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Post-Graduate Assistant Teacher of French

Harrow School
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The School seeks to appoint a Post-Graduate Assistant Teacher of French from September 2024. This post comes with a generous package including:

  • Rent-free accommodation provided on the Hill;
  • Health cover provided free of charge for you and at a reduced rate for any members of your immediate family you may wish to add.

The Department

The Modern Languages department is one of the largest and most successful departments in the School with very good results achieved in all languages at all levels. There are currently 26 members of staff supported by a secretary. Eleven of them are fulltime, six are part-time. In addition we have a French and a German language assistant, and there are seven teachers who offer language lessons off the timetable. The principal languages taught are French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish, all to A Level. Other languages taught to various levels are Arabic, Modern Greek, and Polish. We also have a Dutch teacher and a Portuguese teacher on the books. 

All boys start out with two languages in their first year at Harrow. At least one modern language is compulsory for all boys to GCSE with a good number studying two or even more. There are approximately 160 boys in a year group, and usually some 50 boys pursue a modern language in each year of the Sixth Form. Boys are prepared for the Edexcel GCSE and A level qualifications. The department consistently delivers strong public examination results and offers a wide range of super-curricular academic enrichment, including trips and exchanges.

All members of the department are housed in the purpose-built Modern Languages Schools, where classrooms are equipped with smart boards or projectors that work with Microsoft Surface devices, which are issued to all members of staff and boys across the School. Much of the lesson material is on OneNote and Teams, and teachers use a variety of online resources to support teaching and learning. There is a Modern Languages staffroom with networked computer access and full photocopying facilities. Members of the department are encouraged to use their own initiative in terms of teaching style and methodology, whilst following general guidelines that require grammatical and academic rigour as well as oral proficiency.   

The Role

The School regularly appoints Post-Graduate Assistant Teachers (PGATs) in all departments. Such appointments are typically for one academic year, with the possibility that contracts are renewed for a second year. These positions give successful candidates the opportunity to experience life at a leading independent boarding school, to acquire and develop teaching skills, and to make a significant contribution outside the timetable to the School’s extra-curricular activities and in the super-curricular programme for academic extension.

In addition, the School provides training in skills both related to teaching and transferable to other professions. The role of PGAT will allow those interested in pursuing a career in teaching to gain directly relevant experience and training, and those more likely to move into another profession beyond the end of their time at Harrow to acquire skills beneficial for their future careers in other areas, including banking, consultancy and the law.

The salary depends upon the applicant’s experience and teaching timetable but will typically fall in the range £23,300-£28,082. Accommodation is provided without charge for PGATs in Harrow on the Hill (Greater London), and the School pays for water and council tax. All meals are provided free of charge during term time.

Occasionally, we appoint recent undergraduates and post-graduates as full-time teachers.

PGATs teach a reduced timetable, typically including no more than 20 timetabled lessons of 40 minutes’ duration per week, and assist in departments more generally in ways appropriate to their experience and ability. PGATs are expected to coach sports or manage activities in each of the three terms. There are commitments in that area of School life on most weekends in term time. 

The role also involves a commitment to boarding, principally by helping House Masters with the supervision of prep from 7pm until 10pm on one or two evenings each week. There needs to be some flexibility over these evening duties, to cover House Masters’ irregular absences.

All PGATs act as tutors in a boarding house and, along with all other full-time colleagues, teach PSHEE to their tutor group.

PGATs are also expected to contribute to the wider life of the School, for example by being involved with trips off the Hill on Saturday evenings, and with DofE expeditions, field days, and the activities of the cadet force. The Deputy Head Master is in overall charge of the PGATs’ extra-curricular commitments.   

Training Available for Post-Graduate Assistant Teachers

The School hopes that PGATs’ experience of working at Harrow will motivate them to continue in the profession. Indeed, there are several full-time teachers at Harrow who were initially appointed as PGATs and others who have gone on to pursue careers at other schools. The School provides a formal programme of training for PGATs and full-time teachers new to teaching which covers the following areas:

  • lesson planning and preparation;
  • reporting and communication with parents;
  • behaviour management and discipline;
  • marking, assessment and feedback;
  • attitudes to learning and mindset;
  • special educational needs and disabilities;
  • the use of technology in teaching and learning; and 
  • metacognition.

Some former PGATs have decided at the end of their year to pursue careers in other fields. For the benefit of the boys and for the professional development of PGATs, therefore, the School also provides regular formal training in a variety of relevant and transferable skills. Specifically, but not exhaustively, training is offered every year in the following areas:

  • the most recent set of Microsoft Office software products, with a particular focus on applications relevant for presentations (including PowerPoint and Sway) and the analysis of data (including Excel);
  • presentation skills, both in writing and in person;
  • collaborative working and the dynamics of groups;
  • financial management and budgeting;
  • the management of human resources and issues relating to employment;
  • communications and marketing;
  • development and fundraising;
  • health and safety; and
  • child protection and safeguarding.