School of Social and Political Science

Tutoring Opportunities

The SPS Tutor Call for Semester 1 will open on 19th of May and close on the 6th of June at 12 noon.

Key points to note before you apply:

Tutoring positions within the School of Social and Political Science are guaranteed hours (GH), fixed-term posts. These posts are classed with the School as Student Experience positions. This is to ensure that our current PhD students have ample opportunity to development their teaching skills during their degree. ​

When allocating tutors to courses, we are required to prioritise current PhD students before any other applicants. The hiring categories are as follows:​

Category 1- Current UoE PhD student with an existing SPS GH tutoring contract​

Category 2 - Current UoE PhD student without an existing SPS GH tutoring contract​

Category 3 - External Applicant (not a current PhD student) ​

Applicants in Category 1 are given priority.  Applicants in Category 2 are allocated next, and then applicants in Category 3 are considered. 

When applying, you will be asked to select the category that applies to your application. When determining your hiring category, please consider your status at the start of semester one - September 2025 (as this may be different than your status at the time of submission). If you are unsure about which category applies, please feel free to get in touch. 

 

Other important details:

  • Any person interested in tutoring within SPS for the 2025-26 academic year must apply via the application process, regardless of category. ​​

  • Our tutor call is a competitive process and not all applicants will receive an offer of work.  Applicants will be asked to provide a CV and cover letter, in addition to listing preferences for which courses you would like to tutor on.  All current PhD students must also attest to having the support of your PhD supervisor.​ PhD students currently in Year 1 must have completed at least one semester of their studies before applying to tutor.

  • Applicants should expect to be available for the entire duration of the semester for which you are applying to teach. ​Tutors must be based in Edinburgh, or able to commute to Edinburgh, as teaching is delivered in-person and on-campus (with the exception of online courses). Additionally, marking may be required after teaching has concluded. If you do not currently have a contract to tutor with the School of Social and Political Science, you must prove your right to work in the UK.

    Note: Semester dates for the 2025-26 academic year can be found here:  Academic Year 2025-26

  • During the allocation process, the SPS Tutoring Team will work with each subject area to make allocations based on applicant preferences and relevant experience. During this process we will seek to:​

    • Re-allocate applicants (subject to status) who have previously tutored on a course wherever possible​

    • Appoint applicants to courses within the subject area of their PhD wherever possible​

    • Allocate an average of 3-4 tutorial groups per tutor per course (this is to ensure sufficient, paid preparation time)​

    Note: During the initial round of offers, we will seek to allocate a maximum of 4 groups to each tutor on any given course to ensure there are opportunities for as many applicants as possible to receive an offer of work. 

  • Full-time PhD Students: The University mandates that full-time students can undertake a maximum of 396 hours of work per academic year (averaging to 9 hours per week across 44 weeks). If you hold other positions across the University or externally, those hours must also be considered when assessing your capacity to tutor.  Visa restrictions may also apply. 

 

For the general job descriptors and details on pay, please see the documents in the Guidance for Tutors section. 

 

Application Details and How to Apply 

Tutor Vacancies 

Please use the link below to view the current vacancies available for SPS courses in 2025-26.
Please note this list will be updated prior to the Semester 2 call opening in October. 

2025-26 Semester 1 SPS Tutor Vacancies

Please note: if you are an external applicant, you may have issues viewing this spreadsheet. To request a downloaded version of the spreadsheet, please email sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk 

Applicants who are University of Edinburgh Staff/ Students 

To apply to tutor with us you must complete the following steps:

  1. Apply to tutor via the SPS Tutoring Application Form (UoE Applicants) (UoE Office 365 log-in required). As part of this application form, you will be asked to upload the following documents:

2. Please email your Covering Letter to  sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk 

3. Prove your right to work and complete a right to work check.

Privacy Statement: For information on how we use your data, how long we keep it for and if we share it with third parties, please refer to the applicant privacy notice

Applicants who are non-University of Edinburgh Staff/ Students

To apply to tutor with us you must complete the following steps:

  1. Apply to tutor via the SPS Tutoring Application Form (Non-UoE Applicants)

  2. Email the following documents to sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk
  3. Prove your right to work and complete a right to work check.

Privacy Statement: For information on how we use your data, how long we keep it for and if we share it with third parties, please refer to the applicant privacy notice 

Appointee Information Form

All applicants who do not currently hold a contract to tutor with SPS must complete the Appointee Information Form:

Download the Appointee Information Form

To submit the document, please send to sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk.

Senior Tutor Role

Senior Tutor roles are available on some Year 1 and Year 2 undergraduate courses with enrolments of at least 90 students and/or teaching teams of more than 3 tutors. ​

Note: Not all pre-honours courses have a Senior Tutor. This is determined at the request of the Subject Area.​

Role holders are expected to liaise with their Course Organiser and Course Administrator, and will be tasked with responsibilities such as providing support to other course tutors, assisting in setting up tutorials, and contributing to the administration of the assessment process. ​

Role holders are guaranteed hours based on the size of course. Typically, tutors would be expected to teach 3 tutorials on a course, in addition to their capacity as a Senior Tutor. 

The full role description can be found here: Senior Tutor-Tutorial Coordinator 2025-26.​

Applicants may express interest in being considered for a Senior Tutor position when submitting the SPS Tutoring Application. ​

What happens after I submit my application?

SPS Tutor Call Timeline - 2025-26

  • 19th May - 6th June (noon) - SPS Tutoring Application for 2025-26 is live​

  • Mid-July – Deadline for subject areas/ course organisers to confirm tutor allocations with SPS Tutoring Team​

  • Late July – Initial offers are sent to tutors​

Tutors have 7 days to accept or decline offer.  Applicants should expect to be available via email end of July/ early August to finalise any details of their offer.​

  • Mid-August – Senior Tutor offers extended​

  • Late August – SPS HR team has raised all new GH contracts and sent GH refresh letters to tutors with existing contracts​

  • 15 September – First day of classes for Semester 1

 

SPS Tutor Call Timeline for Semester 2 - 2025-26

  • 20 October - 31 October - SPS Tutoring Application for Semester 2 is live

  • Mid-late November - Deadline for subject areas/course organisers to confirm tutor allocations with SPS Tutoring Team

  • Late November - Offers issued for Semester 2

    Tutors have 7 days to accept or decline offer.  Applicants should expect to be available via email during December/early January to finalise any details of their offer.

  • December Senior Tutor offers extended for Semester 2 courses

  • 12 January First day of classes for Semester 2. 

 

Teaching Office