Become a tutor for COMPOS

We are now recruiting for the October 2024 start.

A flexible and impactful part-time job which fits around academic terms

Every year we employ undergraduate and postgraduate students, and graduate professionals from the top UK universities to act as COMPOS tutors. COMPOS has a friendly and diverse team of tutors who are well supported by the academic coordinators. You will be an integral part of our programme and have the opportunity to shape the futures of some great young people.

We have a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds among our students, and we welcome applications from a similarly diverse range of potential tutors .

The tutoring role

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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 Lead Tutor and Lead Academic Coordinator, 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 approximately 27 tutorials. The examined years (Yrs 11 and 13) complete their programme in January-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 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.

 

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What our tutors say about COMPOS...

I particularly enjoy watching the students grow in confidence and understanding as they progress through the course. Bridging the gap between secondary school and university physics is very important and I enjoy being able to introduce the students to these concepts and giving them an opportunity to get the best start to higher physics education.

All of my students who regularly attended tutorials and submitted work got into Oxford or Cambridge for physics, engineering or maths!

Almost every other week, I engage [the students] in solving interesting Physics and Math questions from past Olympiads, which students tend to greatly appreciate. I actively encourage students to contribute, share their thoughts, and assist me in finding solutions. Once we've successfully solved a question, I reveal that it originated from an Olympiad, and it's so satisfying to witness their reactions. They gain a greater sense of confidence and take pride in their ability to tackle such high-level problems.

Building a relationship with each of the kids and watching them build a relationship with each other was particularly rewarding to watch. At the start of each session when waiting for everyone to arrive we just have a bit of a chat about how school is going and they will also check in on each other, sometimes they ask me about what university is like and my course. It really feels like we're not just here to push anyone into being maths and physics problem solving machines, but that everyone wants to be here out of interest and have a good time, and there is a relationship with each other outside of just doing the work, and I was able to give advice about being a student in general and not just the subject specifics.