School of Social and Political Science

Tutoring Opportunities

It is nearly time to launch the SPS Tutor Call for the 2024-25 academic year! The application for the call will be launched on 1 May 2024 and will be open for three weeks. If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk. 

 

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 SPS PhD student with an existing SPS GH tutoring contract​

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

Category 3 - External Applicant (PhD students from other Schools, or 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 2024 (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 2024-25 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). Marking may be required once 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 2024-25 academic year can be found here:  Academic Year 2024-25

  • 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-appoint applicants 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. It is possible that after initial offers are made, tutors may be sent an offer for additional work, if indicated on their application a desire/ capacity for more than 4 groups​

  • Full-time PhD Students: The University mandates that full-time students can undertake a maximum of 414 hours of work per academic year (averaging to 9 hours per week). This typically equates to 4 tutorials per week. 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 

The application for the call will be launched on 1 May 2024 and will be open for three weeks. If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk. 

Applicants who are University of Edinburgh Staff/ Students 

The application for the call will be launched on 1 May 2024 and will be open for three weeks. If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk. 

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. 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

The application for the call will be launched on 1 May 2024 and will be open for three weeks. If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to sps.tutoring@ed.ac.uk. 

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 Role Description​

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 - 2024-25

  • 1 May – 22 May - SPS Tutoring Application for 2024-25 is live​

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

  • 19 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​

  • 16 September – First day of classes for semester one

 

Teaching Office