Teaching opportunities
We understand that a big part of the PGR experience is to get involved in teaching and at the University of Exeter there are a variety of different teaching opportunities available. These include:
- Postgraduate Teaching Associates (PTAs) within your college- these opportunities will be advertised within colleges, with contracts managed by HR.
- Shut up and Write Facilitator
- Teaching through the Widening Participation Team
- Work through the Brilliant Club- an award-winning charity that recruits, trains and pays doctoral and post-doctoral researchers £500 per place to deliver programmes of university-style teaching to small tutorial groups of high-performing pupils in schools that serve disadvantaged communities.
Further support
The Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (LTHE) Programme introduces the principles of effective learning, teaching, and assessment in higher education (HE). It is designed to provide early-career developmental support for doctoral students who will be undertaking work as postgraduate teaching associates (PTAs).
The LTHE programme is designed to inspire educators to think creatively about a range of aspects of learning and teaching in HE and to make connections between personal experiences, the experiences of others, and learning and teaching theories that have been developed by researchers and practitioners.
The LTHE programme is comprised of five taught units, divided into two stages:
- Stage One = Unit 1
- Stage Two = units 2-5
Completing Stage One is mandatory prior to undertaking any Postgraduate Teaching Associate (PTA) duties, while prospective PTAs should also register for Stage Two if they are going to be designing/planning their own teaching sessions, or supporting marking and feedback activity.
LTHE participants also have an opportunity to submit an optional assessment; successful completion of which results in Associate Fellowship of the university’s EduExe Framework and of AdvanceHE (AFHEA) – a professional body that accredits LTHE and recognises achievements in educational practice at institutions around the world.
PGRs who are working alongside their study are encouraged to read the TQA PGR Handbook Employment of postgraduate students: code of good practice, which details the expectations of managing study and working during your degree. Students are reminded to consider the number of hours that they work alongside study, as detailed in Section 6 of the chapter, which confirms that the total study and work hours should add up to a maximum of 1830 hours in the year.
For anyone who is undertaking paid teaching for the University of Exeter as a Postgraduate Teaching Associates (PTA), your contract and payment is looked after by the HR team- any enquiries you may have about payment and contracts need to be directed to the HR team.
Full details of the support available for PTA can be found on the HR website.