Become a tutor for COMPOS

You are assigned a small group of 8 students in each tutorial group, you can have up to three groups. 

• Make initial contact your tutees and organise a regular weekly tutorial time, in coordination with the administrators
• Have a suitable video call app, online whiteboard tool, e-pen and surface or tablet to use in tutorials (we can provide some to use)
• Use the lesson plans provided, and/or your own materials, to plan an interactive, weekly, online tutorial based on the assignments

• Deliver an interactive weekly tutorial 
• Promptly mark work and give feedback to students when they submit their assignments
• Act as a mentor, and hopefully a role model, for the students who will be curious about life at university and STEM careers
• Communicate with your students regarding tutorials, assignments and answer their assignment-related questions

• Return any data, such as grades and tutorial attendance, to the administrators as required 
• Abide by our code of conduct, data protection and safeguarding procedures
• Attend any training required for the role including safeguarding training

You will be employed by the University of Oxford and paid as a casual member of staff at an hourly rate of £20 which covers all marking time as well as tutorials. We assume four hours work a week to prepare, tutor and do any marking. Your supervisors are the academic coordinators, Vlad Chernov and Rachael Hawkins.

All tutorials commence in late-October, early November. The non-examined year groups (Yrs 10 and 12) complete the programme in mid-July and should receive at least 27 tutorials. The examined years (Yrs 11 and 13) complete their programme in mid-February and should receive at least 15 tutorials. You are expected to tutor from the start of the programme through to the end, which may be February or July depending on the year group of your tutees. You will deliver at least the minimum number of tutorials.

You can take holiday if required, but should catch-up any missed tutorials. We break for two weeks at Christmas and one week over Easter.

• You are in your second year of undergraduate or above and are studying for, or have, a degree in physics.
• You can tutor mathematics and physics to the level of a very capable 18 year old student.
• You have a strong interest and passion for your subject and are friendly and approachable to ensure your online tutorials are enjoyable for your tutees.
• You are organised and can plan tutorials, mark and return work on a regular basis.
• You are familiar with using video call apps - it would be helpful if you have used an online learning platform like Google Classroom, Moodle, Canvas etc.
• You are familiar with using whiteboard apps - such as Miro, iDroo etc.
• No prior teaching experience is assumed as you will have training, observations and feedback from the team to support your tutoring.
• You can deliver a tutorial in fluent English, we welcome applications from international tutors with English as an additional language.
• You will also need a DBS check which we can arrange if you are accepted.

Applications are reviewed from June - October as the programme commences in mid-October. You must be able to confirm that you have the right to work in the UK.

You will be invited to an online interview and asked to present a short piece of teaching in a tutorial style. You will be asked some basic questions about physics and maths to check your ability to present well and explain ideas. We are looking for people who communicate clearly, have good subject knowledge, and can make an online tutorial fully interactive and interesting. We advise against a lecturing-style of tutoring.

We ask for references to confirm your qualifications and reliability, and we must carry out a DBS check according to our safeguarding policy.

You can register your interest here: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/compos-registration-for-tutors-2024-25 and we will contact you.

We advertise positions on the University of Oxford website, through contacts at other UK universities, on Indeed.com and welcome email enquiries.

Please contact either of the academic coordinators, Vlad Chernov or Dr Rachael Hawkins on our main email address: compos [at] physics.ox.ac.uk for an informal discussion or to enquire about the role.