collaborate with university tutors and Teach First
colleagues1 to help plan and deliver relevant and engaging workshops to participants during weeks 5 and 6 of the
Summer Institute. In addition to delivering evening workshops on classroom practice, Associate Tutors will work
closely with Lead ATs and Curriculum tutors in the planning and delivery of subject sessions.
The Associate Tutor role is an opportunity to develop adult facilitation and leadership skills outside the
classroom, and to develop your own professional practice through work with peers and university tutors.
Associate Tutor support is highly valued by participants and it is important that those in the roles are able to
encourage participant development through both the sharing of good practice, and enabling participants to
apply the theories and practice experienced through Summer Institute to their own classroom practice.
Job Purpose
Teach First is looking to recruit 78 Associate Tutors (ATs) to work at the 2015 Summer Institute to help transform
the 2015 participants into excellent teachers, whilst developing their own leadership skills in a new context. We
are recruiting Secondary ATs for English, Welsh, Maths, Science, Humanities (Geography, History and RE), the
Arts (Music and DT), Business, Computer Science & ICT and MFL. Each AT will work within their curriculum team,
and be led by a Lead AT. There will also be a Deputy AT Coordinator responsible for overseeing/supporting the
secondary AT teams.
The Associate Tutor team will work closely with the Teach First Partnership Team and our university partners.
The Partnership team leads our collaboration with universities and other partners to support the professional development of
Teach First participants (trainee teachers) and Teach First ambassadors (alumni). This includes the Leadership Development
Programme, which is the route by which participants gain their PGCE qualification, through to the Masters qualification,
which participants can decide to pursue after their first year.
1
Responsibilities
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Collaborate with Lead ATs, Deputy AT Coordinator, and Curriculum Tutors to plan and deliver Initial Teacher
Development sessions at the Summer Institute in Leeds
Plan, lead and evaluate evening workshops on a range of classroom practice based topics in collaboration
with other ATs and university colleagues. The workshops will bring together the educational research and
practice to drive and accelerate the impact that participants will have on their pupils
Ensure workshop content provides the opportunity for participants to put theory in to practice
Be fully organised and prepared for the Summer Institute, including communicating with the Associate Tutor
team, University tutors, and Teach First colleagues in preparation
Help participants prepare for their school placement by providing professional support and challenge from
the perspective of a colleague who has very recent knowledge of the context. This support and challenge
should be consistent with the engagement by other professionals at the Summer Institute
Feedback any issues regarding logistics during Summer Institute to the Associate Tutor Coordinator and/or
Teach First Partnership Officer in a professional and timely manner
Feedback any pastoral issues regarding participants during Summer Institute to the Lead AT and Associate
Tutor Coordinators in a professional and timely manner
Be flexible and willing to support with other responsibilities, such as covering for other ATs when required,
and supporting logistics
Attend events as required during weeks 5 and 6 of Summer Institute
Key Requirements
We
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seek candidates who:
Are currently (or have very recent experience of) teaching the curriculum area for which they are applying
Have had a demonstrable impact on pupils in the classroom
Are able to articulate what high expectations look like in the classroom, as well as communicate Teach
First’s vision to 2015 participants
Are committed to gaining experience of professional development amongst colleagues in order to improve
their own teaching practice, and recognising the professional skills and experience of those that they work
alongside
Are able to plan, deliver and evaluate workshops for Teach First participants to enhance and accelerate
participants’ impact on pupils
Will demonstrate the Teach First Values of Collaboration, Commitment, Excellence, Leadership and
Integrity.
Will support and challenge participants to demonstrate these values to work towards achieving the Teach
First vision
Are able to set high expectations of participants and support them on a path to achieve them
Commitment
It is expected that ATs will:
 Attend the Associate Tutor briefing and training day on Saturday 25 April 2015 in London
 Attend both days and stay overnight at the preparation weekend in Leeds on 9 and 10 May 2014
 Submit workshop materials and any materials for photocopying to the Partnership Officer at Teach First by
22 June 2015
 Attend the Summer Institute in Leeds from Sunday 19 July* to Saturday 1 August 2015.
*Whilst we understand that not all schools will have finished the academic year by this date, we expect
Associate Tutors to be able to attend the full two weeks of SI.
Remuneration
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ATs will receive £1000 for all commitments and responsibilities during the two weeks of Summer Institute in
Leeds.
In addition, transport (one return trip to London for the briefing day and two return trips to Leeds – one for
training and one during SI), accommodation and meals (weekdays only) are provided.
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As an Associate Tutor you will not be an employee of Teach First. You will be expected to invoice Teach First
directly for payment upon completion of the role, and you will need to ensure that your own arrangements
for paying tax are in place.
Timeline
Position advertised: November 2014
Application deadline: midnight, Sunday 11 January 2015
Shortlisting and Interviews: 12 January onwards, please see the timeline below for interview dates
for curriculum areas.
Activity
Date
Applications for Associate Tutor Coordinators close
5 January 2015
Applications for Associate Tutors and Lead Associate Tutors close
11 January 2015
-Associate Tutor Coordinator and Deputy Coordinator shortlisting and
interviews
-Music, DT, Business and Computer Science & ICT shortlisting (competency
task)
-Music, DT, Business and Computer Science & ICT interviews -MFL shortlisting
(competency task)
-MFL interviews
-Humanities shortlisting (competency task)
-Humanities (History and Geography) interviews
-Maths shortlisting (competency task)
-Humanities (RE) interviews
-Maths interviews
-Primary shortlisting (competency task)
-EY shortlisting (competency task)
-Primary interviews
-Science shortlisting (competency task)
-EY interviews
-English shortlisting (competency task)
-Science interviews
-Welsh shortlisting (competency task)
-English interviews
-Welsh interviews
Associate Tutor Briefing day in London
12- 16 January
Associate Tutor preparation weekend in Leeds
Finalised workshop content sent to Teach First
Sat and Sun 9 and
10 May
22 June
Summer Institute in Leeds
19 July – 1 August
19- 23 January
26 –30 January
2-6 February
9-13 February
23 Feb-27 Feb
2-4 March
4-10 March
11-18 March
Sat 25 April
To apply
Please send your tailored
[email protected].
CV
and
a
one
page
cover
letter
to
the
Partnership
team:
When applying, please reference < Associate Tutor 2015 Application (your subject)> in the subject line of your
email. Please include in your letter of application why you are interested in this position, what skills and
experience you feel that you would bring to the position, and how the role may benefit your professional
development. Please be aware this is a competitive selection process and we consistently get more applications
than places for these roles. To avoid disappointment, please prepare carefully.
Applications will close at midnight on Sunday 11 January 2015
Shortlisting and Interviews
Shortlisting will take place from 12 January and will involve 2 rounds. If your application is successful you will be
invited to complete a written competency-based task. Following this stage, all successful applicants will then be
invited to a telephone interview, for which you will be expected to prepare a 10 minute presentation outlining:
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How your experience of teaching in a challenging school has developed you as a leader
How you would/ what skills you would use to develop and support participants’ readiness to teach in
September
What curriculum based or general practice workshop topic you think is important to deliver at SI and why
You will be asked to select an interview time that is convenient for you from the interview timetable. The time
of your interview will be confirmed at least 48 hours in advance, and you will be asked to submit any supporting
material for your presentation 48 hours before your interview.
Interviews will be via telephone and will last 30 minutes. They will usually be from 3.30pm onwards.
Please ensure you provide an email address on your application as we will be contacting all applicants by
email.
We regret that 2014 participants are not eligible to apply for this role due to their involvement in the intercohort week at SI2015.