Fixed Term Contract – Student Role – The Birmingham Project Teaching Associate- Careers Network[...]

The Birmingham Project is an interdisciplinary co‐curricular programme for first year undergraduate students, which sees the students working on a real‐world challenge to develop their research and employability skills. The students do this by developing a solution to an academic question set by the lead academic or Professional Services lead. On the final day of the programme, the students deliver an assessment – this follows the format of an assessed presentation to peers, Teaching Associates, university staff and employer partners. The programme is supported by employer partners, a network of academics, and Professional Services leads.

This role is a fixed term casual position from Monday 1 June 2026 – Friday 19 June 2026 for a total of 25 hours.

Schedule

• Week 1 (w/c Monday 1 June 2026): 4 hours
• Week 2 (w/c Monday 8 June 2026): 20 hours
• Week 3 (w/c Monday 15 June 2026): 1 hour

The role requires the commitment and availability for the above specific set of dates and requires both face‐to‐face and online activity (as prescribed by the programme). There are compulsory elements for attendance, and flexibility of hours for the remainder of the week.

Compulsory in‐person dates

• Tuesday 2 June (approx. 3 hours) – training in person
• Monday 8 June (approx. 7 hours)
• Friday 12 June (approx. 6 hours)

The remaining hours for the week Monday 8 – Friday 12 June are flexible but would include: meetings with students, academics, and answering queries. There will also be approx. 4 hours of training ahead of the Birmingham Project, delivered in‐person and online. The in‐person training will be delivered on Tuesday 2 June 2026.

Interviews are scheduled: Monday 27 April and Tuesday 28 April 2026.

Job Summary

• Facilitating and supporting students in groups (from all disciplines) to manage project delivery and implementation
• Supporting with video creation
• Supervising students daily and supporting where necessary
• Work within a clear and established teaching programme set by the academic responsible for the course, who supervises and manages the role‐holder.

Main duties

• Each Teaching Associate will support one to three groups of students (maximum of 10 per group) working within a clear and established teaching programme set by the Birmingham Project.
• Deliver teaching activities within a class, tutorial or other group context in support of teaching for which others have primary responsibility, e.g. guide the students through team building, idea generation, research skills, completion of ethics materials, and developing an effective assessed presentation.
• Supervise class activities within a framework designed by others; ensuring project is on track and providing guidance where necessary to prompt stalled projects.
• Assist students as required offering advice to help them with learning problems.
• Provide support to staff engaged in teaching.
• Update own subject knowledge, and to develop own teaching expertise.
• Carry out administrative tasks related directly to the delivery of teaching, including monitoring of attendance, providing daily group summaries and communicating programme issues to the Birmingham Project team.
• Providing advice to students regarding research methods and any ethical considerations, referring students to subject advisors where necessary.
• Supporting students through regular meetings, providing constructive feedback to proposals.
• Providing guidance on analysing and presenting survey research data (quantitative and qualitative) as part of digital outputs and presentation material.
• Providing feedback to Challenge Lead on student progress.
• Acting as point of contact in the absence of Challenge Lead.
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Supporting panel members with the assessment of group presentations.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience

• Degree or equivalent relevant to teaching area.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Practical experience of applying the relevant skills and techniques for the role.
• Ability to analyse information and communicate effectively.
• Ability to access and organise resources successfully.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day‐to‐day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.
• A current Postgraduate student at the University of Birmingham (any discipline).

For any informal queries, please contact Bob Lee (r.lee@bham.ac.uk).

The University of Birmingham restricts all students to working up to 20 hours per week during term time for a maximum of 13 consecutive weeks. If your application is successful and your course does not follow the usual academic term timetable (e.g. PGT, PGR or PhD student), you and your supervisor must formally agree vacation periods if this role exceeds 20 hours per week. In addition to this, please be aware if you are an international student you will be required to apply to the Registry for the appropriate authorised absence. You are only eligible to apply to this role if you are a current University of Birmingham student. If you are not a University of Birmingham student your application will not be considered. To work you will need to carry out a right to work check. These checks will need to be completed prior to work commencing.

Regarding the use of AI in applications, we review hundreds of applications and shortlist candidates based on their unique perspective, motivations and potential. Cover letters generated through, or edited by, AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT or CoPilot) are easy to identify. They produce generic answers and will not score highly enough to progress. You may use AI tools for research, but all written content in your application must be your own work. Authenticity and originality are key to standing out in this process.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are unable to contact all applicants individually. You can check the progress of your application by logging into the Worklink jobs portal using the same email address you used to apply. If you haven't heard back within six weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful.